1.10/29- What is this beautiful work of art you see below?

Some strange, multicolored worm, perhaps? Or is it an abstract, multimillion dollar painting–created by the little-known artistic genius Jean-Claude Tresault?

No, it is something much greater.

This is part of a miniature stomach, which scientists recently created from stem cells in a petri dish. They were able to alter signaling pathways in order to model the metabolic activities that real stomachs undergo. This can be used to study diseases like gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease. (For more deatils: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13863.html)

2. 10/29-Are our preferences for music driven by culture, or by biology?

The male hermit thrush was identified to use mathematically distributed musical intervals in its songs, just as we humans do in our music. Moreover, the researchers showed that this is not due to the physical constraints of the bird’s vocal system.

(For more details: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/10/29/1406023111)

3. 11/03- G2, an object in the Milky Way whose identity has long been debated, was identified by UCLA astronomers. G2 was actually identified one large star that was the result of 2 stars combining.

(For more details: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141103192136.htm)

4. 11/03- The winner for “Dance your Ph.D.” was announced.  An (hopefully) entertaining video to break up the news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWj-50qYmDM#t=257

5. 11/03- About 3000 children yearly arrive in the emergency room after swallowing button batteries. To ameliorate the issue, which could cause internal bleeding and even death, scientists created a battery that, when swallowed, does not harm your gut.

(For more details:http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/10/29/1418423111)