Slanted Science

Archive for the ‘Immunology’ Category

It’s a pandemic, but not – so far – a particularly deadly one. Health officials are still concerned, though, that the H1N1 influenza virus may acquire the right mutations during this initial period of infection to make it a much more formidable foe during the next year.

Which is why scientists are still working feverishly (forgive the pun) on finding out how the human body responds to H1N1 infection, and whether an individual’s chances of surviving it can be improved.

Their latest discovery is that a family of proteins called IFITMs contribute to resistance to H1N1, as well as West Nile and Dengue viruses. Read the rest of this entry »

Great news for men! You always thought it was true, but now scientists have confirmed it: being a bit dirty, and not obsessing over the odd discarded pizza slice laying around for a few days, is good for your immune system.

Read on as we tell you about the research, and provide you with a scientifically approved message to cut out and hand to your wife or girlfriend next time she asks you to wash the dishes. Read the rest of this entry »

Saliva science. Not the hottest of research fields, perhaps, but it is apparently drawing in some funding.

Because a new paper published in the Journal of Proteome Research is reporting that the wet stuff changes its chemical composition as women age. Read the rest of this entry »

If you arrived here after an internet search for ‘nude mice‘, then you’re either in need of psychiatric care, or else you’d like some more information on a very important laboratory animal. Or both.

Either way: welcome!

Our recent story, describing the significance  of the naked mole rat in cancer research, reminded us of another example of nudity in this field. And so we give to you the nude mouse: over 40 years at the forefront of the race to develop new treatments for cancer and other diseases. Read the rest of this entry »

It has been 40 years since Neil beat Buzz in a best-of-three game of paper/rock/scissors on board Apollo 11, and earned the right to be the first human ever to get moondust on his shoes.

40 years since he uttered the immortal “One small step for man…” line, while – this isn’t widely known – Aldrin stood at the spacecraft’s porthole window, holding a piece of paper with “You Suck! LOL!!!!” written on it.

Since then, mankind has rarely been back to the moon, and never to anywhere solid beyond it. Scientists are now saying that extended spaceflight, as well as increasing the mutation rates in human DNA and its bacterial counterparts, alters the human immune system in potentially harmful ways. Read the rest of this entry »

America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings about a recent upswing in the numbers of fake products being marketed as cures for, or preventative measures against, the H1N1 virus (responsible for what has become known as Swine Flu).
Generally marketed over the internet, the very best thing these products can be is useless. The worst they can be, of course, is lethal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Work just published in the journal Science – a member of the world’s top tier of scientific publications – suggests that a virus associated with aggressive prostate cancer may also be involved in the disease known as ME. Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists report that a swollen ankle will make you less happy than you were before. Sounds like one for the “Favoured sites of defecation in animals of the genus Ursus“ file. Read the rest of this entry »