Free sanitary pads and education.

The Kwazulu-Natal department of education is distributing free sanitary pads to girl learners who cannot afford to buy them as part of an initiative it launched in November. The distribution of the pads began at the start of the school year. Kwazulu-Natal education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said that when the new MEC, Mthandeni Dlungwane, came into office last year it was “one of the flagships that he said he wanted to run with”. “Research and observation tells us that our girl learners, who are from poor families, can’t afford to buy sanitary towels. In a year, they will miss a minimum of 36 days when they have their periods,” Mahlambi said. Some companies and individuals have been assisting schools with donations but this was not enough for all the girl learners and a formal programme had to be launched, he explained. The department has set aside R50-million to fund the distribution of pads to learners whose schools are in the four lowest quintiles. The department will increase the budget for the pads annually. continue

Reversible saliva allows frogs to hang on to next meal.

A frog uses its whip-like tongue to snag its prey faster than a human can blink, hitting it with a force five times greater than gravity. How does it hang onto its meal as the food rockets back into its mouth? A new Georgia Institute of Technology study says the tongue's stickiness is caused by a unique reversible saliva in combination with a super soft tongue. A frog's saliva is thick and sticky during prey capture, then turns thin and watery as prey is removed inside the mouth. The tongue, which was found to be as soft as brain tissue and 10 times softer than a human's tongue, stretches and stores energy much like a spring. This combination of spit and softness is so effective that it provides the tongue 50 times greater work of adhesion than synthetic polymer materials such as sticky-hand toys.continue

US exports 14 million eggs to avian flu-struck S. Korea.

The U.S. exported 14 million eggs to South Korea in January as the nation continues to deal with a widespread avian influenza outbreak. On January 30, members of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) updated the United Egg Producers on U.S. egg exports during the egg industry group’s meeting in Atlanta. Jeff Waite, a representative of AMS, said the two countries reached an agreement in early January. After weeks of airborne shipments, he said, eggs will start arriving by sea soon. South Korea, one of many Asian nations affected by the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), is suffering from its worst-ever HPAI outbreak. South Korean news agency Yonhap reports the country has culled more than 30 million chickens since November in response to the outbreak. In response to massive egg shortages driving up food prices, South Korea and the U.S. reached an agreement on January 8 to allow the first-ever imports of US eggs to the country. Koreans eat about 250 eggs per capita, or about 12.7 billion eggs per year. source

Tuberculosis-resistant cows developed for the first time using CRISPR technology.

A new research published in the open access journal Genome Biology,reports that CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology has been used for the first time to successfully produce live cows with increased resistance to bovine tuberculosis. The researchers, from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University in Shaanxi, China, used a modified version of the CRISPR gene-editing technology to insert a new gene into the cow genome with no detected off target effects on the animals genetics (a common problem when creating transgenic animals using CRISPR). CRISPR technology has become widely used in the laboratory in recent years as it is an accurate and relatively easy way to modify the genetic code. However, sometimes unintentional changes to the genetic code occur as an off target effect, so finding ways to reduce these is a priority for genomics research. The research was carried out using a novel version of the CRISPR system called CRISPR/Cas9n to successfully insert a tuberculosis resistance gene, called NRAMP1, into the cow genome. This was successfully inserted and resulted in the development of live cows carrying increased resistance to tuberculosis. The high-point of the research is that the method produced no off target effects on the cow genetics meaning that the CRISPR technology we employed may be better suited to producing transgenic livestock with purposefully manipulated genetics. The researchers inserted the NRAMP1 gene into the genome of bovine foetal fibroblasts—a cell derived from female dairy cows—using the CRISPR/Cas9n technology. These cells were then used as donor cells in a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, where the nucleus of a donor cell carrying the new gene is inserted into an egg cell, known as an ovum, from a female cow. Ova were nurtured in the lab into embryos before being transferred into mother cows for a normal pregnancy cycle. The experiments were also conducted using the standard CRISPR/Cas9 technology as a comparison.

New fertilizer technologies for rice.

Small-scale rice farmers in Kirinyaga County in Kenya are using new fertilizer technologies to increase yields by up to 50% while using one-third less fertilizer. The technology ‘package’ introduced by 2SCALE has two components. First, a specially formulated fertilizer blend that contains micronutrients such as magnesium, zinc and boron in addition to the standard NPK. Second, ‘deep placement’ application, where briquettes (pellets) of fertilizer are inserted into the soil rather than the usual practice of broadcasting. Deep placement reduces fertilizer losses by two-thirds, ensuring that nutrients remain in the root zone, available to plants, for much longer. Another innovation is slow-release fertilizer, which needs to be applied only once, at planting, compared to the usual two applications – substantially reducing labor costs.continue

Scientists design electricity generator that mimics trees.

A prototype biomimetic tree has been built that generates electricity when wind blows through its artificial leaves. The researchers think such technology may help people charge household appliances without the need for large wind turbines. In a paper published this month in the peer-reviewed academic journal PLOS ONE, the ISU research team delves into the world of biomimetics, or the use of artificial means to mimic natural processes. The concept has inspired new ways of approaching fields as varied as computer science, manufacturing and nanotechnology. Iowa State University scientists have built a device that mimics the branches and leaves of a cottonwood tree and generates electricity when its artificial leaves sway in the wind. Small strips of specialized plastic inside the leaf stalks release an electrical charge when bent by moving air. These processes are known as piezoelectric effects and the cottonwood leaves were modeled because their flattened leaf stalks compel blades to oscillate in a regular pattern that optimizes energy generation by flexible piezoelectric strips.

Air pollution may lead to dementia in older women.

A new study shows that air pollution by tiny, dirty airborne particles called PM2.5 invade the brain and wreak havoc causing dementia in older women. The study published in the Nature journal Translational Psychiatry, adds to an emerging body of research from around the world that links air pollution to dementia. The offending pollutants known as PM2.5 are fine, inhalable particles with diameters 2.5 micrometers or smaller. A human hair is about 70 micrometers in diameter, making it 30 times larger than the largest PM2.5. Scientists and engineers found that older women who live in places with fine particulate matter exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard are 81 percent more at risk for global cognitive decline and 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's. These microscopic particles generated by fossil fuels get into our body directly through the nose into the brain and cells in the brain treat these particles as invaders and react with inflammatory responses, which over the course of time, appear to exacerbate and promote Alzheimer's disease. The adverse effects were stronger in women who had the APOE4 gene, a genetic variation that increases the risk for Alzheimer's.