Often it’s hard to keep up with the exciting science news, especially as major breakthroughs are made daily.
- For centuries, giant squids have captured imaginations, having been the subjects of myth and literary works like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. For the first time, scientists in Japan have filmed the giant squid. At a depth of 630 meters (almost a third of a mile), scientists, supported by Japan’s public broadcasting organization NHK and the Discovery Channel, filmed the squid last June. The Giant Squid can grow to over 10 meters in length and may be the basis for the Norse legend of the Kraken.
- Huntington’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a dominant gene that results in a protein mutation. A new study from Amsterdam, printed in the Journal of Huntington’s Disease, analyzes the relationship between symptoms presented by patients with Huntington’s disease and specific regions of cell loss in the brain. Analysis of post-mortem tissue can show neurodegeneration in the striatum and cerebral cortex. This neurodegeneration may account for the variation in symptoms.
- A recent study in Hepatology shows that vaccination may not provide long-term protection against diseases like hepatitis B. While the hepatitis B vaccine is effective in the majority of the population, the study from Taiwan shows that children should be re-evaluated for immunity as teenagers, and when appropriate should be re-vaccinated.
- What happens to a patient’s heart after a heart attack? A new study from the British Heart Foundation finds that the electrical activity of a heart can change significantly after the heart undergoes metabolic stress resulting in atrial arrhythmias. Understanding this phenomenon could help develop technologies to treat it.
- In the search for life on other planets, we first look for planets that are similar in composition, distance from the sun and size as earth. NASA’s Kepler space craft recently analyzed stars to determine that at least one in six stars have earth sized planets. Learn more here!
Make sure to check back next week for more interesting science!
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