Scientists have genetically modified bacteria living in the human body to produce chemicals that block HIV infection. Most HIV transmission occurs on the surfaces of the gut and reproductive areas which are normally coated with a layer of bacteria. The researchers modified one of these bacteria — a form of E.coli — so that it began to secrete proteins that block HIV from infecting its target cells — via Warren Ellis
You might think it would be difficult for a terrorist to obtain genes from the smallpox virus, or a similarly vicious pathogen. Well, it’s not. Armed with a fake email address, a would-be terrorist could probably order the building blocks of a deadly biological weapon online, and receive them by post within weeks
Excavations at a hill site above the town of Visoko, just north of Sarajevo, have been going on for several months and initial analyses have confirmed the original claim that this is Europe’s first pyramid and a monumental building, similar in dimensions to the Egyptian pyramids
— via Unjournaled
Just in time for everyone’s Halloween fantasy, a horde of undead minions to collect candy for you; How Stuff Works has just put up a new article about How Zombies Work. From Haitian zombies, to Dawn of the Dead it’s more fun with corpses than you’ve ever had, hopefully. It happens in just about every zombie movie — a throng of reanimated corpses lumbers toward the farmhouse, shopping mall, pub or army base where the heroes have barricaded themselves. The zombies aren’t dead, but they should be. They’re relentless and oblivious to pain, and they continue to attack even after losing limbs. Usually, anyone the zombies kill returns as a zombie, so they quickly evolve from a nuisance to a plague
It sounds like an open-and-shut-case. A clear DNA match is made between semen from a serious sexual assault and a blood sample from a man known to police. But he did not commit the assault. Years earlier he had received a bone marrow transplant from the real perpetrator, and in doing so, inherited some of his DNA. Cases such as this are rare, but as forensic DNA databases grow and more people undergo bone marrow transplants, the risk of a miscarriage of justice increases
According to research done by Dr Stephen O’Brien, a mutated gene known as delta 32 found in Black Death survivor descendants, stops HIV in its tracks. In order to be immune both parents have to have the delta 32 gene. In 1996, research showed that delta 32 prevents HIV from entering human cells and infecting the body. O’Brien thought this principle could be applied to the plague bacteria, which affects the body in a similar manner. To determine whether the Eyam plague survivors may have carried delta 32, O’Brien tested the DNA of their modern-day descendents
A new generation of spam has emerged lately in the form of automatically-created spam blogs, or splogs
. One wily programmer manipulated Blogger’s API to create a spamalanche
of thousands of blogs whose sole purpose was to increase their real sites’ pagerank. This clogged search engine results while filling RSS feed services with useless listings. Though Google, Blogger’s owner, is doing its best to fix the problem, in the meantime several services have stopped listing any site they host. So far nobody has found a solution
A unique system that can produce Hydrogen inside a car using common metals such as Magnesium and Aluminum was recently developed by an Israeli company. The system solves all of the obstacles associated with the manufacturing, transporting and storing of hydrogen to be used in cars. And it’s completely emission free
Berkeley Lab researchers in the US have developed ultra-thin solar cells made entirely of inorganic nano-crystals. The team says it is the first time something like this has been accomplished, and hints that it is the first step towards cheap and efficient solar paneling
The likely eventual replacement of common light bulbs by LEDs may come quicker thanks to an accidental discovery announced this week. Michael Bowers, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, was just trying to make really small quantum dots, which are crystals generally only a few nanometers big… When you shine a light on quantum dots or apply electricity to them, they react by producing their own light, normally a bright, vibrant colour. But when Bowers shined a laser on his batch of dots, something unexpected happened. I was surprised when a white glow covered the table,
Bowers said. The quantum dots were supposed to emit blue light, but instead they were giving off a beautiful white glow
The US Navy is flouting federal law by conducting sonar training exercises like the 2003 incident in the San Juan Islands that spooked orcas and may have killed porpoises, environmentalists charged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups said they have been trying for years to get the Navy to talk about ways to decrease harm to marine mammals and other sea life, but the service has refused to deal with the issue head-on
A new species of marine worm that lives off whale bones on the sea floor has been described by scientists. The creature was found on a minke carcass in relatively shallow water close to Tjarno Marine Laboratory on the Swedish coast. Such zombie worms, as they are often called, are known from the deep waters of the Pacific but their presence in the North Sea is a major surprise. The new species has been named Osedax mucofloris, which literally means bone-eating snot-flower
— via The Register
The CIA’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, has announced a strategic development agreement with SkyBuilt Power. The CIA seems to be interested in SkyBuilt’s new Mobile Power Station, which can be parachuted into remote locations and be up and running in a few hours with only two people needed to set it up. The MPS harnesses both solar and wind power and is capable of up to 150 kilowatts of electricity. The devices uses off-the-shelf components and easily swappable parts to be cost-effective
A cunning rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate, outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighbouring island
Promession is a process where corpses are freeze-dried, shaken into a powder, and then put in a biodegradable coffin. Developed in Sweden, the process was apparently created as a response to limited burial space and to reduce the pollution emitted from burning dental fillings during traditional cremation — via Boingboing
Many of us remember the scene from Star Trek IV where Scotty barters the formula for transparent aluminium for a small run. It now appears that we can now add transparent aluminium to the science fact column
Mounir Laroussi, a researcher at Old Dominion University has invented a hand-held device that is dubbed a plasma pencil. The pencil generates a cold plasma
, which can be used to kill germs that contaminate surfaces, infect wounds and rot your teeth. In the future, it might be used to destroy tumours without damaging surrounding tissue. When he turns the pencil on, it blows a high pitched whistle as a glowing, blue-violet beam about 50mm long instantly appears at one end. Stick your finger in its path and you only feel a cool breeze, but the beam is powerful enough to blast apart bacteria that’s crawling on your skin
A German architect has filed an application for a new type of cement made of dog poo. Friedrich Lentze, 57, from Berlin, applied for a patent for his odourless heating and building material
made from the dog poo cleaned from the streets of the German capital every day. Dung has for centuries been used as building material and he had combined it with modern materials to come up with a new type of insulating cement — via Warren Ellis
A one-celled creature found on a sandy beach may be in the process of kidnapping and incorporating an even tinier plant to use as a living energy source. They said the newly discovered organism seems to be in the process of endosymbiosis — in which one creature incorporates another, creating a new form of life
Scientific understanding of what makes a flea jump and what makes a fruit fly tick has led to the creation of a new rubber-like material. Scientists in Queensland have developed a polymer-based on an elastic protein called resilin, which may eventually have medical and industrial applications. It is the first time the substance has been reproduced in a laboratory and it is hoped it could one day be used to replace spinal discs in people
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