Breakthrough in Ebola treatment
Using genetic particles known as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), scientists have halted the replication process of the deadly Ebola virus…
Bone marrow transplant cures mental illness
For the first time, a team of geneticists has shown that there is a direct cause-and-effect link between a psychiatric…
Shark attack stats highlight risk of monochromatic Speedos
An analysis of shark attacks by researchers from the University of Florida (UF) has found that attacks are most likely…
Virus-fungus combo behind honeybee collapse?
A group of pathogens including a fungus and family of viruses may be working together to cause the decline in…
Soil bacterium enhances brain’s ability to learn
Researchers from The Sage Colleges in New York say that the bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae, already believed to have antidepressant qualities,…
First observation of Brownian instantaneous velocity
A hundred years after Albert Einstein said we would never be able to observe the instantaneous velocity of tiny particles…
Synthetic genome successfully transplanted into cell
Scientists have created the first cell controlled by a synthetic genome, a feat that will allow researchers to probe the…
Anomalous supernova puzzles astronomers
Supernova 2005E, discovered five years ago by the University of California, Berkeley’s Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT), is a calcium-rich…
Ball lightning all in the mind, say physicists
Physicists at the University of Innsbruck have shown that the magnetic fields produced by certain types of lightning have the…
New hypothesis links smallpox vaccination and HIV
Smallpox immunization may confer protection against HIV, say researchers who suggest that the end of smallpox vaccination in the mid-20th…
Risky business and a woman’s touch
A woman’s touch is all it takes for people to throw caution to the wind. At least that’s according to…
Molecular “robot” built from DNA
Scientists from Columbia University, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, and Caltech have programmed an autonomous molecular “robot” made…
Intergalactic gas cloud could hold universe’s “missing” matter
Astronomers have new evidence that a vast reservoir of hot, diffuse gas about 400 million light years from Earth could…
Robustness of quantum entanglement in photosynthesis surprises researchers
The development of clean solar power may hinge on scientists being able to unravel the mysteries of photosynthesis, the process…
HIV non-progressors have super-charged T cells
A new study shows that individuals with the HLA B57 gene produce larger numbers of T cells that are cross-reactive,…
Antioxidant supplements found to induce genetic abnormalities
A chance discovery by Cedars-Sinai researchers has shown that high doses of antioxidant nutritional supplements can increase genetic abnormalities in…
Organic farming “a luxury we can’t afford,” concludes UK report
Organic farming is perceived as wildlife friendly, but the benefits to birds, bees and butterflies don’t compensate for the lower…
Depth-of-field irrelevant with omni-focus camera
The University of Toronto has announced what it says is a breakthrough development in video camera design. Based on an…
Centrifuge made from a salad spinner for developing countries
A salad spinner, plastic lids, yogurt containers and a hot-glue gun could be saving lives in the developing world this…
Ancient glaciation period yields clues to carbon cycle anomalies
A massive glaciation event that occurred around 720 million years ago is yielding important clues as to how anomalies in…