Longevity science

A single injection of human neural stem cells produced neuronal regeneration and improvement of function and mobility in rats impaired by an acute spinal cord injury (SCI), an international team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports.

Grafting neural stem cells derived from a human fetal spinal cord to the rats’ spinal injury site produced an array of therapeutic benefits — from less muscle spasticity to new connections between the injected stem cells and surviving host neurons.

MIT researchers have genetically engineered muscle cells to make them flex in response to laser light.

“With bio-inspired designs, biology is a metaphor, and robotics is the tool to make it happen'" says Professor Asada. "With bio-integrated designs, biology provides the materials, not just the metaphor. This is a new direction we’re pushing in biorobotics.”

The aches and pains people suffer after working out more than usual can be relieved just as well by exercise as by massage, according to a new study.

"It's a common belief that massage is better, but it isn't better. Massage and exercise had the same benefits," said Lars Andersen, the lead author of the study and a professor at the National Research Center for the Working Environment in Copenhagen.

We all know that you need to exercise if you want to develop your muscles. As it turns out, however, exercise also makes lab-grown muscle implants more effective when introduced to the body.