Weekly Science Digest: Crystals, Cancer & A Circumbinary Planet

Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a crystal able to deliver highly accurate temperature readings, ranging from -120 to +680 degrees centigrade. The team’s work employs what is known as a ‘birefringent’ crystal, which splits the light passing through it into two separate rays. The device is designed to measure temperatures in environments where interference makes other sensors unreliable, such as near MRI machines.

Doctors this week reached a milestone in the fight against ovarian cancer as ten women underwent fluorescence-guided surgery. This novel technique saw the women injected with a liquid that contained fluorescent dye attached to a chemical known as folate. As ovarian tumors contain more folate receptors than healthy cells they ‘lit up’. Ovarian cancer is notoriously difficult to spot; this new form of surgery enabled surgeons to find clusters as small as one tenth of a millimetre across, compared with the norm of around 3mm using visual and manual inspections.

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered a world orbiting two stars, also known as a circumbinary planet - meaning that it has a double sunset. The planet is located 200 light years away from earth and is believed to be cold, gaseous and unable to harbour life. Kepler discovered the planet by observing the transits and monitoring the brightness patterns of parent stars. Principal investigator William Borucki hopes that this discovery will increase the chances of discovering planets that could harbour life, since life is more likely to be present if a planet forms around more than one star. 

A study released by researchers from Uppsala University has found that the planet’s most successful bacteria are to be found in our oceans and belong to the group SAR11. The bacteria, which make up 30-40 percent of all bacteria cells in the oceans, also play host to a previously unknown relative of mitochondria. SAR11 bacteria have a small cell volume; in an environment poor in nutrients, this allows them to maximise the concentration of nutrients they store. The study may provide new insights into our basic understanding of the global carbon cycle and of life on Earth.

Researchers from Imperial College London and Oxford University have seen the inner workings of white blood cells at the highest resolution ever documented. The team first used optical laser tweezers to immobilise the cell and then employed a super high-resolution microscope to watch how it goes on to rearrange the scaffolding of actin proteins on the inside of its membrane - the resulting hole is used to deliver enzyme-filled granules that target diseased tissue. The technique is providing new ways of observing the dynamic molecular processes taking place in live cells.

A new study led by Nick Orr of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the ICR in London shows how the genes that cause breast cancer in men are similar to those known to cause it in women. The research looked at 433 cases of male breast cancer and studied the twelve most common genes that contribute to the risk of breast cancer in females. The team found that five of these genes significantly affect men too, but in varying extents to their female counterparts. Dr Orr hopes that these discoveries could lead to tailored treatments for male breast cancer patients while simultaneously improving knowledge of female breast cancer.

The 'Weekly Science Digest' is a compilation of science news from around the world. News suggestions are always welcome: mark.howardbanks@researchgate.net