New Drug Can Treat Almost Any Viral Infection by Killing the Body’s Infected Cells
A new broad-spectrum treatment for viruses could be as effective as antibiotics fighting bacteria, MIT researchers report. The method uses cells’ own defense systems to induce invaded cells to commit suicide, preventing the spread of the virus. In lab tests, the new drug completely cured mice that had been infected with influenza. Viruses work by…
New microscope produces 3D movies of live cells in action
It’s been a big week for the world of the small. In a new microscope breakthrough, researchers have figured out how to use a minuscule sheet of light to produce movies of living cells, revealing mitosis in action and illuminating cells’ three-dimensional architecture with the greatest detail ever seen. The technique uses a highly focused,…
Cosmic Accidents: One Giant Leap For A Single Cell
A freak event created the ancestor of all multicellular life on Earth. Without this unconventional genesis, we might never have become more than bacteria Life is what you make of it. For the first organisms on the newly watery Earth, that was little. For a billion years or more, single-celled entities simply morphed, multiplied and…