Twinkle, twinkle little brain cell

SMALL PRINT:WHEN IT COMES to brain cells, the neurons hog most of the attention – they are ones that pass along the messages which effectively keep us wired. But there are other important cells helping to run the show in the brain too, and they include star-shaped cells called astrocytes.

They sometimes get overlooked but this week, the astrocytes got their name in lights when a paper published online in Nature Biotechnology described how scientists have developed them in large numbers from stem cells in the lab.

The researchers – at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Fudan University Shanghai – were able to direct the stem cells to turn into immature astrocytes. The newly minted cells then passed several tests to show they function like “normal” astrocytes do. This ability to generate plenty of the cells could be a boon for astrocytes, which help to support those diva neurons in our nervous system. “Not a lot of attention has been paid to these cells because human astrocytes have been hard to get,” said study co-author Su-Chun Zhang from UW-Madison. “But we can make billions or trillions of them from a single stem cell.”

So scientists can make plenty of twinkling immature astrocytes if they desire – what does this mean? These cells can provide a useful research tool and may perhaps some day even offer some therapeutic potential, according to the university’s upbeat release on the story.

“They could be used as screens to identify new drugs for treating diseases of the brain, they can be used to model disease in the lab dish and, in the more distant future, it may be possible to transplant the cells to treat a variety of neurological conditions.”

Farewell to Nasa's wild rover

THE US SPACE agency Nasa announced this week that it was making its last attempt to contact its stricken Mars rover Spirit, which is is stuck on the red planet.

Spirit, and its sister craft Opportunity, landed on Mars back in early 2004 and had been scheduled to operate there for a few months, sending information back to Earth as they moved around.

The mission was highly successful, and the rovers spent several years beaming new images and information home about the nature of the planet’s surface.

However, Spirit came a cropper in 2009 when one of its wheels got stuck in sandy ground, and efforts to free it were not successful.

There were hopes that it could still be of use from its current location, but no communication has been received back from Spirit for over a year on planet Earth.

Nasa said that a transmission ending yesterday would be its last in a series of attempts to regain contact with the stranded rover.

Opportunity has fared better and continues to trundle across the surface of our planetary neighbour – it is currently heading towards the Endeavour crater.

“We’re now transitioning assets to support the November launch of our next generation Mars rover, Curiosity,” said Dave Lavery, Nasa’s program executive for solar system exploration, according to the agency’s website.

“However, while we no longer believe there is a realistic probability of hearing from Spirit, the Deep Space Network [an international network of antennae on Earth] may occasionally listen for any faint signals when the schedule permits.”