Gizmorama - July 29, 2015

Good Morning,

Hey, did you hear about researchers turning human blood cells into micro-lasers? That's right. This is not a joke or a plot to a Roger Moore 'James Bond' movie. It sounds goofy, but read the story below. It's really interesting.

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Researchers turn human blood cells into micro-lasers --*
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (UPI) - In an effort to improve their cancer-fighting skills, researchers at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland, have managed to turn human blood cells into micro-lasers.

The process works by coaxing white blood cells in a petri dish to swallow, or absorb, a resonant cavity, or micro resonator -- a tiny bubble of sorts. Inside the bubble is a light-emitting protein, the same protein that gives jellyfish their green fluorescence.

Once inside the cell, the proteins are excited by a laser. The cavity, or bubble, has magnifying effect, significantly boosting the proteins' luminosity. Right now, the scientists have only converted cells into a micro-laser inside a petri dish. But they believe the cells can be safely and successfully introduced into the body.

The technology isn't entirely new, but until now, researchers haven't been able to create a micro resonator small enough to fit entirely inside a human cell. Once excited, the cell-encapsulated lasers can shine for several days.

If they're able to introduce the glow-in-the-dark cells to human test subjects, researchers believe they can ultimately watch the growth of tumors and behavior of cancer cells in real time.

"The ability to track the movement of large number of cells will widen our understanding of a number of important processes in biology," lead researcher Malte Gather, a St. Andrews physics professor who collaborated with immunologists in the University's School of Medicine, explained in a press release.

"For instance being able to see where and when circulating tumour cells invade healthy tissue," Gather continued, "can provide insight into how cancers spread in the body which would allow scientists to develop more targeted therapies in the future."

Researchers say they can even "barcode" each light-emitting cell, inserting a light-based signature that can be distinguished among thousands of cells.

Gather and his colleagues shared their latest successes in the journal Nano Letters.


*-- Curiosity rover investigates unusual Martian bedrock --*
PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) - NASA's resident geologist on Mars, Curiosity, has begun investigating a unique piece of bedrock, unlike anything it's seen so far.

The bedrock -- located downhill from a contact zone near Marias Pass, a geologic formation on lower Mount Sharp -- is unusual for its high levels of silica.

Silica, which can exist in many forms, most of them geological, is the chemical combination of oxygen and silicon. On Earth, it's most commonly found as quartz -- the second most abundant mineral in the continental crust after feldspar.

It was the presence of silica at the Martian contact zone that first moved scientists to suggest the Red Planet, too, once hosted a continental crust. Now, researchers want to further explore the silica-rich formation dubbed "Elk," believing it might hold evidence of ancient life. Silica is an excellent preserver of organic matter.

"One never knows what to expect on Mars, but the Elk target was interesting enough to go back and investigate," Roger Wiens, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead scientist for Curiosity's ChemCam instrument, said in a press release.

Prior to arriving at the Elk formation, the rover was busy investigating an intriguing contact zone. As scientists explain, the coming together of pale mudstone and darker sandstone suggests a history of continental shelving.

The geological evolution of early Mars and early Earth may not have been all that dissimilar, researchers say.

"We found an outcrop named Missoula where the two rock types came together, but it was quite small and close to the ground," said Ashwin Vasavada, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We used the robotic arm to capture a dog's-eye view with the MAHLI camera, getting our nose right in there."

Curiosity's three-year anniversary is fast approaching, and while the rover has made some tremendous discoveries, there is much of the planet it has yet to explore. For now, the Mars rover will continue to study the rocky layers of Mount Sharp.

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