Ferns: Facts and Fancies about Them: VI

Facts about Stem Cells and Importance of Them

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells. They are found in multicellular organisms. In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues. In ad...

Nanobacteria: Facts or Fancies?

An audacious theory proposes the existence of a novel form of life—the nanobacteria (NB)—that is quite different from the ones already known, but is capable of infecting and damaging other beings, thus qualifying them as new agents of emerging infectious diseases. The theory is no less revolutionary than the famous germ theory of disease, which was put on solid ground by the efforts of Pasteur ...

Facts and Fancies in Orthopaedics

niost suitable, in the light of present experience, for providing the best mechanical properties, resistance to corrosion, and physiological compatibility with living tissues. In the case of implants made of metal, it is important to ensure that the components are made of material of the same composition. The ideal material has yet to be found. It should be electrolytically inert in the body, f...

Food Fads, Facts, and Fancies

THE MEDICAL or food quack is one of the most pernicious influences scientific nutrition has to meet. The food quack today uses many of the same devices, modernized, that the patent-medicine vendor used a generation ago. The quack of former days was so crude in his statements that the modern consumer wonders how people ever could have believed such buncombe. Even today there is plenty of flagran...

Facts and Fancies in Crime Prevention