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Encyclopedia of Life

The first 30,000 pages of a massive online Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) were unveiled as scientists assemble for the prestigious Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference in Monterey, California.

27 Feb 2008

New understanding of how big molecules bind will lead to better drugs, synthetic organic materials

Biological and medical research is on the threshold of a new era based on better understanding of how large organic molecules bind together and recognise each other.

22 Feb 2008

Lab on a chip mimics chemical complexities of the brain

Johns Hopkins researchers from the Whiting School of Engineering and the School of Medicine have devised a micro-scale tool - a lab on a chip - designed to mimic the chemical complexities of the brain.

13 Feb 2008

New liquid treatment for wide-neck brain aneurysm tested at Jefferson Hospital

Neurological surgeons at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience are among the first surgeons in the United States using an FDA-approved liquid system for treating wide-necked brain aneurysms, which could eventually replace current treatments.

4 Feb 2008

Improved methods for decontamination of bioterrorism hazards

In October 2001, letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others.

30 Jan 2008

Printed intelligence technology for mass production of analytical devices

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of California in Berkeley have begun a three-year project to address technology barriers in the field of low cost diagnostics.

29 Jan 2008

New approach to gene therapy

RNA interference (RNAi) represents an innovative new strategy for using small RNA molecules to silence specific genes associated with disease processes, and a series of review articles describing the state-of-the-art and potential therapeutic applications of RNAi and microRNAs will begin with two review papers in the January 2008 issue (Volume 19, Number 1) of Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

24 Jan 2008

Unique fungal collection could hold key to future antibiotics

Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London have joined forces with CABI to establish a facility to screen for potential new antibiotics.

23 Jan 2008

Dark-field x-ray images sharpen medical imaging

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the EPFL in Switzerland have developed a novel method for producing dark-field x-ray images at wavelengths used in typical medical and industrial imaging equipment.

21 Jan 2008

New method to transfer DNA into a host cell

Genetically engineered products have become indispensable. For example, genetically modified bacteria produce human insulin.

21 Jan 2008

Contact lenses with imprinted electronic circuit and lights

Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs.

18 Jan 2008

New European medical implants

Patients suffering from conditions such as stroke, blindness, deafness, incontinence, glaucoma or hydrocephalus will be the first to benefit from a range of new technologies and implantable medical devices developed by a pioneering European consortium of researchers, surgeons and technology companies.

16 Jan 2008

Variability in health care treatment costs amongst 9 EU countries

With ‘health tourism' rising across the European Union, consumers, insurers and Governments are increasingly interested in the relative cost of common procedures in different countries.

9 Jan 2008

Discovery of 480 genes that control human cell division

A team of U.S., Israeli and German scientists used computational biology techniques to discover 480 genes that play a role in human cell division and to identify more than 100 of those genes that have an abnormal pattern of activation in cancer cells.

8 Jan 2008

Membrane distillation plants provide water for the world's poorest

Lack of water causes great distress among the population in large parts of Africa and Asia. Small decentralized water treatment plants with an autonomous power supply can help solve the problem: They transform salty seawater or brackish water into pure drinking water.

7 Jan 2008