Tuesday March 11th, 2014
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Human
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Reconfirming the Traditional Model of HIV Particle Assembly. Gross L, PLoS Biology Vol. 4/12/2006, e445
HIV has proven to be a frustrating challenge to scientists looking for a silver-bullet cure. Researchers are now evaluating an experimental technique that would disable the CCR5 gene, the protein that allows the HIV to borrow into the T cells.
Agriculture
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A cotton borer eats through corn.
''Why do you grow Bt corn?'' Dave Walton answers the question and delves deeper into the reasons of why a farmer would choose to grow a GM crop with the ability to produce a protein that paralyzes pests that can have a devastating effect on the harvest.
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The researchers behind the acid bath stem cell method that caused a stir in January have asked to retract the paper. No other scientists have been able to reproduce the results, and many question the images and findings in the paper.
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On most issues, the public debate follows a normal distribution curve, with the majority in the 'muddled middle'. That's not proving to be the case in the increasingly heated discussion over '3 parent babies'.
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The list of available pre-natal genetic screening tests is growing. The tests are non-invasive and generally have a low false-positive rate, but the increasingly accurate tests may create ethical dilemmas for parents.
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Biosciences for Farming in Africa, an organization that promotes conversation around agricultural productivity in Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and Uganda, has recently produced a collection of essays titled Insights focused on "the grand challenge facing the best brains and entrepreneurs alike, whether in laboratories, farms, in businesses or partnerships � how will we be able to produce 70% more food sustainably, sufficient to feed a predicted population of 9 billion in 2050."
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Last week the anti-biotech group GMO Inside called on Starbucks to serve only organic milk, thereby eliminating GMOs, in its 20,000 plus stores located in 62 countries. But it looks like Starbucks won't be changing its menu anytime soon.
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The name of Chipotle's Hulu series says it all. "Farmed and Dangerous" is, according to the restaurant chain, a "comedy series that explores the outrageously twisted and utterly unsustainable world of industrial agriculture." Not surprisingly many farmers have taken issue with the portrayal of their livelihoods.
A few lucky individuals have a mutation that makes them highly resistant to HIV. This mutation is also behind the lucky cure of the 'Berlin Patient' in 2008. Now researchers have used gene-editing techniques to successfully alter the blood cells of 12 individuals with HIV with promising results.
Scientists are finally probing the elephant brain to find out how cooperative problem solving, tool use, and even self-awareness can arise from an organ three times the size of our own but with a dramatically different distribution of neurons.
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