I watched NASA TV today (Tuesday) waiting for the Ares I-X rocket's test flight. The weather would not cooperate. I admired (perhaps even envied) the leadership exhibited by Flight Director Ed Mango and Flight Test Director Jeff Spalding. As events occurred, they would call out decisions without hesitation. (They had problems with an errant freighter, a cover that would not release, wind, and of course those high clouds that can create something called triboelectrification.) It makes an interesting study of decision making. I will be watching again Wednesday morning.
Medical News Today tells that Gene That 'Cancer-Proofs' Rodent's Cells Discovered by Scientists. Scientists have known that the naked mole rat can live up to thirty years, but never suffers from cancer. (Because they are tunneling rodents, they are well-equipped to exploit the scant oxygen in their habitat. Their blood has an especially high affinity for oxygen.)
Previously it was thought that the mole rat's resistance to cancer was because they have the ability to shut down their metabolism, thus eliminating oxidative damage. But new research by the University of Rochester has discovered the mole rat's cells express gene p16 which causes cessation of division when cells are crowded. Wiki tells that the gene has previously been known as a tumor suppressor and mutations in p16 increases the risk of cancer.
Researchers deliberately mutated cells to produce a tumor, but the mole rat's cell's growth rates barely changed. In contrast, a laboratory mouse's cells became fully cancerous.
The new research is intriguing. Most researchers have believed that telomeres in cells were not properly regulating life cycles, and resulting in cancer. (See Telomeres of Youth.) This recent study of the mole rat suggests there could be other mechanisms.
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