A team from The Australian National University (ANU) has developed a jelly-like material that has many of the properties of living tissue. A form of a hydrogel, the jelly is not only self-healing but is very strong and can change its shape - allowing it to mimic skin, ligaments, and bone.

Damage to DNA occurs continuously. DNA quality control mechanisms, such as DNA repair and replicative pathways, mitigate that damage and preserve the DNA sequence. Mutations are believed to arise when DNA lesions are not repaired appropriately, and they are thought to be an indicator of ineffectual DNA quality control.

Source: Cell Press Cerebral organoids are artificially grown, 3D tissue cultures that resemble the human brain. Now, researchers from Japan report functional neural networks derived from these organoids in a study publishing June 27 in the journal Stem Cell Reports.