Rats give clues about alcoholism

In a study being conducted since 1980', rats at Indiana University School of Medicine have been given the choice between pure water or water mixed with 10% ethanol. Over 40 generations the researchers have selected the rats that voluntarily chose to drink the alcohol water and specifically bred them to create "heavy drinker rats" these rats drink the equivalent of 25 human beers a day. They then compared the genes of the alcoholic rat to the genes of the non alcoholic rat and what they saw was truly a difference. Before this study scientist thought that alcoholism came from inserting altered forms of genes that produce faulty proteins.

 I personally feel like alcoholism is usually overlooked and seen as a disease, but it is definitely a genetic predisposition which can and can not come out in future generations. If scientist can pinpoint the genetics that create alcoholism maybe they can inform people of whether or not they are genetically wired to potentially have alcoholism.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rats-offer-clues-biology-alcoholism?tgt=nr

The Wipe Out of Invasive Predators in New Zealand

New Zealand has recently announced that they have decided to eliminate invasive predators by the year 2050. These predators, such as rats and weasels, are responsible for killing 25 million native birds each year. The pests also disrupt other native species and the environment as a whole. Killing these predators will also help to protect the livestock by controlling the spread of disease because they are the main carriers of a harmful disease for cattle and deer called bovine TB.

Shown in the picture above is the flightless Kiwi, New Zealand's beloved native bird that is now on the endangered list due to these invasive rats and weasels. New Zealand has already started techniques to kill off the predators with the use of traps and poisons dropped by air. The country is in the process of developing stronger techniques, but these treatments come with high costs, both environmentally and financially. Animal rights activists are very much against New Zealand's plans. Prime Minister John Key states that this is "the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world".

Human Cells Fuse With Rat Cells?

Published by FASEB on March 1st 2011, scientists have done a new experiment that takes human stem cells form subcutaneous adipose tissue; which is fat, and then they fuse it with muscle cells from a rat's heart. Once they fused the two they discovered that there were new heart muscle cells and it had several nuclei. After being kept in a culture environment the newly formed heart muscle cells were beating! So now, this experiment demonstrates that the rat cells and the human stem cells were communicating in the same genetic language.

Contrary to previous beliefs, this experiment proves that you do not have to genetically modify embryonic genes in adult stem cells to turn them into heart cells. Plus, this new finding could be used for improving the heart, bones, tendons, non-healing wounds, and joints. And said by Gerald Weissmean, M.D. "Much work is still ahead before this method can be applied to humans, but the hope is that this technique might eventually make heart transplants unnecessary".

I think this experiment is really exciting and i can't believe it actually worked. I never thought you could fuse two completely different species cells' together and that they could work correctly. If they successfully can do this in humans than this technique will get rid of the use of transplants and it will save many people's lives.