Biomedicine & Biotech

The U.S. space agency recently launched sperm specimens, from humans and bulls, to the international space station. There, astronauts will conduct experiments on the impact of microgravity on sperm’s motility and function.
Mary Shelley popularized the work of Luigi Galvani, work that continues today. And while electricity does not reanimate the dead, bioelectricity – Galvani's legacy – may have a role in our embryologic development.
Damaged by the environment, tomb robbers and time, a severed mummified head from the early Middle Kingdom was finally identified. All thanks to science!
CRISPR-Cas9, unlike other methods, can create food products so close to the original that they are not considered genetically-modified organisms. That's because it's not how the process of change is of regulatory concern, but instead, it's the final result. Biosimilar is not genetically modified. 
Since snakes can't chew, in order to eat they swallow their food whole. This means finding prey small enough that they can stretch their open mouths around. But one evolved snake, to the surprise of a veteran biologist and reptile expert, rips its prey apart to consume it in bites. 
As the chick readies to hatch, the eggshell's inner surface weakens. How the hardness of eggshells is created by a matrix is fascinating biology. And it may give us insight into a more human problem: the hip fractures of old age.
Hollywood tends to depict all seizures with great drama as generalized convulsions. In the real world of an intensive care unit, they can go unnoticed without overt signs. And if the seizures are protracted, they can cause damage. New technology marries music and the mind, to prompt early detection by the untrained.
The discovery that wounds in the fetus can heal without scarring has prompted scientists to work on designing new biomaterials. A multi-institutional research group of engineers, chemists and biologists have now found a way to create a material similar to fibrillar fibronectin. And when tested, it's highly effective in wound healing. 
Our northern neighbor affirmed that a variety of Golden Rice, which has higher levels of provitamin A, is otherwise no different that varieties of rice that have been genetically modified for thousands of years. Further, it does not pose a greater risk to human health than rice varieties currently available on the Canadian market.
Most of us don't think of cold-blooded creatures, like reptiles and amphibians, as having any maternal instincts. However some crocodiles do, and some snakes that bear live young have been seen to shelter babies. New research demonstrates that the South African python, which lays eggs, also demonstrates maternal concern.
Colon cancer kills more than 50,000 Americans each year. One in 22 men and one in 24 women will be diagnosed with colon cancer in their lifetime. Currently, patients rely on colonoscopies to detect pre-cancerous growths called polyps. But doctors from John Hopkins University have discovered two digestive bacteria that form a film on the colon — months before the polyps appear.    
Welcome to the latest "Hypocrisy Alert." Today, we feature Barbra Streisand, who's an outspoken opponent of biotechnology – at least when it applies to genetic food modification. Yet she fails to see the irony of having two cloned dogs. Let us begin ... Cue the music ... Hit it ...