The pick of the science news
Four million pixels in space
Tomorrow sees the scheduled launch of Nasa’s Wide-Field Infra-Red Survey Explorer (Wise), a spacecraft that will orbit the Earth and photograph the sky every six months.
The craft will carry a 16-inch telescope and infra-red detectors plus a four-million pixel camera and will sweep the skies for new infra-red sources including star-breeding galaxies, the coolest stars and dark asteroids.
“What we hope to do is find the most interesting objects for next-generation telescopes to look at,” Dr Edward Wright told the New York Times. “If we don’t find something totally unexpected, I’ll be surprised.”
Virgin Atlantic Airways founder Richard Branson unveiling details of a commercial spaceship, above, that will take people 65 miles above the earth’s surface.
Growing skin from stem cells
Scientists in Canada have discovered a stem cell that can give rise to the dermis, a layer within the skin.
Researchers at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children published in Cell Stem Cell that a group of cells in mice – called skin-derived precursors – can maintain skin, help wounds to heal and hair to grow.
“Understanding the regeneration of the dermis is very important in understanding how wounds heal,” researcher Prof Freda Miller told PhysOrg.
“If we can understand wound healing, then we can address the many conditions and diseases that involve wounds that don’t repair themselves.”