A Trinity College Dublin spin-out, Opsona Therapeutics, has received a 33m fund to aid the developemnt of one of its drugs. The drug, OPN-305, which protects the body from rejection of donor kidneys is set to undergo a Phase II clinical trial in the following months where its tolerability, efficacy and safety will be tested.
A fun way to divide a group of trivia enthusiasts is to ask them what the most dangerous animal in the world is. Those who received their formative educations courtesy of childhood favourites such as Jaws or Arachnophobia will probably throw the accolade to the Great White Shark or some breed of eight-legged creepy-crawly. It’s easy to spot the Discovery Channel fans of the group because they will offer up the slightly-less pedestrian Hippopotamus as their answer. Despite their mostly herbivorous diet and jolly, smiling features, Hippos are extremely aggressive and do indeed claim up to 3000 lives per year – more than any other large animal.
“Math class is tough” exclaimed a talking Barbie from the early nineties. Hard to believe that this kind of negative stereotyping could escape into the public sphere as recently as 21 years ago, but how far have we progressed from this?
The lightweights among us might have a neurological excuse for their prompt reaction to alcohol, according to a published study in Neuropsychopharamcology this week. According to the findings, the mere taste of Beer is enough to trigger a buzz in men. The research showed that even a small mouthful of beer – too small to cause direct alcoholic intoxication – prompts a release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the reward centre of men’s brain. This research has strong implications for our understanding of addiction, especially since this response was found to be stronger in men with close relatives who suffer from alcoholism.
Have you ever wanted to experience white knuckles, whiplash and motion sickness from the comfort of your favourite Starbucks nook?
This is truly impressive. After 10 million in venture capital and 7 years of research, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin have produced ‘Hövding,’ the invisible bike helmet. I won’t ruin the video by explaining how it works, all i’ll say is that this helmet looks like nothing short of a game-changing, victorious piece of design.
The World’s second largest pharmaceutical company Novartis is set to increase it’s already sizable Irish presence with a regional business services centre in Dublin, creating about 100 jobs for the area.
Here’s a simple rundown (in no particular order) of 4 of my favourite YouTube science channels.