Nerve in lab

A group of scientists from Sweden, Norway and the US has produced functioning neurons, the unit of nervous system, from adult stem cells (which give birth to specialised cells), reports Neurosurgery. The neurons were capable of communicating through nerve cell junctions. This holds promise for treating degenerative brain conditions like Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, and neural problems like trauma.

Bone glue

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have found a sort of ‘glue’ in human bone, reports the journal Nature Materials. The study describes how a healthy bone resists fracture and how an unhealthy bone fractures at the molecular level. Analysis of high-resolution bone images revealed that the glue appears to contain ‘springs’ that uncoil when the bone under stress absorbs shock.

Spring signal

A protein called FKF1 tells flowers when spring starts. Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute, US, have unraveled the cellular signaling that prompts the plants to blossom after the winter, reports Science. FKF1 exerts control over the protein that responds to the arrival of daylight and starts a procedure to begin flowering.

Fake sex

Sperm, like an egg, carries a hefty biological price tag. Possessive cockerels extend their partners’ period of fidelity just by mounting over them without transferring the semen. Such fake sex keep hens more faithful, and also discourage them to look for other male competitors, say researchers at the University of Oxford.