Scientists from Britain and the US say they have discovered a chemical pathway that could be developed to cause tuberculosis to self destruct. The scale of the problems posed by tuberculosis is enormous. One in three people worldwide are carriers of the bacteria. A total of 13 million people suffer from the disease and almost 2 million will die from it every year. But the timescale for developing new drugs is long, usually 10 years or more
A medical invention currently in development may one day be able to create new organs, right there in the hospital. The 3-D bio-printer takes cells from a patient’s failing organ and prints out
a new organ — almost like a 3-D ink-jet printer. Guy Raz explains how the device works with the man who developed the prototype, Gabor Forgacs
Every drop of water is stuffed with the greenest of fuels, hydrogen, but getting it out is a challenge. A new material raises the prospect of doing so using noise pollution — from major roads, for example. A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made crystals of zinc oxide that, when immersed in water, absorb vibrations and develop areas of strong negative and positive charge. These charges rip apart nearby water molecules, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas
Scientists are a step closer to creating a Star Trek-style cloaking device after demonstrating a material that makes objects beneath it appear to vanish. The material was used to hide a bump on a surface by interfering with the way light bounced off it, making it seem as though neither the cloak nor the bump was there. The cloak was designed to make objects invisible to infrared light, but the work paves the way for more advanced materials capable of cloaking objects in visible wavelengths. Some scientists believe cloaking materials could be used to hide unsightly buildings or high-security facilities, and even make vehicles seem to disappear from view
The bacterial communities that live on human skin may form a bacterial fingerprint on the items that you touch. In a new study led by microbiologists Rob Knight and Noah Fierer of the University of Colorado, Boulder, researchers swabbed three different keyboards and nine mice for bacteria, then compared the genomic variation between the communities to deduce whose hands had been touching what. The people were clearly identifiable from the bacterial communities they’d transferred to their computer input devices
Are we alone in the universe? That’s the big question the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) seeks to answer, and so far the answer appears to be yes. In the half-century since Frank Drake first used a radio telescope to begin searching for alien radio signals, there has been no message from ET — indeed no artificial radio traffic of any description
Most polymers — materials made of long, chain-like molecules — are very good insulators for both heat and electricity. But an MIT team has found a way to transform the most widely used polymer, polyethylene, into a material that conducts heat just as well as most metals, yet remains an electrical insulator
Deforestation has revealed what could be a giant impact crater in Central Africa. The 36-46km-wide feature, identified in DR Congo, may be one of the largest such structures discovered in the last decade. Italian researchers considered other origins for the ring, but say these are unlikely
Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses to get wet. Water droplets skitter across it like ball bearings tossed on ice. The inspiration? Not wax. Not glass. Not even Teflon. Instead, University of Florida engineers have achieved what they label in a new paper a nearly perfect hydrophobic interface
by reproducing, on small bits of flat plastic, the shape and patterns of the minute hairs that grow on the bodies of spiders
There is a recent and rather macabre addition to the marine biologist’s toolkit. Scientists in Canada are using the bodies of dead pigs, diverted from the butcher’s shop, in their undersea laboratory. By ending up in ocean experiments (rather than on the dinner table), the pigs have provided scientists with some intriguing new data. The dead pigs were not my idea,
says Dr Verena Tunnicliffe, professor of marine biology at the University of Victoria in Canada. She explained that she and her colleagues were piggybacking
on forensics research in order to study low-oxygen zones, sometimes known as dead zones
, in the ocean
When state health officials were sued last year for storing infant blood samples without parental consent, they said it was for medical research into birth defects, childhood cancer and environmental toxins. They never said they were turning over hundreds of dried blood samples to the federal government to help build a vast DNA database — a forensics tool designed to identify missing persons and crack cold cases
A new photovoltaic material performs as well as the one found in today’s best solar cells, but promises to be significantly cheaper. The material, created by researchers at Caltech, consists of a flexible array of light-absorbing silicon microwires and light-reflecting metal nanoparticles embedded in a polymer. Computational models suggest that the material could be used to make solar cells that would convert 15 to 20 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity — on par with existing high-performance silicon cells. But the material would require just 1 percent of the materials used today, potentially leading to a dramatic decrease in costs
A colossal red granite head of one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs has been unearthed in the southern city of Luxor, officials said. The 3,000-year-old head of Amenhotep III — grandfather of Tutankhamun — was dug out of the ruins of the pharaoh’s mortuary temple. Experts say it is the best preserved example of the king’s face ever found
The fossilised remains of a gigantic 10m-long predatory shark have been unearthed in Kansas, US. Scientists dug up a gigantic jawbone, teeth and scales belonging to the shark which lived 89 million years ago. The bottom-dwelling predator had huge tooth plates, which it likely used to crush large shelled animals such as giant clams. Palaeontologists already knew about the shark, but the new specimen suggests it was far bigger than previously thought
Small dogs may all originate from the Middle East, according to research from the University of California. A study published in the journal BioMed Central found a gene found in small dogs, IGF1, is closely related to one found in Middle Eastern wolves. Archaeologists have found the remains of small dogs dating back 12,000 years in the region. In Europe, older remains have been uncovered, dating from 31,000 years ago, but these are from larger dogs
Scientists from the University College London in the UK have found that living a life of boredom can kill you
Beer is a rich source of a nutrient that can help prevent weak bones — but it depends what type you drink, claim researchers at University of California, Davis, today. As one of the nation’s favourite tipples, beer is a rich source of dietary silicon, which can help cut the chance of developing diseases like osteoporosis, they conclude. However, not all beers are the same, with those containing malted barley and hops having higher silicon content than beers made from wheat
A new study shows that bacteria-killing jets of plasma could soon replace the drills used to treat cavities in our teeth, making visits to the dentist’s office a bit less nerve-racking. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, after solids, liquids and gases. It is formed when gases are energised to the point where electrons fly off some or all of their atoms. Researchers recently demonstrated that a small, blowtorch-like device emitting a relatively cool beam of purple plasma can eliminate oral bacteria in cavities, leaving more tooth structure intact than a drill does
First, they teleported photons, then atoms and ions. Now one physicist has worked out how to do it with energy, a technique that has profound implications for the future of physics
Researchers using a diamond paste to polish a slice of meteorite stumbled onto something remarkable: crystals in the rock that are harder than diamonds. A closer look with an array of instruments revealed two totally new kinds of naturally occurring carbon, which are harder than the diamonds formed inside the Earth
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