After California, it is New Jersey that has become the second U.S. state to legalize embryonic stem-cell research, giving a blow to anti-abortion advocates among which Roman Catholic were most prominent, since, it requires human embryos destruction. Moreover, legalization of this stem cell research work has also approved $270 million.

As all we know that legalization of stem cell research had to pass through many fits and starts. That is the reason why advocates of stem cell research are considering it as a huge victory for them.

Moreover, we must not forget that stem cell research is the need of the hour and nations who are not giving it a priority it requires will see its real power very soon and repent. Recently, news stating that researchers in UK are much worried, since government of UK is not paying adequate heed to their stem cell research work, has worried stem cell advocates all round the world. But this move by New Jersey is really going to sooth those people who are enthusiastic about this stem cell research work.

I have always wondered why different animals behave the way they do because they seem to differ strikingly in character and temperament. Not just that, animals within a single population also seem to act differently from one another. Thanks to scientific studies, I will soon find answers to my barrage of questions. Just recently, it has become evident that personalities are a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom. Animals as diverse as spiders, mice and squids appear to have personalities. Personality differences have been described in more than 60 species, including primates, rodents, birds, fish, insects and mollusks.

Why do different personality types exist within a single population given that, at first sight, one would expect one type to be more successful than another? Why are individuals not more flexible considering that personality rigidity sometimes leads to seemingly inefficient behaviour? Why do we find the same types of traits correlated with each other in very different kinds of animals?

Current Research

New work by Max Wolf (University of Groningen; currently at the Santa Fe Institute), Santa Fe Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Sander van Doorn, Franz Weissing (University of Groningen), and Olof Leimar (Stockholm University) offers an explanation for the evolution of animal personalities.

Max Wolf et al argue that in many cases, personalities are shaped by a simple underlying principle: the more an individual stands to lose (in terms of future reproduction) the more cautiously it is likely to behave, in all kinds of situations and consistently over time.

They begin with two basic observations. Firstly, variation in personalities is often structured according to differences in the overall willingness to take risks. Secondly, individuals are often confronted with a trade-off between current and future reproduction: the more an individual currently invests in reproduction, the less the resources left to invest in future opportunities, and vice versa.

Method

The authors use a mathematical model to demonstrate that this fundamental trade-off can give rise to populations where some individuals put more emphasis on future reproduction than others. Individuals who invest in future reproductive success eventually evolve into risk-aversive beings in different behavioural contexts (e.g. encounters with predators and aggressive interactions), whereas individuals who put emphasis on current reproductive success evolve a more risk-prone personality.

According to the sources, scientists of AgResearch are working hard to breed animals capable of shedding wool with the DNA of sheep. John McEwan, the principal scientist of AgResearch has announced that sheep requires low-care and easy-care would effectively save a huge amount of labor cost. Thus, they would be quite useful in the regions with warm climates.

He also added that research being conducted on base genetics would be beneficial for breeder for effectively mixing and matching specific traits of sheep. In New Zealand, “shedding sheep” is being immensely popular according to Dr, Tricia Johnson, Lead Scientist. Tropical places are their ideal location for breeding.

She also added, “As the prices for medium to coarse wool continue to decline, the cost of dagging and shearing sheep often outweighs the value of the wool sold, making wool a cost to sheep productions systems.” Shedding feature would also play major role in alleviating the risk of flystrike and dags.

Johnson is working hard with Wiltshire and dorper, natural shedder for genetic marker. This would enable farmers for breeding flock which would shed in purebred.

The most common deadly cancer – leukemia — has already killed 21,790 people in the United States alone this year, with an estimated 44,240 new cases detected.

So, to help reduce its numbers, scientists are up with arms researching on new ways to curb its increasing numbers or curb the disease at the nip. The key to discovering the disease in a patient, are the bone-marrow biopsies. So, to make these biopsies more efficient for leukemia patients, researchers have come up with better methods.

The University of New Mexico researchers’ new clinical device can amazingly turn the cancer-effected cells into ‘nano-magnets!’

The basic idea of the new development is the use of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles encased in a biocompatible material to spot the cancer cells.

With the injection of these nanoparticles into the body, they gather around cancer cells. In turn, they turn the cells into minuscule magnets, and hence can be easily captured by other magnets that are encased in the tips of biopsy needles.

Just five years to go, and this amazing and efficient device will be in the market for commercial use, hoping to help reduce both the numbers and death rates of leukemia patients across the world.