Our defensive chemical sensors are almost as ancient as vision

Mar 18 | News

 The detection of tissue-damaging pungent chemicals like those found in wasabi, tear gas and cigarette smoke is called chemical nociception. It’s different than either taste or smell, and according to recent phylogenetics research, this defensive sensor has been conserved across 500 million years of evolution.

DNA nanotubes offer promising applications in medicine

Mar 18 | News

A team of McGill Chemistry Department researchers led by Dr. Hanadi Sleiman has achieved a breakthrough in the development of nanotubes—tiny "magic bullets" that could one day deliver drugs to specific diseased cells.

Turning proteins into glass

Mar 18 | News

Duke Univ. researchers have devised a method to dry and preserve proteins in a glassified form that seems to retain the molecules' properties as workhorses of biology.

Hand bacteria study holds promise for forensics identification

Mar 16 | News

Forensic scientists may soon have a valuable new item in their toolkits—a way to identify individuals using unique, telltale types of hand bacteria left behind on objects like keyboards and computer mice, says a new Univ. of Colorado at Boulder study.

Magnetic cell levitation grows cultures in 3-D

Mar 16 | News

If the price of a new innovation by researchers at Rice Univ. is right, the flat petri dish may soon become an endangered species in the lab. The “invisible scaffold” technique, which relies on gold nanoparticles and engineered phages, builds cultures that more closely resemble native tissue.

A golden bullet for cancer

Mar 16 | News

Magic bullets, also called silver bullets, because of the folkloric belief that only silver bullets can kill supernatural creatures, remain the goal of drug development efforts today. A team of scientists at Washington Univ. in St. Louis is currently working on a magic bullet for cancer. But their bullets are gold rather than silver.

Making cells feel right at home

Mar 16 | News

The film "Avatar" isn't the only 3-D blockbuster making a splash this winter. A team of scientists from Houston's Texas Medical Center this week unveiled a new technique for growing 3-D cell cultures, a technological leap from the flat petri dish that could save millions of dollars in drug-testing costs.

Berkeley scientists find way to get physical in cancer fight

Mar 12 | News

Conventional biological wisdom holds that living cells interact with their environment through an elaborate network of chemical signals, which is most therapies rely on drugs that block chemical signals. Scientists can now show, however, for the first time, that direct physical force can also change the way cellular proteins conduct chemical activity.

Intentional environmental variations increase result validity in mouse testing

Mar 10 | News

For decades, the traditional practice in animal testing has been standardization, but a study involving Purdue Univ. has shown that adding as few as two controlled environmental variables to preclinical mice tests can greatly reduce costly false positives, the number of animals needed for testing and the cost of pharmaceutical trials.

Once a seafarers' scourge, the gribble could be biofuel hero

Mar 9 | News

Tiny marine isopods called gribbles were for centuries the bane of sailors, whose vessels were quickly devoured. Even today, piers and docks are rapidly gnawed away, and researchers have now been attracted to the enzymes in their gut, which can convert wood into sugars without the help of microbes.

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Much ado about next to nothing

Mar 15

The recent review of the past 10 years of the National Nanotechnology Initiative--as presented by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology--suggested the rise of nanomanufacturing as the near future of nanotechnology. But the actual proposed funding reflects a cautious approach, even about nanotech in general.

Lunar tires, space MRSA, and resonating microfluidics

Mar 5

I typically attend the annual Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy each year in pursuit of specific coverage. This year, I sought out candidates for coverage in a vacuum technology article, and pulled together some instruments for a spectroscopy guide. But as busy as that kept me, it wasn’t all mass spectrometers and vacuum pumps on the show floor.  

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NuGard Coating Ashburn Hill

Jan 7

NuGard First Response Protective Clothing are lightweight coveralls, jackets, and pants that provide protection from heat and flame while keeping the wearers body temperature constant.

Multi-Touch Music Maker

Jan 7

Professor David Wessel shows his multi-touch interface that uses computer technologies that allow him to experiment with fine controls to "caress" the instrument.