Nature's creepy crawly little healers

You never know where they'll find the next big thing.

A "smart community" of Paenibacillus vortex bacteria.

Tel Aviv University has developed a "Social-IQ score" for bacteria -- and it may lead to new antibiotics and powerful bacteria-based "green" pesticides for the agricultural industry. The research shows just how "smart" bacteria can really be. Second, it demonstrates bacteria's high level of social intelligence -- how bacteria work together to communicate and grow. And finally, the work points out some potentially significant applications in medicine and agriculture.

Despite advances in genetic science showing that the Ras oncogene is mutated in virtually all pancreatic cancers, scientists have been frustrated by the complexity of the signaling pathways in humans, which make it difficult to pinpoint potential therapeutic targets. Now scientists have taken a step back to a simpler organism -- a common roundworm -- and made a discovery about how the Ras oncogene chooses a signaling pathway and how the consequences of that choice play out in cellular development -- a key issue in cancer, which is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth.

The enzyme that makes fireflies glow is lighting up the scientific path toward a long-sought new medical imaging agent to better monitor treatment with heparin, the blood thinner that millions of people take to prevent or treat blood clots, scientists are reporting.

The FDA recently approved the drug Halaven for treating late-stage breast cancer. Halaven derives from halichondrin B, a substance identified in a black sponge that lives off the coast of Japan. Studies showed it has a powerful effect on tumors, blocking cell division in a way that scientists hadn't previously thought of.

Smart salamander.

By tracking individual cells in genetically modified salamanders, researchers have found an unexpected explanation for their seemingly magical ability to regrow lost limbs.
Rather than having their cellular clocks fully reset and reverting to an embryonic state, cells in the salamanders’ stumps became slightly less mature versions of the cells they’d been before. The findings could inspire research into human tissue regeneration.

Many moose have arthritis. And scientists believe their condition’s origin can help explain human osteoarthritis, affecting one of every seven adults 25 and older and becoming increasingly prevalent. The arthritic Bullwinkles got that way because of poor nutrition early in life, an extraordinary 50-year research project has discovered. That could mean that some people’s arthritis can be linked in part to nutritional deficits, in the womb and possibly throughout childhood.