Scanning for Emerging Science and Technology Issues
26.11.2009
“Researchers have demonstrated a prototype device that can rid hands, feet, or even underarms of bacteria, including the hospital superbug MRSA.
The device works by creating something called a plasma, which produces a cocktail of chemicals in air that kill bacteria but are harmless to skin.
A related approach could see the use of plasmas to speed the healing of wounds. [...]”
Source/article: BBC
17.11.2009
“Long-lived nuclear batteries powered by hydrogen isotopes are in testing for military applications.
Batteries that harvest energy from the nuclear decay of isotopes can produce very low levels of current and last for decades without needing to be replaced. A new version of the batteries, called betavoltaics, is being developed by an Ithaca, NY-based company and tested by Lockheed Martin. The batteries could potentially power electrical circuits that protect military planes and missiles from tampering by destroying information stored in the systems, or by sending out a warning signal to a military center. The batteries are expected to last for 25 years. The company, called Widetronix, is also working with medical-device makers to develop batteries that could last decades for implantable medical devices. [...]”
Source/article: Technology Review
16.11.2009
“Researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed microscopic polymer beads that can deliver an antioxidant enzyme made naturally by the body into the heart. [...]”
Source/article: Science Daily
28.210.2009
“A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.
Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin — a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color — and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.
The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer. [..]”
Source/article: News Daily
18.10.2009
“A team of scientists from Italy and Sweden has developed what is believed to be the first artificial hand that has feeling.
It has been attached to the arm of a 22-year-old man who lost his own hand through cancer.
Researchers say it works by connecting human nerve endings with tiny electronic sensors.
Duncan Kennedy reports from Tuscany in Italy. [...]”
Source/article: BBC News with Video
16.10.2009
“The placebo effect is not only real; its ability to deaden pain has been pinpointed to cells in the spinal cord. That raises hopes for new ways of treating conditions such as chronic pain.
The researchers who made the discovery scanned the spinal cords of volunteers while applying painful heat to one arm. Then they rubbed a cream onto the arm and told the volunteers that it contained a painkiller – but in fact it had no active ingredient. Even so, the cream made spinal-cord neural activity linked to pain vanish. [...]”
Source/article: New Scientist
15.10.2009
New technique described as a Band-Aid for damaged muscle
“Researchers report a major step toward the goal of literally rebuilding a broken heart — creating a strip of working heart muscle in the laboratory by using a newly identified human cardiac master stem cell.
“This work moves us closer to heart stem cell therapy,” said Dr. Kenneth Chien, director of the Massachusetts General Center for Cardiovascular Research, a member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and leader of a group reporting the work online Oct. 15 in Science. [...]”
Source/article: Health Day
14.10.2009
” Searching for biomarkers that can warn of diseases such as cancer while they are still in their earliest stage is likely to become far easier thanks to an innovative biosensor chip developed by Stanford University researchers. [...] The sensor is up to 1,000 times more sensitive than any technology now in clinical use, is accurate regardless of which bodily fluid is being analyzed and can detect biomarker proteins over a range of concentrations three times broader than any existing method, the researchers say. [...]”
Source/article: Science Daily
11.10.2009
“Scientists in Italy think they may have come up with a new way to scan for cancer of the stomach or colon.
The ‘spider pill’, which is fitted with a camera, is swallowed by the patient and once within the colon or intestine the legs are opened. Duncan Kennedy reports”
Source/article: BBC (with video)
09.10.2009
“Scientists at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have successfully produced liver cells from patients’ skin cells opening the possibility of treating a wide range of diseases that affect liver function. [...]”
Source/article: Science Daily
