A microscopic quest to find out what we’re really made of. – Courtney Humphries

How many types of cells are there in the human body? Textbooks say a couple of hundred. But the true number is undoubtedly far larger. Piece by piece, a new, more detailed catalogue of cell types is emerging from labs like that of Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which are applying recent advances in single-cell genomics …

Expat Files – 05.03.15

-Easter week in Latin America (called Semana Santa) can be a truly crazy and some say, nerve wracking experience for gringos and expats. Here’s why….

-Because the “gringo advantage” is alive and well especially off the tourist trail, eventually you will meet a Latin person with a gringoized name that seems so tacky or wacky that you think it must be some kind or nickname or inside joke. But don’t assume. Don’t assume anything! Just try not to laugh… that would be rude.

Even at a molecular level, taking it slow helps us cope with stress

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a new molecular pathway critical to aging, and confirmed that the process can be manipulated to help make old blood like new again. The researchers found that blood stem cells’ ability to repair damage caused by inappropriate protein folding in the mitochondria, a cell’s energy station, is critical to their survival …