Scientists said Thursday that a new AIDS vaccine, the first ever declared to protect a significant minority of humans against the disease, would be studied to answer two fundamental questions: why it worked in some people but not in others, and why those infected despite vaccination got no benefit at all. The vaccine — known as RV 144, a combination of two genetically engineered vaccines, neither of which had worked before in humans — was declared a qualified success after a six-year clinical trial on more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand. Those who were vaccinated became infected at a rate nearly one-third lower than the others
Researchers at the Hohenstein Institute in Stuttgart, Germany developed a method to embed multipotent mesenchymal stem cells onto the surface fibres of common surgical fabric implants. Using such a product it may be possible to directly motivate the regrowth of critical tissue, such as myocardium after a heart attack
The Lost Orphan Mine below the Grand Canyon hasn’t produced uranium since the 1960s, but radioactive residue still contaminates the area. Cleaning the region takes an expensive process that is only done in extreme cases, but Judy Wall, a biochemistry professor at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is researching the use of sulfate-reducing bacteria to convert toxic radioactive metal to inert substances, a much more economical solution
Australian researchers have demonstrated a way of storing quantum pulses of light that could be used in an optical memory device, similar to the way computers store and retrieve digital information. The technology, developed by a team at the Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra, also has applications in quantum cryptography, a secure means of communication that utilises properties of light to encrypt information. Cryptography works if the information sender and receiver share a secret key
Decades of inbreeding is causing immense suffering for pedigree dogs, who are plagued by painful and deadly genetic diseases as a result of breeding for appearance, a UK investigation has found. The BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed (video), aired on ABC1 on Thursday, shows boxers suffering from epilepsy and spaniels with brains far too big for their skulls. Other painful disabilities and deformities, including poor gait and severe heart and respiratory problems, plague purebreds like west highland terriers, golden retrievers and german shepherds
A team of CSIRO researchers and international scientists say human trials of a new chemotherapy skin patch could be revolutionary. The patch, made up of tiny diamond particles, could also be applied internally to provide a slower non-toxic release of the chemicals into the patient’s body. Trials on mice show the patches require 20 times less of the drug to be as effective as conventional chemotherapy
You can tell a lot about a person from their eyes, and now that seems to extend to memories hidden deep in the brain. By relating subtle eye movements to activity in the brain, researchers in California have shown that a structure called the hippocampus can retrieve memories of past events or experiences — even when people have no conscious recollection of them
Wolves do better on some tests of logic than dogs, a new study found, revealing differences between the animals that scientists suspect result from dogs’ domestication. In experiments, dogs followed human cues to perform certain tasks despite evidence they could see suggesting a different strategy would be smarter, while wolves made the more logical choice based on their observations. In fact, dogs’ responses were similar to human infants, who also prioritise following the example of adult humans
David Bowie has had a large, yellow, hairy spider from Malaysia named after him. A German spider specialist told the Observer newspaper he named the new species after Bowie — whose album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was a huge hit in 1972 — because he wanted to raise awareness about the discovery. Peter Jaeger, who has found 200 new species of arachnids in a decade, says he’s named it Heteropoda davidbowie. Jaeger says most of the species he’s uncovered are endangered
An injectable biogel
that may help wounded soldiers and car crash victims recover from brain injuries could be tested on patients in three years, it has been claimed. The material, containing a cocktail of synthetic and natural chemicals, spurs on the growth of neural stem cells which in turn repair damaged nerves. After promising studies on rats scientists in the US say the treatment could be ready for patient trials in as little as three years
Talking to an attractive woman really can make a man lose his mind, according to a new study. The research shows men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive. Researchers who carried out the study, published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, think the reason may be that men use up so much of their brain function or ‘cognitive resources’ trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks. The findings have implications for the performance of men who flirt with women in the workplace, or even exam results in mixed-sex schools. Women, however, were not affected by chatting to a handsome man
The federal government has launched its $15 million senior citizens internet education program. Federal Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin today unveiled the first 42 of 2000 internet kiosks
which will be placed in community sites exclusively for teaching senior citizens how to use the internet. The kiosks are essentially basic PCs with internet connections
Lung cancer is a brutal disease, often not caught until it’s too late for treatment to do much good. Now researchers are building an electronic nose that could help physicians detect the disease during its initial stages. Using gold nanoparticles, scientists at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have created sensors with an unprecedented sensitivity for sniffing out compounds present in the breath of lung-cancer patients
It’s one of the bigger pieces of trash in a sprawling mass of garbage-littered water, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where most of the plastic looks like snowy confetti against the deep blue of the north Pacific Ocean. Most of the trash has broken into bite-sized plastic bits, and scientists want to know whether it’s sickening or killing the small fish, plankton and birds that ingest it. During their August fact-finding expedition, a group of University of California scientists found much more debris than they expected
Scientists have discovered a planet that shouldn’t exist. The finding, they say, could alter our understanding of orbital dynamics, a field considered pretty well settled since the time of astronomer Johannes Kepler 400 years ago. The planet is known as a hot Jupiter
, a gas giant orbiting the star Wasp-18, about 330 light-years from Earth. The planet, Wasp-18b, is so close to the star that it completes a full orbit (its year
) in less than an Earth day. Of the more than 370 exoplanets — planets orbiting stars other than our sun — discovered so far, this is just the second with such a close orbit
Researchers used stem cells to grow a replacement tooth for an adult mouse, the first time scientists have developed a fully functioning three-dimensional organ replacement. The researchers at the Tokyo University of Science created a set of cells that contained genetic instructions to build a tooth, and then implanted this tooth germ
into the mouse’s empty tooth socket. The tooth grew out of the socket and through the gums, as a natural tooth would. Once the engineered tooth matured, after 11 weeks, it had a similar shape, hardness and response to pain or stress as a natural tooth, and worked equally well for chewing. The researchers suggested that using similar techniques in humans could restore function to patients with organ failure
Neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita hypothesised in the 1960s that we see with our brains not our eyes
. Now, a new device trades on that thinking and aims to partially restore the experience of vision for the blind and visually impaired by relying on the nerves on the tongue’s surface to send light signals to the brain
Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among US poor, especially in states along the US-Mexico border, the rural South and in Appalachia, according to researchers. Government and private researchers are just beginning to assess the toll of the infections, which are a significant cause of heart disease, seizures and congenital birth defects among black and Hispanic populations. One obstacle is that the diseases, long thought to be an overseas problem, are only briefly discussed in most US medical school classes and textbooks, so many physicians don’t recognise them
Cars with video displays on their sides that show up only when the video plays. Pocket-sized video screen roll-ups. Wall-hanging TVs thin as cardboard. A new form of LED display can make it all possible
Israeli scientists have developed new technology to fight biological identity theft after realising that DNA evidence found at crime scenes can be easily falsified. The researchers showed that with the use of basic equipment and know-how, anyone can obtain artificial DNA that can be incorporated into genuine human blood or saliva, or directly planted at a crime scene
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