Today, science is finding ruins in the jungle, making new stem cells, watching out for solar flares, and learning about the unique potential of the autistic brain.
Oregon scientists are the first to clone human stem cells
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University fused human skin cells with donated human eggs, and then were able to extract stem cells genetically identical to the skin donor. This process of cloning embryos has been done with several species of animals over the past 15 years, but never with humans—the process for humans previously involved a fertilized cell that wasn’t genetically identical.
There is another a method for creating stem cells called “induced pluripotent stem” (iPS) cells that doesn’t require embryos. Scientists aren’t sure if embryonic cells might be more versatile than iPS cells, but iPS cells are less controversial and don’t depend on the limited supply of human eggs. The new process from Oregon could rekindle the debate about “reproductive cloning” in humans, though that’s not its intended purpose.
Temple Grandin comes to town hall to talk about autism on Monday
Who: Temple Grandin—Time top 100 Hero, writer and speaker, autistic adult, author of The Autistic Brain
What: Grandin talks about research on brains and behavior, neuroimaging, and the talents of autistic individuals
Where: Great Hall (enter on 8th Ave)
When: Monday, 7:30 – 9:00
This talk is sold out, but a limited number of standby or “limited view” tickets may be available day of, at 7:15. $5. More info here.
Scientists and filmmakers might have found a lost city in a Honduran rain forest
In the depth of a jungle in Honduras, there may be the ruins of a centuries-old city called “la Ciudad Blanca.” Tales of it have circulated since at least 1526, which prompted a documentary filmmaker to search for it using “lidar”—a technique that involves a plane bouncing light off the terrain below as it flies, gathering readings based on reflections. The 3D map it generated showed square and rounded structures underneath the vegetation that could be the remains of pyramids, houses and palaces.
The sun has released four solar flares, and more are expected over the next several days
Active sunspot AR1748 emitted the flares, and possibly a coronal mass ejection (CME)—an eruption of super hot plasma that spews forth charged solar material into space. The spot currently faces away from the earth, but could be facing towards us by this weekend. At this point any future CMEs could impact various communications signals, including GPS. Actually I’ve already been hearing a bit about them acting “wonky” this week. If yours is, well, it’s probably the sun’s fault.