{"id":2323,"date":"2012-03-02T14:00:09","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/?p=2323"},"modified":"2012-03-07T14:15:42","modified_gmt":"2012-03-07T14:15:42","slug":"best-of-nature-network-nature-com-blogs-and-scitable-25-%e2%80%93-2-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/2012\/03\/02\/best-of-nature-network-nature-com-blogs-and-scitable-25-%e2%80%93-2-march","title":{"rendered":"Best of Nature Network, nature.com blogs and Scitable: 25 February \u2013 2 March"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Stem cells put women on fertile ground<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/grrlscientist\/2012\/03\/01\/stem-cells-put-women-on-fertile-ground-video\">GrrlScientist <\/a>has been reporting on one of the biggest science<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/grrlscientist\/2012\/03\/01\/stem-cells-put-women-on-fertile-ground-video\"> news stories<\/a> of the week. She explains that by using cutting-edge technologies and some imagination, a Harvard professor and his team find that ovaries in women of reproductive age contain stem cells which give rise to mature oocytes. You can find out more in this <em>Nature Vide<\/em>o below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JDaKsfx8yh4\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Also discussing stem cells is Scitable\u2019s blogger and postdoctoral research fellow, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/scitable\/blog\/theprometheancell\/borrowing_ideas\">Ada Ao.<\/a> In her post, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/scitable\/blog\/theprometheancell\/borrowing_ideas\">Borrowing ideas<\/a>, she discusses the common features between stem cells and cancer cells, illustrating how easy it is for ideas to cross-pollinate between niche fields:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The terms &#8220;cancer stem cell&#8221; (CSC) or &#8220;tumor-initiating cell&#8221; (TIC) has crept into cancer biology lexicon during the past decade. The main thrust of this hypothesis supposes that the bulk tumor contains a subpopulation of cells that spawns a tumor-the seeds, if you will. These cells are also believed to be responsible for treatment-resistance and recurrence. The idea makes intuitive sense. Stem cells and CSCs share much of the same awkward biological features (namely self-renewal, quiescence, and differentiation), and they are both fundamentally different from normal somatic cells in terms of growth kinetics. These differences may be enough to allow CSCs to evade traditional chemo- or radio-therapies, and these residual cells may initial another tumor at a later time. However, it is unclear if CSCs are native stem cells run amok, cancer cells that somehow acquired stem-like characteristics or something else entirely.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Continue to her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/scitable\/blog\/theprometheancell\/borrowing_ideas\">post <\/a>to learn more about this research.\u00a0For further reading on stem cells you can read reports from <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/houseofwisdom\/2012\/02\/qatar-discusses-stem-cell-research-ethics-and-policy.html\">Qatar\u2019s International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy<\/a> in Doha, in the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/houseofwisdom\/2012\/02\/qatar-discusses-stem-cell-research-ethics-and-policy.html\">House of Wisdom blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Real Stars!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/indigenus\/2012\/02\/star-struck.html\">Subhra Priyadarshini,<\/a> reveals in the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/indigenus\/2012\/02\/star-struck.html\">Indigenus blog<\/a>\u00a0that Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor made it to celestial stardom when fans chose to buy a star in his name in the Orion constellation for his birthday. Last year another star, Shah Rukh Khan got his name etched on lunar soil when fans named the \u2018Sea of Tranquility\u2019 crater after him. Subhra discusses the issues with this fad:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/Stars-300x186.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2330 aligncenter\" title=\"Stars-300x186\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/Stars-300x186.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"186\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Bollywood stars Shahid Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan have already gone &#8216;celestial&#8217;.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>In the wake of this new-found craze among Indians to \u2018name a star\u2019, here\u2019s some reality check: \u00a0the International Astronomical Union (IAU)\u00a0is the internationally recognized authority which designates all heavenly bodies according to globally\u00a0accepted rules. The IAU clearly \u201c<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iau.org\/public\/buying_star_names\/\">dissociates\u00a0<\/a>itself entirely from the commercial practice of \u2018selling\u2019 fictitious star names or \u2018real estate\u2019 on other planets or moons in the Solar System.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Continue to the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/indigenus\/2012\/02\/star-struck.html\">post<\/a> to find out more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Work-Life Tightrope<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nature Network blogger, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/tomwebb\/2012\/02\/29\/the-work-life-tightrope\">Tom Webb <\/a>is revealing his thoughts on juggling science and a family life, as well as getting sick:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>So factoring in your (mercifully short) commute, that&#8217;s approximately 40 hours + scraps to dedicate to work. The very idea of a 70-80 hour week is simply not compatible with such a regime, but, like many others, you accept this. You accept that you will always be surrounded (and inevitably overtaken) by colleagues more willing and able than you are to make the requisite sacrifices. You accept the fact that you are effectively working part-time &#8211; despite exceeding your contracted hours, and receiving none of the compensations and considerations due to the part-time worker &#8211; and you accept this because the balance you&#8217;ve found seems to work just about\u00a0OK.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em><\/em>How do you juggle your work-life tightrope? Do you ever teeter? Join in the growing <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/tomwebb\/2012\/02\/29\/the-work-life-tightrope\">online conversation.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>B Cells<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a title=\"Rebecca Hersher\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/author\/Rebecca-Hersher\">Rebecca Hersher<\/a>, reporting for the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2012\/03\/even-without-antibodies-b-cells-can-thwart-viruses.html\">Spoonful of Medicine blog,<\/a> reveals that recent evidence suggests B cells, once thought to fight infection solely by producing antibodies, might also prevent disease without them:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>In the traditional view, antibodies specific to a bacterium or virus are produced by B cells and maintained against future infection by certain classes of T cells as part of\u00a0the slow-but-smart \u2018adaptive\u2019 immune response. However, it seems that B cells also play an important role in the short-term immediate immune response to pathogens.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/bc.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2332 aligncenter\" title=\"bc\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/bc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Recent research on this expanded B cell function was thought to apply only to bacterial infection, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/immunity\/abstract\/S1074-7613(12)00057-X\">today\u2019s paper<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/em><em>Immunity<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>suggests it also applies to viral infection. The study demonstrates that mice without adaptive immune systems, whose B cells have been rendered incapable of producing antibodies, nonetheless survive infection by vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a pathogen closely related to rabies that attacks the nervous system. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rebecca explains that immunologists are quick to warn that these findings do not undercut the importance of vaccines, which guard against future infection by priming B cells to create antibodies against a particular pathogen. You can find out more in the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/spoonful\/2012\/03\/even-without-antibodies-b-cells-can-thwart-viruses.html\">post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Promise &amp; Pitfalls of Public Outreach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Explaining the nuances of scientific research to a lay audience has never been easy and there are still steps that scientists can take to communicate effectively about their work. Matt Shipman, in his Soapbox Science series,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/2012\/01\/31\/what-scientists-science-writers-and-pios-should-expect-from-each-other\">The Promise &amp; Pitfalls of Public Outreach<\/a>, has already discussed what<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/2012\/01\/31\/what-scientists-science-writers-and-pios-should-expect-from-each-other\">\u00a0Scientists, Science Writers and PIOs Should Expect From Each Other\u00a0<\/a>. In his next\u00a0instalment Matt talks about being a science journalist with no scientific background, offering advice for all parties:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>When writing about research findings, I usually start by asking what question or challenge the researchers were setting out to address. This can take a while. If the relevant scientists phrase things in technical language, I\u2019ll ask them to define the terms. Then I ask them why they found this problem interesting. Sometimes it is pure intellectual curiosity. But usually the research question is one element of a much broader scientific question. Science is an iterative process, and the findings from a single research project may move us incrementally closer to understanding the genetic basis for a disease, how we can boost the efficacy of antibiotics, etc.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em><\/em>Do stay tuned for Matt\u2019s final <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/soapboxscience\/2012\/01\/31\/what-scientists-science-writers-and-pios-should-expect-from-each-other\">post <\/a>published next month.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mesoscale physics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Eugenie Samuel Reich\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/news\/author\/Eugenie-Samuel-Reich\">Eugenie Samuel Reich<\/a> has been reporting for the News Blog on <a href=\"https:\/\/meetings.aps.org\/Meeting\/MAR12\/SessionIndex2\/?SessionEventID=169181\">a special session<\/a>\u00a0at the American Physical Society\u2019s in Boston, Massachusetts. He explains that the future of physics will depend crucially on researchers\u2019 ability to tackle phenomena at the mesoscale, an enigmatic realm that bridges quantum and classical physics:<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/meoscale-physics.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2345\" title=\"meoscale physics\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/meoscale-physics-270x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/meoscale-physics-270x300.jpg 270w, https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/meoscale-physics.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a>But what exactly is the mesoscale, and what kind of research is needed to understand it? That question brought forth multiple overlapping answers. \u201cThis is a buzz word, so you\u2019re free to define it any way you want,\u201d said physics Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin of Stanford University in California, whose own answer was that the mesoscale was the scale of life, as described by emergent laws of nature that have to be discovered, rather than deduced.<\/em><em> \u2018Meso\u2019 has been around as a catch-phrase for decades, but the term received a rush of attention at this meeting, in part because of an advisory committee\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/science.energy.gov\/~\/media\/bes\/besac\/pdf\/Charge_2011.pdf\">charged to look into it by Bill Brinkman, the director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy<\/a>. With a budget of nearly US$5 billion, the Office of Science is among the largest agencies supporting the physical sciences in the United States, and the largest and fastest-growing department within that office is Basic Energy Sciences, which is looking into the mesoscale as a possible area to fund.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Find our more in the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/news\/2012\/03\/mesoscale-physics-buzz-eludes-exact-definition.html\">post <\/a>about the areas of study that could benefit from being considered mesoscale physics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Homeopathy for fish<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/strippedscience\/2012\/02\/29\/homeopathy-for-fishes-cartoon\">Viktor Poor\u2019s <\/a>latest cartoon is inspired by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhgzrt.hu\/en\">Hortob\u00e1gy Fish Farm Co.<\/a>, a fishery which\u00a0treats the fish with homeopathic remedies:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/homeopathy-for-fishes.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2335\" title=\"homeopathy for fishes\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/homeopathy-for-fishes.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"694\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/homeopathy-for-fishes.png 250w, https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/files\/2012\/03\/homeopathy-for-fishes-108x300.png 108w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stem cells put women on fertile ground&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/2012\/03\/02\/best-of-nature-network-nature-com-blogs-and-scitable-25-%e2%80%93-2-march#wpn-more-2323\" class=\"more-link\"> &hellip; Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-weekly-round-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}