Improbable Research

“Human gelatine genes”, a phrase that has never managed to intrigue the general public (or anyone else), might now have its day in the sun. The phrase appears in a July 13, 2011 press release from the American Chemical Society. That press release also features today’s Headline of the Day:

New method for making human-based gelatin

Scientists are reporting development of a new approach for producing large quantities of human-derived gelatin that could become a substitute for some of the 300,000 tons of animal-based gelatin produced annually for gelatin-type desserts, marshmallows, candy and innumerable other products. Their study appears in ACS’s Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.… [The] scientists developed and demonstrated a method where human gelatin genes [emphasis added] are inserted into a strain of yeast, which can produce gelatin with controllable features. The researchers are still testing the human-yeast gelatin to see how well it compares to other gelatins in terms of its viscosity and other attributes. [Jinchun] Chen and colleagues suggest that their method could be scaled up to produce large amounts of gelatin for commercial use.

(HT Karen Weintraub)

BONUS: The study “Expression and Characterization of Recombinant Human Gelatin Fragments”

The nation of Belarus has taken big very public, perhaps symbolic gestures against discrimination. In Belarus, one infers, all persons are considered equally capable of performing important tasks. The Christian Science Monitor reports:

In Belarus, one-armed man arrested for clapping

The crackdown in Belarus grew more indiscriminate this week. Among the 400 arrested: a one-armed man charged with taking part in the clapping protests and mute person accused of shouting antigovernment slogans.

(HT @EdYong209)

“A New Understanding of the Way Enzymes Work” says the headline on a press release published by Science Daily.

Jerry Lettvin [pictured here] heralded this breakthrough long before it happened.

Jerry said: ”Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which otherwise require harder thinking.”

Today’s Headline of the Day is from a now- (and perhaps always)-undated press release issued by Ohio State University. It says:

DOES SOMETHING LEAVE OUR EYES DURING VISION? MANY ADULTS SAY YES

It was probably sent out in 2001, as it refers to this study:

“The persistence of a misconception about vision after educational interventions,” Virginia R. Gregg, Gerald A. Winer, Jane E. Cottrell, Katherine E. Hedman and Jody S. Fournier, Psychon Bull Rev. 2001 Sep;8(3):622-6. (Thanks to investigator Scott Langill for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Ohio State University, explain:

“Children and adults, like many ancient philosophers, believe that seeing involves emissions from the eye. Several experiments tested the strength of these “extramission” beliefs to determine whether they, like other scientific misconceptions, are resistant to educational experiences. Traditional college-level education had little impact. Presenting a simplified lesson, stressing visual input, and a lesson directly counteracting the vision misconception had an impact, but for older participants the effect was evident only on short-term tests. Despite some gain due to learning, overall the results demonstrated the robustness of extramission beliefs.}

Today’s Headline of the Day is from a press release issued by the American

Full Bladder, Better Decisions? Controlling Your Bladder Decreases Impulsive Choices

The press release goes on to say:

What should you do when you really, REALLY have to “go”? Make important life decisions, maybe. Controlling your bladder makes you better at controlling yourself when making decisions about your future, too, according to a study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science…

It makes skillful use of the phrases SEXUAL DESIRE, POTATO CHIPS, SEXY PHOTOS OF WOMEN, SEXUAL EXCITEMENT, and PSYCHOLOGY, and “YOU SEEM TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS WHEN YOU HAVE A FULL BLADDER”.