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Within the walls of blood vessels are smooth muscle cells and newly discovered vascular stem cells. The stem cells are multipotent and are not only able to differentiate into smooth muscle cells, but also into fat, cartilage and bone cells. UC Berkeley researchers provide evidence that the stem cells are contributing to clogged and hardened arteries. Credit: Song Li illustration

Using this 3D body suit, they are able to shoot 3D motion capture right out of the lab. More details about this suit - known as MVN BIOMECH from Xsens, this 3D human kinematic, camera-less measurement system will come integrated with small tracking sensors that are placed on the joints. All the sensors on the suit will comprise of a trio of components: an accelerometer, magnetometers and a gyroscope, working in tandem to deliver information on each of the joints, body segments between the joints and the 3D movements. Currently, a project is being developed to see how nurses are able to lift patients safely into a hospital bed without having to strain themselves.

While it's generally accepted that memories are stored somewhere, somehow in our brains, the exact process has never been entirely understood. Strengthened synaptic connections between neurons definitely have something to do with it, although the synaptic membranes involved are constantly degrading and being replaced - this seems to be somewhat at odds with the fact that some memories can last for a person's lifetime. Now, a team of scientists believe that they may have figured out what's going on. Their findings could have huge implications for the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's.

In a stunning first for neuroscience, researchers have created an electronic link between the brains of two rats, and demonstrated that signals from the mind of one can help the second solve basic puzzles in real time - even when those animals are separated by thousands of miles.

We speculate that the main selective pressures that have acted on regeneration are how first wounds are healed, and second, whether glial cells can retain access to embryonic genetic programmes to undertake neurogenesis. The latter may have limited CNS complexity in regenerative organisms.

Metabolic interactions between multiple cell types are difficult to model using existing approaches. Here we present a workflow that integrates gene expression data, proteomics data and literature-based manual curation to model human metabolism within and between different types of cells. Transport reactions are used to account for the transfer of metabolites between models of different cell types via the interstitial fluid. We apply the method to create models of brain energy metabolism that recapitulate metabolic interactions between astrocytes and various neuron types relevant to Alzheimer's disease. Analysis of the models identifies genes and pathways that may explain observed experimental phenomena, including the differential effects of the disease on cell types and regions of the brain. Constraint-based modeling can thus contribute to the study and analysis of multicellular metabolic processes in the human tissue microenvironment and provide detailed mechanistic insight into high-throughput data analysis.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2009) - When it comes to the hippocampus, a brain structure vital to certain types of memory, size matters. Numerous studies have shown that bigger is usually better. Now researchers have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than those who are less fit.

This is circuitry with a real twist that's able to monitor and deliver electrical impulses into living tissue. Elastic electronics are made of tiny, wavy silicon structures containing circuits that are thinner than a human hair, and bend and stretch with the body. "As the skin moves and deforms, the circuit can follow those deformations in a completely noninvasive way," says Rogers. He hopes elastic electronics will open a door to a whole range of what he calls "bio-integrated" medical devices.

London surgeons are currently trialling Kinect's motion control capabilities at St Thomas' hospital in London. The devices are being used during keyhole surgery to allow surgeons to manipulate images with voice and gestures.

"At EPFL's Blue Brain facilities, computer models of individual neurons are being assembled into neural circuits that produce electrical signals akin to brain waves. The results, published in the journal Neuron, are helping solve the mystery of how and why these signals arise in the brain."

Gerald Edelman believes neurons are selected for using darwinian principles.  His views on science are "Science is imagination in the service of the verifiable truth and that service is indeed communal. It cannot be rigidly planned. Rather, it requires freedom and courage and the plural contributions of many different kinds of people who must maintain their individuality whilst giving to the group".

Fantastic film showing just how much can be done right now. that the tools are already in place. We are just trying to democratise them by bringing them online. 

The Coming Crisis In Organizing Work Bollier reports that Roundtable attendees shared a growing concern that there is an unacknowledged crisis brewing in the workforce and the way it's organized. "My sense is that there is a constant move toward globalization, outsourcing and the 'freeagent nation', said attendee Dwayne Spradlin of InnoCentive, Inc. "People are engaging the workplace in a very different way. I think over the next five years we're going to see a massive shift in demographics among young people and how they engage their organizations. In general, companies are wholly unprepared for what's about to come."

BioModels Database is a repository of peer-reviewed, published, computational models. These mathematical models are primarily from the field of systems biology, but more generally are those of biological interest. This resource allows biologists to store, search and retrieve published mathematical models.

WelcomeA community for the advancement of standards for AR has formed. As it is a grassroots initiative, there is no formal administrative structure for this community. These pages serve as a digital repository of information that the community gathers/contributes.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have fabricated superlenses from perovskite oxides that are simpler and easier to fabricate than metamaterials, and are ideal for capturing light in the mid-infrared range, which opens the door to highly sensitive biomedical detection and imaging. It is also possible that the superlensing effect can be selectively turned on/off, which would open the door to highly dense data writing and storage.

Body area network (BAN), wireless body area network (WBAN) or body sensor network (BSN) are terms used to describe the application of wearable computing devices

The Misconception: You make rational decisions based on the future value of objects, investments and experiences. The Truth: Your decisions are tainted by the emotional investments you accumulate, and the more you invest in something the harder it becomes to abandon it.

According to the "RNA world" model of life's origin, RNA performed all of the operations that are essential to life. RNA alone passed on genetic information and catalyzed the reactions of basic metabolism; DNA and proteins were not in the picture. The RNA world hypothesis is an appealingly simple model for simple early life forms, since it allows the complex array of biochemical interactions among proteins, DNA, and RNA to evolve gradually.

Here now, for distributing far and wide, is a list of common misconceptions surrounding "Folk Neuroscience" - a term clinical and neuropsychologist Vaughan Bell uses to describe the imprecise, "sometimes wildly inaccurate," concepts that are commonly used to explain the brai