Artifical jellyfish created in lab from rat cells

An artificial jellyfish which is able to swim with the help of beating heart muscle cells has been created by scientists.

By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent

The tentacled artificial creature, made from silicon, has been dubbed "Medusoid" because of its resemblance to the snake-haired character from Greek mythology whose gaze turned people to stone.

It is able to mimic the swimming movement of a jellyfish thanks to muscle cells from rat hearts which were implanted onto its silicon frame and grown into a pattern similar to the muscles of a real jellyfish.

By applying an electric current to a container of conducting liquid, the scientists demonstrated they could "shock" the muscles into contracting so that it began to move through the water.

The "reverse-engineering" project by researchers from the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University was published on the website of the Nature Biotechnology journal.

Janna Nawroth, lead author of the study, said that most researchers working in tissue engineering have attempted to copy tissue or organs by simply recreating its major components, regardless of what their function is and whether they could be replaced by something simpler.

She said: "A big goal of our study was to advance tissue engineering. Our idea was that we would make jellyfish functions — swimming and creating feeding currents — as our target and then build a structure based on that information."

Her colleague Prof John Dabiri added: "I'm pleasantly surprised at how close we are getting to matching the natural biological performance, but also that we're seeing ways in which we can probably improve on that natural performance. The process of evolution missed a lot of good solutions."

Jellyfish use a pumping muscle to propel themselves through the water, meaning their movement is based on a mechanism similar to a human heart.

This makes them a useful model for tissue engineering, technology which could one day be used to create synthetic hearts or other organs for human patients.

Prof Kevin Kit Parker, one of the study's authors, said: "I saw a jellyfish at the New England Aquarium, and I immediately noted both similarities and differences between how the jellyfish pumps and the human heart. The similarities help reveal what you need to do to design a bio-inspired pump.

"The jellyfish provides a design algorithm for reverse engineering an organ's function."

Prof Dabiri added: "A lot of work these days is done to engineer molecules, but there is much less effort to engineer organisms.

"I think this is a good glimpse into the future of re-engineering entire organisms for the purposes of advancing biomedical technology."

Fizzical harm: Drinking sugary drinks doesn't just pile on the pounds - it changes your body so it's harder to lose weight

• Drinking sugary drinks for just a month alters body 
   chemistry
• More difficult to lose weight
• Body grows to 'prefer' sugar to digesting own fat

By Rob Waugh

Drinking sugared fizzy drinks for just a month changes the body permanently so it's more difficult to lose weight.

The soft drinks don't just pile on the pounds because of the calories in them - they alter the way your body burns fuel.

Your muscles grow to 'prefer' sugar to fat as a fuel, and thus losing weight becomes harder.

Drinking sugary drinks could be even more harmful than previously thought.

Soft drinks alter the way our muscles burn fuel preferring sugar over fat which makes the pounds harder to shift.

And worryingly this effect lasts long-term which can raise levels of blood glucose leading to diabetes.

Dr Hans-Peter Kubis, of Bangor University, said: ‘This study proves our concerns over sugary drinks have been correct.

‘Not only can regular sugar intake acutely change our body metabolism; in fact it seems that our muscles are able to sense the sugars and make our metabolism more inefficient, not only in the present but in the future as well.

‘This will lead a reduced ability to burn fat and to fat gain. Moreover, it will make it more difficult for our body to cope with rises in blood sugar.’

Dr Kubis warned the drinks can compromise long term health and, when in need of refreshment, people should reach for water instead.

His researchers also showed isolated muscle cells identify and respond to the sugary diet, and switch how they use the fuel.

The move to an inefficient metabolism was seen in male and female participants who were lightly active, and drinking soft drinks for just four weeks.

These factors show that regular use of sugar sweetened soft drinks drives alterations in muscles similar to those found in people with obesity problems and type 2 diabetes.

Dr Kubis said: ‘What is clear is our body adjusts to regular soft drink consumption and prepares itself for the future diet by changing muscle metabolism via altered gene activity - encouraging unhealthy adaptations similar to those seen in people with obesity problems and type 2 diabetes.

‘Together with our findings about how drinking soft drinks dulls the perception of sweetness, our new results give a stark warning against regularly drinking sugar sweetened drinks.’

In the study 11 people in their twenties took part in a sugar sweetened soft drink supplementation for a month and before and after had their blood and muscle tissue as well as their whole body metabolism and composition tested.

Genes and proteins important for fat and sugar metabolism were analysed and blood sugar and fats assessed.

As it turned out metabolism shifted towards sugar away from using fat and genes for inefficient sugar metabolism were activated and a particular factor which is known to be crucial for genes of aerobic metabolism was reduced. Moreover the subjects gained fat and blood sugar was elevated.

Dr Kubis said: ‘What we found is that it is not the sugar in itselt that puts on weight but the way it gets the body to store more.

‘This would relate to all kinds of soft drinks with a high sugar content, including fruit juices.

‘It was a small study because it is difficult to find young people who have not previously been exposed to a lot of soft drinks and who are willing to undergo muscle biopsies.

‘But we are now hoping to carry out a bigger study with more particpants over a longer period of time.’

He has been campaigning for the government to take action to address the problem of soft drink consumption.

Added Dr Kubis: ‘Clearly taxation on sugary drinks is overdue. This money could be invested in the NHS where it is urgently needed to treat people with obesity problems and diabetes.’

Anti-Israel attacks to mount in sync with Syrian war, looming strike on Iran

DEBKAfile Special Report

The tactics Iran, Syria and Hizballah have set out for escalating their terrorist attacks on Israel differentiate between “local” and high-value “strategic” targets. They have now decided to up the assaults on the latter to keep pace with the worsening war situation in Syria and the approach of an attack on Iran’s nuclear program. This is reported by debkafile’s intelligence and counter-terror sources.

Iranian terror planners classify the blowing up of the Bulgarian bus Wednesday, July 18 as “local” notwithstanding its “success” in killing at least seven Israelis and wounding more than thirty.

Destroying an Israeli passenger plane in Limassol, Cyprus, or assassinating an Israeli ambassador, in which they have failed so far, would have been “strategic” as would key Israeli security figures, politicians, business executives and Israel’s Mediterranean oil and gas fields.

Just by coincidence, two major episodes occurred on the same day only hours apart – a large hole was struck in Bashar Assad’s inner circle with the deaths in Damascus of half the management of his killing machine against the Syrian opposition and, soon after, the Israeli tour bus was blown up by means still under investigation.

This chance synchronicity heralds a new period of horrific Middle East violence which will reach not only Israel, but the United States and the West as well.

This realization was uppermost in the conversation between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday morning, July 19. Neither doubted that Tehran and Damascus were hatching retribution for the assassination of top Syrian ministers.

They had information missing from media reports on the two events, including the news that straight after the deadly attack on Assad’s henchmen, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called an Iranian leadership conference which lasted most of Wednesday and was punctuated with frequent phone calls by Iranian officials to the Syrian President.

The content of those phone calls reaching reached Obama and Netanyahu showed clearly which way the wind was blowing in Damascus and Tehran: Neither intended pulling their punches.

The US and Israeli leaders agreed to work together in the investigation of the bus explosion in Bulgaria.

Our sources stress that this is just diplomaticspeak for holding off on action. Despite Netanyahu’s pledge of a “strong response” to the attack, it was decided that a proactive response to the attack by striking an Iranian or Hizballah target would exacerbate a situation which US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described as “spinning out of control.”

Israelis have learned in the three years of Netanyahu's tenure as prime minister that expressions like “strong,” “forceful,” “determined” “we cannot tolerate” etc. mean just the opposite. Israel’s enemies also understand him to mean that he will sit tight and do nothing.

However, an escalation of attacks on Israeli “strategic targets” predicted by intelligence experts in the coming days may make this do-nothing policy untenable. After all, talking to Obama won’t deflect Iran, Syria and Hizballah from their resolve to vent their urge for revenge on Israel.

Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has often managed to stay a step or two ahead of US and Israeli thinking – especially in his propaganda campaigns - ever since he surprised Israel by launching the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

A few hours after the attacks in Bulgaria and Damascus, Nasrallah had found his tongue and was crowing:

"We know what your [Israel’s] first strike will be and we promise you a big surprise."

His words were a warning to Israel and a message to Washington that anyone trying to reach the bunker in which he has been hiding since 2006 was in for a big surprise.

Israel was painfully reminded of the Iranian C-802 shore-to-ship missile fired from the Lebanese coast which surprised and crippled the unready INS Hanit missile ship exactly six years ago.

Nouriel Roubini: Five factors that could derail the global economy

By Edward Krudy, Reuters

NEW YORK – Economist Nouriel Roubini is standing by his prediction for a global “perfect storm” next year as economies the world over slow down or shudder to a complete halt, geopolitical risk grows and the eurozone’s debt crisis accelerates.

Roubini, the New York University professor dubbed “Dr. Doom” for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, highlighted five factors that could derail the global economy.

Those factors are:

•A worsening of the debt crisis in Europe
•Tax increases and spending cuts in United Sates that may push the world’s biggest economy into recession
•A hard landing for China’s economy
•Further slowing in emerging markets
•A military confrontation with Iran

“Next year is the time when the can becomes too big to kick it down (the road)…then we have a global perfect storm,” Roubini said in a television interview with Reuters.

Roubini’s gloomy 2013 outlook isn’t new, but it’s getting more purchase as slowing economies and Europe’s debt crisis drive turbulence in financial markets.

After what he expects will be a flat year for U.S. stocks in 2012, Roubini said the equity market could face a sharp correction next year, with little the Federal Reserve can do to stop it.

“There might be a weak rally because people are being cheered by more quantitative easing by (Chairman Ben) Bernanke and the Fed, but if the economy is weakening, that is going to put downward pressure on earnings growth,” said Roubini.

Roubini said the Federal Reserve may be pushed toward unconventional policy options as the simulative effect of successive waves of quantitative easing – effectively printing money to buy government bonds – diminishes over time.

Unconventional policy could include “targeting the 10-year Treasury at 1 percent, doing credit easing rather than quantitative easing, targeting nominal GDP, price-level targeting and lots of stuff that is more esoteric,” said Roubini. “Eventually if everything goes wrong, they can even buy equities.”

It really is a world-wide web! Stunning map that shows the sprawling mass of internet cables that keeps the world connected

By Mark Prigg

You almost certainly use it every day, but until now nobody has really known what the internet actually looks like.

However, Fortune magazine and graphic designer Nicolas Rapp teamed up with telecom data and infrastructure company GeoTel Communications.

The company maps fiber optic cables and geographic information systems (GIS) that connect people all over the world, which were used to create the stunning image below.

It shows the key locations for fiber optic cables, the high speed connections that form the backbone of the internet.

It also reveals that much of the online world is actually underwater, and under the world's largest oceans.

These cables transfer data in the form of light to and from power repeaters in major cities — such as Hong Kong and New York — in a matter of milliseconds.

'If the internet is a global phenomenon, it’s because there are fiber-optic cables underneath the ocean,' said the designer of the images Nicolas Rapp.

He explained how the cables are used.

'Light goes in on one shore and comes out the other, making these tubes the fundamental conduit of information throughout the global village,' he said on his blog.

'To make the light travel enormous distances, thousands of volts of electricity are sent through the cable’s copper sleeve to power repeaters, each the size and roughly the shape of a 600-pound bluefin tuna.

'Once a cable reaches a coast, it enters a building known as a “landing station” that receives and transmits the flashes of light sent across the water.

'The fiber-optic lines then connect to key hubs, known as “Internet exchange points,” which, for the most part, follow geography and population.

The idea of the maps was to explain how the internet works in an easy to understand manner.

“Most people have no clue what the world’s communication infrastructure looks like,” Dave Drazen of GeoTel told Mashable.

“When they open this [article] up, they’re astonished. You’re actually mapping the Internet right here.”