This guest post is by Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, who is head of the division of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at the Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research in London. This is a very clear and thorough debunking of a common animal rights myth where they suggest that because nine out of … Continue reading Nine out of ten Statistics are taken out of Context
Category: Science News
New UK Animal Research Law is a Victory for Animals and Scientists
As the science correspondent of a top UK newspaper said to me earlier this year “Call me cynical, but there are very few things that kill a story quite like having “EU Directive” in the title.” He was referring of course to the snappily-titled “Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of … Continue reading New UK Animal Research Law is a Victory for Animals and Scientists
Brain-machine interface success allows paralysed woman to feed herself for first time in a decade.
Today the Guardian newspaper has a fascinating report on how a woman named Jan Scheuermann, quadraplegic for over a decade due to a spinal degenerative disease, was able to feed herself with the help of two intracortical microelectrode arrays that monitored her motor neuron activity and allowed her to manipulate a robotic arm and hand with unprecedented fluency and accuracy. … Continue reading Brain-machine interface success allows paralysed woman to feed herself for first time in a decade.
Defeating Leukemia: A smile that says “Thank the mice”
A couple of days ago the New York times published a heart warming story about a young girl named Emma Whitehead whose acute lymphoblastic leukemia - which had previously defied all therapies - has gone into full remission following treatment with a novel gene therapy that programmed her immune system to target the cancer cells. … Continue reading Defeating Leukemia: A smile that says “Thank the mice”
Animal Rights Bill Under Consideration in the Senate
The Great Ape Bill, which would have significant impact on chimpanzee research in the US, is now under consideration in the US Senate. Over the past year, the legislation has been widely discussed in terms of its aims to: 1) End invasive research with chimpanzees. 2) Move towards retirement of the US chimpanzee research population … Continue reading Animal Rights Bill Under Consideration in the Senate
Moving from rats to patients: swift progress for electrical simulation in treating paralysis
Sometimes the pace of medical progress takes even us by surprise. Last month a paper was published in the Lancet by a team of clinicians and scientists at the University of Louisville that we certainly were not expecting to see so soon, reporting that electrical stimulation of the lower spinal cord had restored voluntary movement … Continue reading Moving from rats to patients: swift progress for electrical simulation in treating paralysis
Regenerative Medicine: Prof. Anthony Atala discusses its past, present and future
Regenerative medicine is an exciting field that has really begun to mature and deliver on its promise over the past decade, though the clinical achievements to date only represent a fraction of what will be achieved in years to come. One of the leading scientists working in this field is Professor Anthony Atala, who leads a team … Continue reading Regenerative Medicine: Prof. Anthony Atala discusses its past, present and future
The Portrait of a Superstar of Science – Drosophila melanogaster
Regular readers of this blog will no doubt have heard of Drosophila melanogaster, the fly that has played a key role in important discoveries about skin cancer, the innate immune system and the development of tissues, but we’ve never really given this tiny superstar of science enough prominence on this blog. To help correct this … Continue reading The Portrait of a Superstar of Science – Drosophila melanogaster
Speaking of Research 