A research team writes in Cell Metabolism that they have uncovered a clue to how bacteria may promote some colon cancers.

The work used metabolomic technologies to find molecular evidence suggesting a vicious circle in which cancerous changes in colon cells promote the growth of bacterial conglomerations called biofilms, and biofilms in turn promote cancer development. 

On the whole, the findings suggest that removing bacterial biofilms could be a key strategy for preventing and treating colon cancers, which currently kill about 50,000 Americans per year. The study also revealed an apparent metabolic marker of biofilm-associated colon cancers.

The Andromeda galaxy is our nearest galactic neighbor in space. Though it is 2.5 million light-years away, its spiral of over 100 billion stars makes it visible as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky.

But there is also something that takes Hubble to notice - a huge bubble of hot, diffuse plasma surrounding it. If we could see that gargantuan halo from Earth, it would appear to be 100 times the angular diameter of the full Moon. 

The gargantuan halo can be thought of as the "atmosphere" of a galaxy and is estimated to contain half the mass of the stars in the Andromeda galaxy itself. Astronomers were able to identify the halo by measuring how it filtered the light of distant bright background objects called quasars. 

Most cameras have an auto-stabilization feature to compensate for movement during - and our eyes do also.

But in order for that imperceptible reflex that prevents our vision from blurring when we move to do its job, wirelike projections - axons - of specialized nerve cells must find their way from the retina to the correct part of the brain during embryonic development.

How those axons find their way through the brain's maze of neurons to make the right connection could lead to new ways to treat eye movement disorders. 

Militant animal rights activists have forced Tübingen neuroscientist Professor Nikos Logothetis’ to announce that he will no longer do primate research.

The death threats and hostility he has received are not worth it, he said. But scientists are showing solidarity, even if it just means signing a letter and they won't be getting in the way of any bullets. In less than 48 hours more than 2,000 scientists from all over the world signed a motion by Professor Peter Thier, Chairman of the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) at the University of Tübingen.

American Millennials may be even more sexually permissive than the 1970s generation, noted for its bisexuality and drugs and unprotected sex in a consequence-free environment.

Teen sex, premarital sex, gay sex, it's all a lot more commonly accepted than was the case 40 years ago, but Millennials haven't embraced '70s-era Swinger parties: Affairs while married are bad, according to analysis of surveys led by psychologist Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University. 

The epidermis of the coffee bean, known as coffee silverskin, is usually removed after the beans have been dried, and of course used coffee grounds are normally discarded unless people use them in their garden or as an abrasive cleaning product.

It might be time to reconsider putting them in a landfill, according to a study from the University of Granada which set out to see what other value they might have. They found that the antioxidant effects of these coffee grounds are 500 times greater than those found in vitamin C and could be employed to create functional foods with significant health benefits. 


Credit: UGR Divulga