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Biotage announces release of new Analytical Sample Preparation Catalog

Biotage, a leading supplier of tools and technology for medicinal and analytical chemistry, announced the release of its new Analytical Sample Preparation Catalog. The expanded, 200-page catalog includes a range of products for Bioanalytical, Forensic, Clinical, Environmental, Agrochemical and Food Applications.

27 Jan 2011

FMV orders more products for encrypted telephony from Sectra

FMV, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration, has ordered more products for encrypted telephony from Sectra. The products will be used by the Swedish Defense Forces and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, where work to increase security and protect sensitive information against new threats will continue.

27 Jan 2011

Faked cancer lands British man in jail

A British father who faked a terminal cancer to his family and friends to ‘con’ them out of cash, is beginning a 20 month jail sentence today. Simon Swift, 39, from Rugby in Warwickshire, central England started by telling his wife and three teenage children that he only had months to live and sold tickets worth hundreds of pounds for a fake charity auction. He claimed in May that the cancer had started in his spine and had become terminal. He even shaved his hair and claimed marks on his neck were from radiotherapy.

26 Jan 2011

Male celebrities admit to undergoing hair restoration surgery

An interesting statistic: more than half of hair loss sufferers would be more inclined to consider having a hair transplant if celebrities or public figures were more open about hair restoration surgery, and men are more likely to be influenced than women.

25 Jan 2011

Tips for getting good night's sleep

Bedrooms are important to getting a good night's sleep, according to the first ever Bedroom Poll from the National Sleep Foundation. The poll found that Americans love their bedrooms and believe that comfort and cleanliness are fundamental to good sleep.

25 Jan 2011

USAID administrator discusses agency's plans to reduce spending, reform development practices

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, "in a speech on Wednesday, outlined steps USAID is taking to improve its balance sheet, including moving costly senior jobs from places such as Paris and Tokyo, reducing its real estate portfolio and doing more work with in-house experts rather than expensive contractors," Reuters reports.

21 Jan 2011

Africa's economic expansion not strong enough to reach poverty MDG, U.N. report says

"Africa's economy expanded by 4.7 percent in 2010 and is expected to maintain similar growth over the next two years," according to the U.N.'s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011 report, which was released Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.

20 Jan 2011

Alcohol statistics in Australia: Beer low wine high

New statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) on alcohol and wine consumption released on Tuesday show beer consumption is now at its lowest level in 61 years. It is making up less than half of all the pure alcohol consumed in Australia.

19 Jan 2011

MU researchers offer tips to increase happiness and avoid wintertime woes

Frigid weather may seem like a good excuse to avoid workouts, stay inside and overindulge in comfort foods. However, health experts from the University of Missouri have found that these tendencies leave most people feeling less content during the winter months. MU researchers say people should establish new traditions to increase happiness and avoid wintertime woes.

19 Jan 2011

Stem cell exhibition to broaden debate on the issue

The topic remains complex and controversial, the technology innovative and promising, and the debate, on stem-cell research, continues unabated. And now, the subject is receiving the attention of a group not normally associated with scientific discoveries. University of Alberta printmaking professor, Sean Caulfield, along with U of A Health Law Institute research director and researcher, Tim Caulfield, have brought together a group of visual artists from Europe and North America to contribute to the stem-cell debate that often pits politicians, scientists, pundits and religious leaders against each other.

17 Jan 2011

Illegal breast & buttock implant woman busted

A woman from New York City was arrested on Friday with the charge of performing illegal breast and buttocks enhancement procedures in her home, sometimes charging more than $1,000 for injections of liquid silicone.

16 Jan 2011

Air Products, Linde enter 50-50 joint venture to supply high purity HCl

Linde Gas North America and Air Products today announced they have formed Hydrochlor, a 50-50 joint venture to supply high purity anhydrous hydrochloric acid (HCl) to the electronics and other industries.

13 Jan 2011

Vitamin drinks contain too much sugar: CHOICE review

According to consumer group CHOICE the available vitamin-enhanced water products, produced by such companies as Nutrient Water, Smart Water and Vitamin Water, often contain high levels of sugar and in some cases were branded in a way that suggested they contained ingredients that were non-existent.

11 Jan 2011

BiAqua, DSM enter partnership for strain and process development of BiAqua Ferritin

DSM BioSolutions, Royal DSM's microbial fermentation contract manufacturing business, and BiAqua B.V., an innovator in delivering bio-based solutions for serious water contamination issues, today announced that they have entered into an agreement for strain development, process development and production of "BiAqua Ferritin" for BiAqua's core technology to address bio-fouling and arsenic contamination in the water sector.

11 Jan 2011

Food price rise will affect 'millions,' FAO economist says

Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Friday "warned of a 'worrying rise' in food prices which will affect millions of people following unexpected shortfalls in major cereals owing to bad weather in 2010," Agence France-Presse reports.

10 Jan 2011

Professor Puchta receives ERC's Advanced Researcher Grant

Tomatoes that resist pests and extreme weather while still tasting like tomatoes are among Professor Holger Puchtas long-term research goals. The molecular biologist develops techniques that will allow him to control inheritance in plants to selectively improve the properties of different species through nature's existing gene pool. For his fundamental research, Puchta now is awarded an Advanced Researcher Grant by the European Research Council.

10 Jan 2011

No smokers in Britain by 2050

According to a major investment bank there would be no smokers in Britain by 2050. According to Citigroup analyst Adam Spielman the decline is sharp and sure and would show up as no smokers in 30 to 50 years time. The analyses used data to reveal that the percentage of adult smokers in the UK has fallen from 53 per cent in 1960 to 21 per cent in 2008. Spielman said, “If these trends continue, then by 2050 many important tobacco markets will have gone to zero smoking.”

9 Jan 2011

Gigantism gene inherited by hundreds: Study

A gene that predicted gigantism in humans was identified in the DNA of the 18th-century man known as the Irish Giant, who was more than 7 feet 7 inches tall. Copies of the same mutation have been found in patients today who suffer from excessive growth, and scientists have concluded they all inherited the gene from a common ancestor.

9 Jan 2011

News outlets examine potential implications of record high food price levels

Though world food prices "jumped to a record high" in the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) latest index, the agency "is drawing comfort from the absence of widespread riots, usually the defining element of a food crisis," the Financial Times reports looking at the factors that have led some food prices to rise significantly without sparking international panic.

7 Jan 2011

Oxfam, Amnesty International release reports almost one year since Haiti's earthquake

"A new report from international aid agency Oxfam says reconstruction work has barely begun in Haiti following the country's catastrophic earthquake a year ago," RTE News reports (1/6).

7 Jan 2011