Scientists have created stem sells from the skin of a northern white rhino, a species that may now be extinct in the wild, and the drill, an endangered African monkey. Using a technique that has been developed using mice stem cells they may be able to turn these stem cells into eggs and sperm which would allow for a somewhat more natural and less problematic way of bringing these species back than cloning. (BBC)

Research on transposons, genes that have the ability to move to different locations in the genome, shows that they are very likely a good source of new mutations, one of the driving forces in evolution. (Science Alert via RD.net)

A new fossil found in Tibet shows that the woolly rhino had a flat, paddle like horn, essentially a snow shovel, a million years before the Ice Age, a trait that would have been quite useful during the Ice Age. (Scientific American)

Domino’s Japan is preparing plans for a pizzeria on the moon. While this idea is obviously just a media stunt, they have developed estimates on construction costs and time frames. (The Register)

The Black Death is gone. We’ll to be more precise, the bacteria that caused it was too good at killing its host, thus making it difficult for the bacteria itself to survive. A weaker strain has survived to this day, but the one that killed 1/3 of Europe’s population in the 14th century is extinct. (Forbes)

Slicing into a very tiny study subject, like a mouse embryo, would do enough damage to limit the findings available. Scientists in Japan have figured out another way. If they incubate the tissue in a concentrated urea solution for two weeks it will make the tissue transparent and allow for imaging the brain. That’s right, the solution is to soak it in piss. (New Scientist)