The big science I missed for past few months
All the way back, soon after I got sick, the news broke about the impossible engine. This is the kind of thing that sounds like ure science fiction and almost everyone couldn't believe that it would work (they also didn't believe Chinese scientist who built something similar first) but the nit was built and it's working (as far as I know noone disproved it yet). It uses the virtual particles - the ones that came to existence and almost instantly disintegrate due to some laws of quantum physics - to push the objects around. It's almost like using magic - except it works. It's not very useful right now - you get very little for the amount of power you need to feed it but you don't need to bring fuel with you which makes everything easier - that fuel mass is always a problem. However, the best part for me is that there are still things that can surprise us like this. There might be hope yet for our space dreams.
The panspermia theory has long been one of the explanations of how life could've started on Earth. We know that there are some organisms able to survive in outer space but here are some that got there seemingly on their own and are still viable even after long exposure. Russian cosmonauts have found life on the outside of the International Space Station. They were pretty shocked to discover what seems to be sea plankton on the exterior of the station that is apparently being lifted all the way there by atmospheric currents. And it's somehow surviving there.
A 24-year-old Chinese woman does not have a cerebellum. Cerebellum is a large brain structure (see photos in the link) that is mainly responsible for motor control and also controls some cognitive functions. She had some balance problems since she was a child but was only diagnosed when she finally went to hospital complaining of dizziness and nausea. It's the ninth case in medical history and it shows how amazingly plastic our brains are as other parts of the brain have managed to pick enough of the cerebellum functions to allow her to live relatively normal life.
On the other end of scale transplant of olfactory nerves helps a paralysed patient regain partial movement. Doctors in Poland and scientists from England have used harvested culture of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and olfactory nerve fibroblasts (ONFs) to reconnect spinal cord severed by injury. Unlike most of the nerve cells olfactory ones need to grow new axons all the time to connect to new cells in our nose. This made them perfect candidates for growing new connections. The doctors have harvested olfactory bulb during brain surgery and cultured the cells. Then they had removed glial scar tissue and then transplanted the cultured cells into spinal cord stumps above and below the injury site, where an 8 mm gap was bridged by four strips of autologous sural nerve. After two years patent regained some feeling and function - he went from complete paralysis to being able to walk with leg braces and a walker.
The panspermia theory has long been one of the explanations of how life could've started on Earth. We know that there are some organisms able to survive in outer space but here are some that got there seemingly on their own and are still viable even after long exposure. Russian cosmonauts have found life on the outside of the International Space Station. They were pretty shocked to discover what seems to be sea plankton on the exterior of the station that is apparently being lifted all the way there by atmospheric currents. And it's somehow surviving there.
A 24-year-old Chinese woman does not have a cerebellum. Cerebellum is a large brain structure (see photos in the link) that is mainly responsible for motor control and also controls some cognitive functions. She had some balance problems since she was a child but was only diagnosed when she finally went to hospital complaining of dizziness and nausea. It's the ninth case in medical history and it shows how amazingly plastic our brains are as other parts of the brain have managed to pick enough of the cerebellum functions to allow her to live relatively normal life.
On the other end of scale transplant of olfactory nerves helps a paralysed patient regain partial movement. Doctors in Poland and scientists from England have used harvested culture of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and olfactory nerve fibroblasts (ONFs) to reconnect spinal cord severed by injury. Unlike most of the nerve cells olfactory ones need to grow new axons all the time to connect to new cells in our nose. This made them perfect candidates for growing new connections. The doctors have harvested olfactory bulb during brain surgery and cultured the cells. Then they had removed glial scar tissue and then transplanted the cultured cells into spinal cord stumps above and below the injury site, where an 8 mm gap was bridged by four strips of autologous sural nerve. After two years patent regained some feeling and function - he went from complete paralysis to being able to walk with leg braces and a walker.