GoKawiilMagnetic immune cells in a homing pigeon’s liver might help it to navigate. Plus, the first clinical trial of a gene therapy to restore heart muscle and an unusual reptile museum in Ecuador.
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Homing pigeons can use the Sun to find their way in broad daylight, but fall back on Earth’s magnetic field as a guide when it’s overcast or dark. (Christian Ziegler/Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior)
Iron-loaded immune cells in the livers of homing pigeons could help the birds navigate using Earth’s magnetic field. Researchers found that macrophages in pigeon liver tissue are full of a magnetic form of iron called ferritin. When the team depleted these cells in a group of homing pigeons and released them in overcast conditions, the birds got lost along a route they’d nailed in the sunshine. The results are “intriguing”, but don’t confirm that ferritin is behind the pigeons’ knack for navigation, says sensory ecologist Catherine Lohmann.
Science | 6 min read
Reference: Science paper
The first clinical trial aimed at using gene therapy to grow new heart-muscle cells is now underway — one of a new wave of such treatments to regenerate the heart. Some scientists are cautiously optimistic that these therapies could one day be used to treat conditions such as heart failure. But others remain sceptical, in part because the field’s past is mired in controversy. In the early 2000s, a flurry of papers reported that the heart has stem cells that can regenerate heart muscle — but some of the results have since been retracted.
Nature | 7 min read
A ‘New Glenn’ rocket made by billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space-tech firm Blue Origin exploded during a routine engine test on 28 May, damaging much of the surrounding Space Launch Complex 36 (LC-36). The accident, during which no one was injured, puts a question mark over the timeline of NASA’s Moon Base 1 mission, scheduled to launch this autumn. The mission is slated to use Blue Origin’s Endurance lander, flown on a New Glenn rocket, to deliver scientific instruments to the Moon. But LC-36 is the only facility in the world that can launch a New Glenn, and rebuilding it could take months, experts say.
BBC | 5 min read
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