Big data is the current trendy phrase that covers many different areas.  Big data describes equally well having a huge volume of data generated in a short period of time (like molecular simulations of DNA), having a huge volume of data that needs to be indexed and archived (like PubMed or Web of Science), or wanting to analyze different types of data that wasn’t collected for a given purpose (the CI-BER project uses a variety of data types collected over the years to study a neighborhood in Asheville, NC).

At some point it would be ideal for animal-to-human transplants of insulin-producing cells for people with type 1 diabetes, such as from pigs, but first there must be baby steps.

Or in this case, mouse steps.

Scientists have successfully transplanted islets, the cells that produce insulin, from a rat to a mouse. Using their new method of xenotransplantation, the islets survived without immunosuppressive drugs.

A recent article "These fish are evidence that humans aren't the only evil animals" began from the presumption that these fish were intentionally injuring others to avoid predation against themselves.

One problem with this article was the initial silly use of terms like "evil" or "selfish" when clearly that is not what this behavior involved.  As mentioned in the paper, there is nothing cognitively intentional about this behavior so to assign these terms is just more sensationalist nonsense.

You have noticed the way water flows around boulders in a fast-moving river, creating areas of stillness and intense motion.

It's possible to control the forces of fluid flow at the smallest levels by placing tiny pillars in microfluidic channels. By altering the speed of the fluid, and stacking many pillars, with different widths, placements and orientations, in the fluid's path, they showed that it is possible to create an impressive array of controlled flows.

Why does this matter?

Far more people are willing to donate their eyes to research than actually are registered to donate, according to a paper in
Current Eye Research.

While demand for tissue remains high, the number of human eyes donated for research declined 28 percent between 1997 and 2004, said Andrew Williams, a third-year Michigan State University College of Human Medicine student.

Of roughly 200 patients with eye diseases surveyed in the study, 90 percent said they were willing to donate their eyes.

Game theory is used today in a wide range of areas such as economics, social sciences, biology and philosophy, gives a mathematical framework for describing a situation of conflict or cooperation between intelligent rational players.  

The central goal is to predict the outcome of the process. In the early 1950s, John Nash showed that the strategies adopted by the players form an equilibrium point (so-called Nash equilibrium) for which none of the players has any incentive to change strategy.

The querelle on the device patented by Andrea Rossi, the E-CAT, which allegedly produces heat from nuclear fusion processes inside a small cylindrical reactor fueled with Hydrogen and Nickel powder, continues to draw the attention of the gullible as well as that of the knowledgeable. It is just entertaining to both!

Sociology might actually have an explanation for the odd popularity of Tori Amos songs - depressing music might evoke positive emotions, according to a new paper. Obviously depending on your age you can just insert Joy Division or The Smiths where it says Tori Amos and get the idea. Some music can be a real downer.

But some music always has been. There is a reason why funeral music uses minor keys - and movies have used it for similar emotional effect since their inception.

With increasing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, major patent expiries and generic competition cutting future potential revenue there is no saturation of drug development, there is instead the opposite - but one area shows potential growth: drug delivery systems.

Among the 15 drug delivery systems surveyed by Frost&Sullivan for their Drug Delivery Technology: End-User Preferences, Utilization and Perceptions analysis, physicians preferred topical delivery, either as a transdermal patch or topical gel/cream, and expressed willingness to switch their current mode of therapy to one available in these forms.

MicroAire has entered the Biologics market with the launch of the StromaCell mechanical cell-separation device, which is is designed to prepare an autologous nucleated cell concentrate from a sample of adipose tissue, or fat, at the patient's point of care.

The StromaCell's closed-system design uses centrifugation to concentrate a stromal-vascular fraction from adipose tissue, for which there are numerous applications.