Using unconventional materials, like ice and eggshells, as scaffolds to grow tissues

Researchers explore recent efforts to use everyday materials like ice, paper, and spinach as tissue scaffolds. These unconventional materials, they argue, are more functional, more sustainable, and less expensive, as well as being available around the globe and applicable to many areas of biomedical research.

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Fungicides as an underestimated hazard for freshwater organisms

Large amounts of fungicides, used in agriculture, leak into nearby surface waters. The effects of it on aquatic organisms are poorly understood and not specifically addressed in the EU regulatory frameworks with respect to the protection of surface waters. Scientists have found that pollution by fungicides can have unforeseen but far-reaching consequences for the functioning of aquatic systems — like indirect effects on the development of algal blooms.

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Anemia may contribute to the spread of dengue fever

Mosquitoes are more likely to acquire the dengue virus when they feed on blood with low levels of iron, researchers report. Supplementing people's diets with iron in places where both iron deficiency anemia and dengue fever are a problem could potentially limit transmission of the disease, but there are risks.

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Sweet success of parasite survival could also be its downfall

Scientists have discovered how a parasite responsible for spreading a serious tropical disease protects itself from starvation once inside its human host. The findings provide a new understanding of the metabolism of the Leishmania parasite and this new knowledge could potentially be used in its eradication.

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