BBC Focus - 09.2019

DISCOVERIES

TimeswerehardfortheStoneAge

inhabitantsoftheBaleMountainsof

Ethiopia.Sohard,in fact,thatthe

plummetingtemperaturesoftheIce

Ageforcedthemtoexistona dietof

giantmolerats,whichwere

plentiful.ExcavationsoftheFinch

Habrea shelter, located 3,350m

abovesealevel,havediscovered

stoneartefacts,bitsofpoery,and

pilesofgiantratbones(pictured

right).Carbondatingsuggeststhe

artefactsarebetween47,000and

31,000yearsoldmakingthesiteone

oftheoldesthighaltitude

selements ever discovered.

Chimpssentto

the movies

WHATDIDTHEYDO?

ResearchersfromDukeUniversity

pairedupchimpanzeesandhad

themwatcha shortmovie.Aer

thecinemasession,theythen

observedtheirbehaviour,taking

noteofhowlongit tookthetwo

apestoapproachoneanother,how

closetheygot,andhowlongthey

stayedtogether,andcompared

themtopairsofchimpsthat had

watchedmoviesalone.

WHATDIDTHEYFIND?

Thechimpsthatwatchedmovies

togetherapproachedoneanother

morereadilyandspentmoretime

togetherthanthosewhohad

watchedmoviesontheirown.

WHYDIDTHEYDOTHAT?

Theteamwantedtoinvestigate

theeectofsharedexperiences

onsocialbonding.Humanshavea

widevarietyofsocialactivities

thatbringsthemclosertogether,

suchaslisteningtomusic,dancing,

orwatchingfilms.Althoughonly

preliminary,thisstudysuggests

thatapesmaydisplaysimilar

behaviourindicatingthattheact

ofbondingthroughshared

experiencesmayhavedeeper

evolutionaryrootsthan

previously thought.

ey did what?

Printed hearts take shape

Thedreamof3Dprintingwhole,living

humanheartsforlifesavingtransplants

justgota littlecloser.A teamat Carnegie

MellonUniversityintheUShasdeveloped

C VGEJPKSWGVQ& RTKPVEQNNCIGPKPPG

detail.Collagen,besidesbeingthemost

abundantproteininthebody,is a key

structuralelementthatformsthebiological

scaffoldthatgivesorganstheirstructure

andstrength.

CarnegieMellon’snewtechnique,

calledFreeformReversibleEmbeddingof

SuspendedHydrogels(FRESH),deposits

collagen,layerbylayer,withina support

bathofgel.Thisenablesthecollagento

solidifyinplaceasthecomplexstructure

is builtup.Whentheprintingis complete,

thesupportgelis meltedawaybygently

heatingit to37°C– bodytemperature.

“Ifyoutrytoprintthis[collagen]inairit

justformsa puddleonyourbuildplatform.

Sowe’vedevelopeda techniquethat

preventsit fromdeforming,”saidAndrew

Hudson, who co-authored the research.

6JGVGEJPKSWGECP RTKPVNCOGPVUCU

narrowas0.02millimetresacross– around

thewidthofa humanhair.Thisenables

researcherstoprintdetailedstructuresinto

whichlivingcellscanbedepositedtobuild

muscleandbloodvessels.

“Whatwe’veshownis thatwecanprint

piecesoftheheartoutofcellsandcollagen

intopartsthattrulyfunction,likea heart

valveora smallbeatingventricle,”said

ProfAdamFeinberg,a biomedicalengineer

at CarnegieMellonUniversity.“Byusing

MRIdataofa humanheart,wewereable

VQ CEEWTCVGN[TGRTQFWEGRCVKGPVURGEKE

anatomicalstructureand3D-bioprint

collagenandhumanheartcells.”

TheFRESHtechniquewillalsoworkwith

otherbio-inksthat,likecollagen,aresoft

YJGPTUV RTKPVGFUQ VJG VGCOJQRGUKV

willprovidea highlyadaptabletissue-

engineeringplatform.Theyhavealsomade

thedesignoftheirsystemopensource,so

thatothergroupscanusethemtobuild 3D

bioprinters at relatively low cost.

Collagenis

diicultto

workwith

in3D

printingas

it starts

outasa

uid.This

new

technique

prevents

it from

deforming,

sobody

parts– like

thisheart

valve– can

be made

MEDICINE

STONEAGEHUMANSGORGEDONGIANT RATS

TO SEE THEM THROUGH THE ICE AGE

LENZIE FORD/LUANA FIORITI/KANDEL LAB/ZUCKERMAN INSTITUTE AT COLUMBIA , GOTZ OSSENDORF ILLUSTRATION: GABRIEL SILVERA