Brains, spiders, (were)wolves and slimy eyeballs — a collection of creepy research topics that Dr. Frankenstein would appreciate! But unlike the mad scientist’s work, the research detailed below in ACS journals aims to improve human life by developing an alternative to animal testing, on-demand wound care, an edible protective coating for veggies, and informing future retinal health studies.
Brains, spiders, (were)wolves and slimy eyeballs — a collection of creepy research topics that Dr. Frankenstein would appreciate! But unlike the mad scientist’s work, the research detailed below in ACS journals aims to improve human life by developing an alternative to animal testing, on-demand wound care, an edible protective coating for veggies, and informing future retinal health studies.
Tiny, lab-grown brains. Researchers report in ACS Sensors that they grew a brain organoid in a petri dish to advance the study of neural networks without laboratory animals. After 2 years, the team’s cultured human nerve cells divided and self-organized into a 3D “mini-brain” with electrophysiological activity. Further development of this technology could lead to a brain model for researching the organization and communication patterns of human brain tissue, or maybe a lab-grown lunch option for zombies.
A Web-Slinging Glove. By attaching spider-like spinneret devices to a glove, researchers created a “handy” system to deploy thin polymer fibers in the air. The fibers could spin wound dressings on the fly (pun intended) in hospitals, sports arenas and military field operations. Experiments with the glove are detailed in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and do not include bites from radioactive spiders.
Read More: American Chemical Society
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