Happy in the Brain!!

Researchers have mapped out using MRI where happiness emerges in the brain. Making a way to measure happiness objectively. a combination of happy emotions and satisfaction comes together in the precuneus, a region in the medial parietal lobe that becomes active when experiencing consciousness. Understanding the mechanism behind how happiness emerges will have a beneficial effect for quantifying levels of happiness.

Sato and his team scanned the brains of research participants with MRI. The participants then took a survey that asked how happy they are generally, how intensely they feel emotions, and how satisfied they are with their lives.
The participants that scored higher on the survey had more mass in their grey matter in the precuneus. So people who are generally happier people have a larger precuneus.
"Several studies have shown that meditation increases grey matter mass in the precuneus. This new insight on where happiness happens in the brain will be useful for developing happiness programs based on scientific research," he said.
Maybe these happiness programs can help depression patients. The Art of Living Happiness program has a powerful breathing technique that uses specific, natural rhythms of the breath to release stress at the deepest level, and also balance and integrate mind, body and heart.
Maybe if I do some breathing exercises or meditations I could increase the size of my prenuceus and stress less about school and live a happier life!!! :)


This article can be found here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151120092144.htm

Monarch butterflies liking the California drought

Due to the drought in California gardeners are planting drouggt tolerant plants and it is having a positive effect on the monarch butterfly. They only lay their eggs on milkweed which is one of the drought tolerant plants.

This can be found here http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/e89d7d8b877042a98418676aba73b0f8.htm#

Nuclear membrane repairs catastrophically broken DNA strands..

the nuclear membranes function was to protect the genetic material inside and to be selective to which molecules are allow in and out. But Chiolo and his team discovered broken strands of heterochromatin being carried to the nuclear membrane to be repaired. Heterochromatin is composed of repeated DNA sequences you may know it as junk DNA. Heterochromatin is essential for chromosome maintenance during cell division and also poses specific threats to genome stability.
Heterochromatin is potentially one of the most powerful driving forces for cancer formation, but it is the 'dark matter' of the genome. Scientist are just beginning to unravel how repair works here.
The body doesn't experience cancers every day because it is efficient molecular mechanism that repairs the damaged DNA. Heterochromatin is different in that the repeated sequences recombine with other repeated sequenced and this causes chromosome aberrations as seen in cancer cells. Their study suggest that the dysfunction of the nuclear membrane can affect heterochromatin repair and cause cancer progression.

They are working with fruit flies to understand how and why organisms become more prone to cancer as they age. The nuclear membrane progressively deteriorates as an organism ages, removing this cell wall against genome instability.



The article can be found here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151029185601.htm

Protein Factories Hidden in Human Jumping Genes

Scientist have discovered a unknown wellspring of genetic diversity in humans and other primates caused by jumping genes. They found a sequence of DNA that they call ORF0 that produces hundreds of these unknown proteins. When ORF0 is in abundance it is suggested that it pays an important role in evolutionary diversity. The discovery of these mobile protein factories may also help in understanding the origins of genetic mutations responsible for cancer, mental disorders and other diseases.


The scientist have focused on a class of jumping genes known as LINE-1 elements. These elements contain all necessary genetic machinery for moving themselves and other jumping genes to other places in the genome. The structure of LINE-1 elements possibly allows the ORF0 sequence to blend with the genetic sequence in new locations in DNA. This results in new gene sequences being new proteins.


The ORF0 gene was found in the primate genome and scientist plan to determine how many of the  ORF0 sequences actually code for proteins and investigate what is the functions of the proteins.


They also plan to investigate the behavior of ORF0 in different cell types and diseases. They are focusing on exploring its role in cancers and in neurological disorders like schizophrenia, where previous studies have suggested jumping genes may be involved.






This article can e found here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151022124518.htm

Edible Love Gifts May Influence Female Behavior!??!?!

Professor Richard Ffrench-Constant from the University of Exeter has been studying the behavior of crickets during mating. He knows that the male cricket gives the female an edible gift during mating. Its primary use is to keep the female from eating the sperm, by given the female this edible gift it allows time for the sperm to transfer before the female attempts to feed on the sperm after it is done with eating the edible gift.




But research now has seen that it alters the behavior of the female to where it less likely to mate with other males. The protein from the edible gift has been shown to not only protect the protein for being broken down by enzymes, but could also promotes cell growth and development in target tissues in the female that leads to the influencing of their reproductive behavior.




This article can be found here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151006144525.htm

What Does a Chin Do?

Its not a question I have ever heard before and not something that you think about. But why do we have chins? The first thought was that the chin is used to help the jaw stand up to the forces generated by chewing. New scientists do not believe that this is true. Research testing using 292 measurements to compare the development of the jaw and bone distribution associated with protecting against different stresses. They believe that development of the chin has nothing to do with resistance to bending stresses, but it is a results of our faces shrinking. They say an evolution toward smaller faces over time is being seen in the Homo genus. Homo sapiens are showing the most reduction in size. The jaw stops growing last making it more prominent compared to the rest of the face.
Now if we could explain the reason for our faces shrinking maybe we could have a better understanding to having a chin!


This article can be found here http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/why-humans-have-chins-150415.htm

Worms and Stem Cells

Scientist have been using the flatworm Marcostomum ligando to find pathways operating in stem cells that is used in the regenerating capabiloties. But to understand better they needed to sequence the genome. This information is used to better understand it's gene expression changes during regeneration. From what has been looked at it looks like many of the development pathways that are present in humans are also present in the worms. From here the study to find out if these pathways are used in regeneration. Researchers believe this is a very important species for stem cells research.

This article can be found herehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150921153459.htm

Transposons and Gene Therapy

The topic for my research paper is the role of transposons in generating biological diversity, but I found an article that talks about the possibility that transposons can be used in gene therapy. A transposon is small piece of DNA that inserts itself into another place in the genome. Transposons can interrupt the normal spelling of DNA, creating gene mutations with a variety of effects. They can turn nearby genes off and cause a loss of function, or they can turn genes on causing a gain of function or increasing the amount of protein made.

An ancient transposon in fish referred to as Sleeping Beauty has been reconstructed to possibly be considered in developing efficient and safe vectors for vertebrate transgenesis as well as for human gene therapy. The transposon integrates into the chromosome and provides the basis for long term or possibly permanent transgene expression in transgenic cells and organisms.


The abstract for the article can be found here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17073604

Nature's Genetically Modified Butterflies

Researchers have found that humans are not the only thing genetically modifying organisms. Butterflies and moths have been found to posses genes from parasitic wasp, that protect them against other viruses. These parasitic wasp known as braconids, inject eggs and the bracovirus into caterpillars of butterflies and moths. The virus is injected to inhibit  the immune system of the caterpillar to protect the larvae. When a caterpillar survives an attack against the wasp, the bracovirus has modified the gene and it is now able to be passed to the off spring. The researchers have also found that the gene helps protect them against baculoviruses. The baculovirus is used by farmers to control insect pests.

A consequence of humans genetically modifying insects is that the genes can be transferred into other species. For example genes introduced into parasitic wasp that are used to control pest may be transferred into pest.

Herreror which is one of the researcher for this said "we must be aware of the types of genes that we add, since they could also be transferred to other insects."

The article can be found here
http://www.livescience.com/52225-parasites-viruses-genetically-modify-butterflies.html

Bringing Next-Generation DNA Sequencing to Working Crime Laboratories

The Penn State Forensic Program is collaborating with Battle Memorial Institute to get next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in working crime labs. NGS is different methods used to sequence DNA and RNA faster and cheaper than Sanger sequencing. The hope for this research is to be able to incorporate instruments that use NGS into working crime labs and replace old equipment that is less informative. The information from NGS is supposed to help in DNA profiling and comparison of known suspects and victims. This new technology will also help generate investigative leads and identify individuals with only traces of genetic evidence.

The demand for low cost sequencing is very high. For molecular biology purposes DNA sequencing is used to study genomes and the proteins they encode for. The first human genome took $3 billion dollars and 13 years to sequence now it only takes about $4,000 and only one to two days. One method of NGS is the Single Molecule Real-Time DNA sequencing with Pacific Biosciences it would cost only $100 and take only 15 minutes!

The article can be found
http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/research-in-action-with-new-grant-penn-state-helps-bring-next-generation-dna-sequencing-to-working-crime-laboratories