A NASA satellite has captured the first occurrence this summer of mysterious iridescent polar clouds that form 50 miles above Earth's surface.

The first observations of these clouds by the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite occurred above 70 degrees north on May 25. Observers on the ground began seeing the clouds on June 6 over northern Europe. AIM is the first satellite mission dedicated to the study of these unusual clouds.

These mystifying clouds are called Polar Mesospheric Clouds, or PMCs, when they are viewed from space and referred to as "night-shining" clouds, or noctilucent clouds, when viewed by observers on Earth. The clouds form during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season that begins in mid-May and extends through the end of August.

Scientists have obtained the first-ever 3D pictures of magnetic reconnection events, the dances on the solar winds of near-Earth space.

In magnetic reconnection, magnetic field lines from different magnetic domains collide and reconnect, mixing previously separated plasma. Plasma is a gas composed of ions and electrons but is electrically neutral, spread over large distances in space and guided by the action of magnetic and electric fields.

Magnetic reconnection converts the energy of the magnetic field into particle energy, generating jets and heating the plasma.

Researchers in the group "Alcoholism and drug addiction" of the University of Granada have shown that a hereditary lack of endorphin is a genetic predisposition to become addicted to alcohol.

Beta-endorphin is a kind of “morphine” released by the brain in response to several situations, such as pain. In this way, beta-endorphins can be considered “endogenous analgesics” to numb or dull pains.

Researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL) have made the discovery that tuberculosis and leprosy bacteria follow a different path into the host cell than that which for forty years scientists had always maintained.

The insight has huge implications for an understanding of these diseases and for more effective medicines to combat TB, leprosy and even cervical cancer.

High-resolution electron microscopes and tomography have enabled Peters, Van der Wel and their colleagues to map the cell's internal organisation. Knowledge of differing cell organelles that also play a role in the development of cancer is important when trying to understand fundamental cell processes.

Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory now reveal that the hypothalamus and its hormones are not purely vertebrate inventions, but have their evolutionary roots in marine, worm-like ancestors.

Hormones control growth, metabolism, reproduction and many other important biological processes. In humans, and all other vertebrates, the chemical signals are produced by specialized brain centers such as the hypothalamus and secreted into the blood stream that distributes them around the body.

Hormone-secreting brain centers are much older than expected and likely evolved from multifunctional cells of the last common ancestor of vertebrates - flies and worms.

The so-called Ret Chip, the world's first genetic chip to be produced for diagnosing hereditary diseases of the retina in a genetic examination, will become available in mid-July. The chip is the largest to be used to date for the diagnosis of human hereditary disorders. It was developed by a team of scientists headed by Professor Bernhard Weber at the Institute for Human Genetics at the University Hospital Regensburg.

In Europe roughly one child in 4,000 is born with a hereditary retina disorder. The most common disorder is retinitis pigmentosa, of which there are a number of different variants. Although ophthalmologists can diagnose the destruction of nerve cells in the retina, in most cases they can’t offer patients any treatment.