MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology' source. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:15:16 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5674081&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D787acc19b4bb564cc355204cfe2ddffd Cancer treatment can be brutal for patients. Many of the tools we have-- chemotherapy , radiation--are big, blunt weapons that deal punishing blows to healthy tissues along with cancerous ones. So the hunt has been on for more and more finely targeted therapies that will attack malignant cells yet minimize damage to patients' bodies. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5674081 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:30:00 +0100 5674081 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5674082&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Da8a8ec622305c30e14002c37202155d3 Gene therapy has markedly improved vision in both eyes in three women who were born virtually blind. The patients can now avoid obstacles even in dim light, read large print and recognize people's faces. The operation, researchers predict, should work even better in children and adolescents blinded by the same condition. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5674082 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0100 5674082 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5674083&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc1fe07b3fea0cd00b86420178088c887 Custom-designed proteins made with the aid of computers could fight chemical weapons such as nerve gas and help decontaminate toxic-waste sites, scientists say. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5674083 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:00:00 +0100 5674083 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5643979&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc86fe918dafe1fb0d32d5d86a710a26c For years New York City–based universities have been opening satellite campuses worldwide, whether it is New York University's sites in Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv or Columbia University's Global Centers in Beijing and Nairobi. Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa is returning the favor in a big way, partnering with Ithaca, N.Y.–based Cornell University to build a campus on New York City's Roosevelt Island . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5643979 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0100 5643979 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5635616&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D53c692d8d543ce20918a58bbbd9dda05 Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care (Basic Books, 2012), by Eric Topol, a professor of innovative medicine and the director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5635616 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0100 5635616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5635617&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddc74bead7af3c98c3082983ae9367409 A fighter pilot heads back to base after a long mission, feeling spent. A warning light flashes on the control panel. Has she noticed? If so, is she focused enough to fix the problem? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5635617 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0100 5635617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5624899&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D42979a2a5ea42418b7dd47fe46ba51a4 When public health officials fret about the soaring incidence of diabetes in the U.S. and worldwide, they are generally referring to type 2 diabetes. About 90 percent of the nearly 350 million people around the world who have diabetes suffer from the type 2 form of the illness, which mostly starts causing problems in the 40s and 50s and is tied to the stress that extra pounds place on the body’s ability to regulate blood glucose. About 25 million people in the U.S. have type 2 diabetes, and another million have type 1 diabetes, which typically strikes in childhood and can be controlled only with daily doses of insulin. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5624899 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0100 5624899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5624900&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc124a7cdfdb9f44744afbcf2137933b1 An uncharted trawl through thousands of small molecules involved in the body's metabolism may have uncovered a potential route to treating pain caused by nerve damage. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5624900 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:30:00 +0100 5624900 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5617170&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5afec7d2d515719f0c63ee4a1d3ef609 Reprinted from Nature magazine [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5617170 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:50:00 +0100 5617170 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5617171&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D9d53d16a914de039df56206f65eba600 Seaweed may well be an ideal plant to turn into biofuel. It grows in much of the two thirds of the planet that is underwater, so it wouldn't crowd out food crops the way corn for ethanol does. Because it draws its own nutrients and water from the sea, it requires no fertilizer or irrigation. Most importantly for would-be biofuel-makers, it contains no lignin--a strong strand of complex sugars that stiffens plant stalks and poses a big obstacle to turning land-based plants such as switchgrass into biofuel . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5617171 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:01:00 +0100 5617171 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5604109&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D452ae67f61818819e02f1087f9889bff Personal oral hygiene notwithstanding, your mouth is teeming with hundreds of species of microorganisms. Until now, researchers have had a tough time sorting out all these small species--and how they interact. A new multicolor fluorescent-labeling technology is allowing microbiologists to peer into the human mouth’s microscopic jungle and discover new dynamics among several key groups. The findings were presented last December at the American Society for Cell Biology’s annual meeting in Denver. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5604109 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0100 5604109 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5593242&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dbc242544c8275bfb9049c95e31613db2 For years researchers have been trying to figure out the best ways of making plants produce biofuels. But there is a funda­mental problem: photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into stored chemical energy, is highly inefficient. Plants turn only 1 to 3 percent of sunlight into carbohydrates. That is one reason why so much land has to be devoted to growing corn for ethanol, among other bad biofuel ideas. And yet plants also have many advantages: they absorb carbon dioxide at low concen­trations directly from the atmosphere, and each plant cell can repair itself when damaged. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5593242 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0100 5593242 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5593243&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dcf48f475f0e52ff5b2722ba7246f7f01 Genetically engineered mosquitoes developed by British biotech firm Oxitec as an approach to controlling dengue fever have been caught up in controversy since 6,000 of them were deliberately released to an uninhabited forest in Malaysia in a trial in December 2010. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5593243 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0100 5593243 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5593244&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D109664fdc3a3275852abef4fbc8b638d At the backs of your eyeballs, on the living projector screens called retinas, your corneas display upside-down 2-D images of the world around you. With some complex mental origami , your brain transforms those flat worlds into a beautiful 3-D model of everything you see. In a new study, researchers changed how monkeys perceived 3-D optical illusions by stimulating particular clusters of neurons in their brains. The researchers think the region they tweaked is where 3-D modeling happens. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5593244 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0100 5593244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5593245&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8042f67b7633e2fed566bae3ed9dc6cb Name: J. Craig Venter [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5593245 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0100 5593245 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5593246&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D4bb66a807a942c75849f25a8c33da97b In a sign of pessimism about humanity's future , scientists today set the hands of the infamous "Doomsday Clock" forward one minute from two years ago. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5593246 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:15:00 +0100 5593246 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5593247&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Db7c3304721eb7e8dfa0bea49b3e5ed23 The race to the $1,000 genome heated up today as Life Technologies, based in Carlsbad, Calif., announced that it will debut a new sequencing machine this year that will eventually be capable of decoding entire human genomes in a day for less than $1,000. The machine, called the  Ion Proton,  will be the successor to the Personal Genome Machine made by the company Ion Torrent, a subsidiary of Life Technologies. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5593247 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:45:00 +0100 5593247 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5576875&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8423f26caaa33ff7dc9d1a10b3b38363 The first California condors to enter the wild in five years took a few hesitant hops on a sandstone cliff, craned pinkish necks over the pre­c­ipice and tentatively tested their nine-foot-plus wings. Since that landmark launch in 1992, wildlife biologists have released nearly 200 condors that were born and raised in captivity, and they’ve prospered. The world population has rebounded from 22 in 1987 to 396 birds, with wild populations concentrated in Baja California, Arizona, and southern and central California. As these giant scavengers move to reoccupy their full seven-million-square-mile range, scientists are using state-of-the-art technology to guide the Pleistocene-period survivors toward full self-sustainability. They are counting on this and other unusual inventions, ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5576875 Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0100 5576875 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5569051&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dd160a81204f70c7ab001e5f5805a6840 They look like ordinary baby rhesus macaques , but Hex, Roku and Chimero are the world's first chimeric monkeys, each with cells from the genomes of as many as six rhesus monkeys. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5569051 Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100 5569051 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5569052&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dfbcf39436a13852ea2c9856cfc0e7cf4 Older and More Stressed [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5569052 Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0100 5569052 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5569053&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D853cd92bf6fb07dcd049dc4a63d1ef5c The contenders for the Republican nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election may appear to be a fairly uniform group of middle-aged white conservatives, but when it comes to issues of science, technology and overall geek cred, none of these candidates is cut from the same cloth. In fact, Newt Gingrich nudges out Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in Scientific American 's overall ranking, based on the former Congressman's engagement in issues related to energy, the Internet and military weapons, combined with his mastery of top online tools such as Twitter and a healthy appetite for science nonfiction. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5569053 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0100 5569053 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5556856&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dbc0388b85aa4e37002124c3e4178e517 It seems like every few months a new study points out the inefficacy of yet another wide-scale cancer screening. In 2009 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force sug­gested that many women undergo mam­mograms later and less frequently than had been recommended before because there seems to be little, if any, extra benefit from annual tests. This same group recently issued an even more pointed statement about the prostate-specific antigen test for prostate cancer: it blights many lives but overall doesn’t save them. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5556856 Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0100 5556856 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5556857&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D56efe264e8a791d7082d7beb711dc01e Nobody likes getting shots. But what if you could make the needles so tiny that they broke the skin painlessly? Engineers from Tufts University have created such micro-needles--made from the major protein in silk, fibroin. The work is in the journal Advanced Functional Materials .[Konstantinos Tsioris et al., " Fabrication of Silk Micro-Needles for Controlled-Release Drug Delivery "] [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5556857 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:33:08 +0100 5556857 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5549919&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D916ee2717458a369041f13e31919085a Watson is the IBM computer built by David Ferrucci and his team of 25 research scientists tasked with designing an artificial-intelligence (AI) system that can rival human champions at the game of Jeopardy . After beating the greatest Jeopardy champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, in February 2011, the computer is now being employed in more practical tasks such as answering diagnostic medical questions. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5549919 Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5549919 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5533762&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Db7520fb76ee146340585d5f65b8f79be Hopes for new drugs that would slow or stop the inexorable decline of Alzheimer’s patients have repeatedly found­ered in recent years. In one example, Eli Lilly had to halt the trial of a drug designed to prevent the production of toxic proteins in the brain because patients’ cognition actually worsened while they were taking it. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5533762 Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:00:00 +0100 5533762 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5533763&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc939af7edf07a4fac9b0490376cf839b Material scientists admire spider silk for being lightweight and strong. Now another arthropod product is getting into the act--insect cuticle, the tough, flexible material in the insect exoskeleton. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5533763 Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:02:08 +0100 5533763 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5533764&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dfcd79adea1644999c36c5a9df28f3886 On a clear November morning in 1964 the Royal Canadian Navy’s Cape Scott embarked from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on a four-month expedition. Led by the late Stanley Skoryna, an enterprising McGill University professor, a team of 38 scientists onboard headed for Easter Island, a volcanic speck that juts out from the Pacific 2,200 miles west of Chile. Plans were afoot to build an airport on the remote island, famous for its mysterious sculptures of enormous heads, and the group wanted to study the people, flora and fauna while they remained largely untouched by modernity. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5533764 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:15:00 +0100 5533764 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5533765&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dbd0db1b1eeace2198ed3550d754fe30d “And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years,” as the quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln goes. Although we humans have never been satisfied with the biblical allotment of threescore and ten, neither do we want to extend our life span only to pass the time in a decrepit state. No, we want a longer health span. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5533765 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:10:00 +0100 5533765 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5512500&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5de5ba9055b65cabe01afab09318d59c Researchers in nanomedicine have long dreamed of an age when molecular-scale computing devices could be embedded in our bodies to monitor health and treat diseases before they progress. The advantage of such computers, which would be made of biological materials, would lie in their ability to speak the biochemical language of life. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5512500 Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5512500 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5501262&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D227f6ea3d3730e7a03a3ed36a0f57888 Infant mortality has continued to drop in the U.S. during the past several decades. But stillbirths--when a fetus dies after 20 or more weeks of gestation--have remained relatively steady--and account for almost as many deaths as those of babies who die before their first birthday . About one in every 160 pregnancies in the U.S. ends in a stillbirth, which adds up to about 26,000 each year nationwide. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5501262 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:45:00 +0100 5501262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5501263&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D2e421754d4d3fb275b24208bb0169710 Promising treatments for those blinded by an often-hereditary, retina-damaging disease are expanding throughout Europe and making their way across the pond, offering a ray of hope for the hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. left in the dark by retinitis pigmentosa . The disease--which affects about one in 4,000 people in the U.S. and about 1.5 million people worldwide --kills the retina's photoreceptors, the rod and cone cells that convert light into electrical signals, which are transmitted via the optic nerve to the brain's visual cortex for processing. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5501263 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5501263 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5492738&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc88fd11cb89809d1db09c0318e914233 It’s a rare kind of research that incites a frenzied panic before it’s even published. But it’s flu season, and influenza science has a way of causing a stir this time of year. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5492738 Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:45:00 +0100 5492738 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5483454&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D40209082b6d329b73d62c69924d82fd7 In the quest to cure cancer, many researchers have started looking beyond toxic chemicals and harsh radiation and instead are trying to harness the body's immune system. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5483454 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:30:00 +0100 5483454 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5483455&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D53d184cbc6b364cb6b5e226bb0da36fd As a biological feat, it was the equivalent of an 80-year-old woman giving birth: Because of a mutation, Coleen Murphy's worms were still fertile and laying eggs right up until the end of their lives. The worms' impressive performance adds weight to the evidence that the biological clock that rules reproduction is separate from the one that grants us the traditional threescore and 10. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5483455 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:35:00 +0100 5483455 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5483456&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D0857babc3fd5a815c275555d50d9873a In 1984 the Hatch-Waxman Act made it cheaper and easier to put generic versions of a drug on the market. As a result of the expedited approval process, generics now make up more than 60 percent of prescription drugs sold in the U.S. and have saved the health care system $734 billion between 1999 and 2008 alone. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5483456 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5483456 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5473759&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D02d7c3f2b19d8162abbab532d21cc4cd Erez Lieberman Aiden was an undergraduate at Princeton University in 2000 when scientists announced with great fanfare that they had sequenced the first human genome , yielding a trove of information about what happens inside every human cell. But Aiden wondered what it would be like to see what was happening inside a human cell. How does this gigantic genome--which would stretch 2 meters if you unwound it from its 5-micron-wide coil in the nucleus--actually go about its work? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5473759 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:05:00 +0100 5473759 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5447767&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df5eb8e30fdf3ea67c275d90e06d99524 On March 12, 1948, at 9:14 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 crashed into Mount Sanford, a peak in the remote Wrangell Mountains in eastern Alaska. All 24 passengers--merchant mariners returning to the U.S. from Shanghai, China--along with six Northwest crew members, probably died on impact. The debris, too difficult to reach, was quickly covered by snow and eventually entombed by ice. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5447767 Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5447767 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5447768&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D1a593e16419477de120a9826df783238 With 100 billion neurons and trillions of synapses, your brain spins neural webs of staggering complexity. It propels you to breathe, twitch, and butter toast, and yet we remain largely ignorant of how the brain does even these simple tasks--let alone how it stirs up consciousness. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5447768 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5447768 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5437355&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D25f1941cfc623ad817bab62984356bfc In 2009 the San Francisco police arrested Lily Haskell when she allegedly attempted to come to the aid of a companion who had already been taken into custody during a peace demonstration. The authorities released her quickly, without pressing charges. But a little piece of Haskell remained behind in their database. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5437355 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5437355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5437356&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8fed35dc1ad32b7e8d99b4b717025dcc Millions of pacemakers have been successfully implanted in the past half century to regulate erratic heartbeats , but the electrical leads, which connect the device to the heart, complicate the surgery and increase infection risks. The heart's continuous and vigorous beating also creates strain on the leads and can damage them over time. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5437356 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5437356 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5417781&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D7e14163bca607abbbb469fbabcfa2a7b Revolutions often spring from the simplest of ideas. When a young inventor named Steve Jobs wanted to provide computing power to “people who have no computer experience and don’t particularly care to gain any,” he ushered us from the cumbersome technology of mainframes and command-line prompts to the breezy advances of the Macintosh and iPhone. His idea helped to forever change our relationship with technology. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5417781 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:30:00 +0100 5417781 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5417782&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddd97b1eb7244745725570b4dd44bbde5 Microbes will be the (human) food- and fuel-makers of the future, if J. Craig Venter has his way. The man responsible for one of the original sequences of the human genome as well as the team that brought you the first living cell running on human-made DNA now hopes to harness algae to make everything humanity needs. All it takes is a little genomic engineering."Nothing new has to be invented. We just have to combine [genes] in a way that nature has not done before. We're speeding up evolution by billions of years," Venter told an energy conference on October 18 at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. "It's hard to imagine a part of humanity not substantially impacted." [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5417782 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:01:00 +0100 5417782 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5417783&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8886d1475ce220b5a5592442c55159cd The patient had endured 20 years of pain: her calves had turned into two bricks,  and she now had trouble walking. A slew of doctors had failed to treat, let alone diagnose, her unusual condition. So when her x-rays finally landed on William A. Gahl’s desk at the National Institutes of Health, he knew immediately that he had to take her case.Gahl is the scientist and physician who leads the Undiagnosed Diseases Program, which tries to unravel the underlying causes of, and find therapies for, mysterious maladies and known but rare conditions. Louise Benge’s x-rays had revealed that blood vessels in her legs and feet bore a thick coat of calcium that restricted blood flow. Benge’s sister, Paula Allen, along with several other members of the family, also shared the diso... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5417783 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0100 5417783 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5417784&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc2c2ec2c91cd493d514f5c3b29e01f0f One physician after another had failed to diagnose what was wrong with Louise Benge. She had suffered for years from pain and hardening of tissue in her calves that made walking painful. William A. Gahl, head of the National Institute of Health's Undiagnosed Diseases Program, eventually ended up with Benge as a patient, along with her sister, Paula Allen, who also suffers from the condition. Gahl went on to discover a novel genetic cause and a possible treatment. (Read more about Gahl's work in a Q&A " The Medical Sleuth " in November 2011's Scientific American .)In the following video clips, both Benge (in red) and Allen (in blue) recount the personal saga of coping with a mystery disease.] [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5417784 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5417784 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5417785&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D85368f567f7c5f7153e1c2afaac623c6 Microscopy remains one of the few areas of science in which enthusiastic amateurs can make others take notice. Nonprofessionals routinely produce stunning images of creatures and objects too tiny for the eye to resolve. This crowdsourcing of microscopic imagery arrived long before the invention of the smartphone and networked communications: the amateur has long made a mark with the microscope--in the early years, by hand drawing images that appeared underneath the lens, and, in more recent times, with the added realism brought by the photograph.This noble tradition continues in our pages, as we offer a selection of photographs from the Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition--a magnet for hobbyists as well as scientists who wish to show off their picture-taking skills.... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5417785 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:01:00 +0100 5417785 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5397000&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D76f704d7c5e5d1157f93143444d3a549 Artificial muscles already help human eyes blink , robotic fish swim and mechanical arms in space replace solar panels. Now a new, potentially wearable type of artificial muscle is expected to do all of those things while being lighter, smaller, softer and cheaper. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5397000 Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:00:00 +0100 5397000 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5397001&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D9f7250c2e6f6c871b60abc93850f50ac Despite medical advances, the treatment of many chronic diseases remains haphazard and inconsistent. Teenagers with Crohn’s disease, a painful digestive disorder often diagnosed in adolescence, for example, sometimes get conflicting information regarding medications, diet modifications and alternative therapies. To help improve the care these patients receive, a team of pediatricians and computer scientists is developing a new type of social network that turns doctors and patients into research collaborators.Here is how it works: With each therapy or treatment modification, doctor and patient participate in a mini clinical trial. The patient records symptoms through daily reports, filed via text message or the Internet. The doctor uses that information to make immediate decisions. Sh... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5397001 Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5397001 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5375753&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D17eb699df2ef429ba6502c1026c4dcdf U.S. stem cell scientists breathed a sigh of relief this July when a federal judge upheld the Obama administration’s expansion of stem cell research. He ruled that work on existing embryonic stem cell lines derived outside federally funded labs did not violate a ban on the destruction of embryos. Despite the legal victory, however, many investigators remain frustrated that a newer method for creating stem cells remains off-limits for funding.Human embryonic stem cells typically come from fertilized eggs. In 2007, however, scientists at International Stem Cell, a California-based biotech firm, reported the first successful creation of human stem cell lines from unfertilized eggs. They used a process called parthenogenesis, in which researchers use chemicals to induce the egg to begin ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5375753 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5375753 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5375754&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D20bb82013876bbb6a086eb353a85990e NOVEMBER 4–5 According to the World Health Organization, one in four of us will develop at least one mental illness or behavioral disorder in our lifetime. Depression alone affects an estimated 121 million people worldwide. At the two-day EMBO/EMBL Science and Society Conference , biologists, psychologists and neuroscientists will explore the ethical and social implications of major mental illnesses as well as their causes and treatment. Attendees will debate the definitions of mental disorders, financial interests in the refinement of both diagnoses and drugs, and controversial new therapies, among other topics. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5375754 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5375754 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5375755&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D666ca9cf309403902f498ee5d26a4c4b Mobile DNA molecules that jump from one location in the genome to another may contribute to neurological diseases and could have subtle influences on normal brain function and behavior, according to a study published October 30 in Nature . ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5375755 Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0100 5375755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5355526&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8cc7b32a9c1a6ed05afa8f0d408aeec6 For years scientists have been developing ways for people to control objects using only brainwaves. Researchers use EEG to measure electrical activity along a person's scalp. These electrical signals can move a computer cursor, play video games and perform other two-dimensional tasks. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5355526 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:35:08 +0100 5355526 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5355527&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D4110a708952cc320f46dfd9a794e9e76 "Today we are learning the language with which God created life." President Bill Clinton made this remark on the White House lawn on June 2000 to recognize the decoding of the first human genome . As much as anything else, rapid DNA sequencing technology created in large part by geneticist Craig Venter and his colleagues galvanized the research community into finishing the project faster than originally expected. More than 11 years later, however, gene sequencing technology has failed to deliver on its promise to revolutionize preventative medicine, and Venter is not happy about it.The idea was that gene sequencing would become so cheap--on the order of $1,000--that ordinary people could afford to have their individual genomes sequenced, which their family doctors would use to di... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5355527 Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0100 5355527 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5355528&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dce8929fe4444cc3bc99e6a951bb9fdb6 Supercomputers can store more information than the human brain and can calculate a single equation faster, but even the biggest, fastest supercomputers in the world cannot match the overall processing power of the brain. And they are nowhere near as compact or energy efficient .Nevertheless, IBM is trying to simulate the human brain with its own cutting-edge supercomputer, called Blue Gene. For the simulation, it used 147,456 processors working in parallel with one another. IBM researchers say each processor is roughly equivalent to the one found in a personal computer, with one gigabyte of working memory. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5355528 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:59:00 +0100 5355528 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5355529&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D217490f536d4d8c2b506d18fbdbc5d82 In the November 2011 issue of Scientific American, author Bijal Trivedi looks at the ongoing controversies surrounding the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to fight dengue fever. We asked biologist Mark Q. Benedict and Helen Wallace, the director of GeneWatch UK , to illuminate the issues surrounding the release of genetically modified insects into the wild. Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Could Be an Important Tool in the Fight against Disease [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5355529 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0100 5355529 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5343627&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8f628b5f6b9c467e74e5e406ace876da “The human genome was sequenced, and in the process of moving that forward the technology that was developed was incredible. And because of their efforts in the human genome, that technology is available to folks like us.”Northern Arizona University’s Paul Keim at the ScienceWriters2011 conference. The ability to compare genomes is a powerful tool for identifying the origins of a natural disease outbreak or bioterrorism. Keim’s team examined the anthrax mailed to victims in the 2001 attacks and determined that it did not come from Iraq. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5343627 Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:24:08 +0100 5343627 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5343628&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D807bb8dcb9e4c0e4a205ae0799cc5396 A pioneering research institute that introduced the computer world to the mouse , hypertext and networks is now setting its sights a bit lower. A team of engineers at SRI International , a nonprofit contract research and development lab in Menlo Park, Calif., has harnessed simple, magnetically levitated microbots to build structures and perform other sophisticated tasks at small size scales. [More] Presented By: Grainger has your safety needs covered.   It's easy to find the safety products you need to help keep your employees injury-free at Grainger. Thousands of safety signs and safety training materials are in stock now. Grainger helps maintain regulatory compliance, improve productivity and reduce downtime. www.grainger.com Ads by Pheedo (Source: Scientifi... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5343628 Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:40:00 +0100 5343628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5330926&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D22f99af5bf117765077a7d9277fb97f8 This graphic originally appeared with the article " Halting the World's Most Lethal Parasite ," in the November 2010 issue of Scientific American . We are posting it as background for today's announcement of good success in a phase III trial using a traditional vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline. Scroll down to see the illustration. For decades the public health community has tried to devise a vaccine that would confer lifetime immunity against the malaria parasite and help stamp out disease. Yet the effort has always been an exercise in frustration. The complex life cycle of the parasite makes it challenging to know the best way to create an effective vaccine. But the advent of new funding and a spate of innovative ideas have changed the out­look dramatically in recent years. For th... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5330926 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5330926 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5330927&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddb669b5f257b762b38f808f2c1089a4a The little tips of chromosomes get shorter every time a cell divides, and this shortening is a mark of cellular aging. If they get short enough, the cell dies or stops dividing. Elizabeth Blackburn, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her studies on telomeres with colleagues Carol Greider and Jack Szostak, has spent the better part of her career trying to figure out why. In recent years, Blackburn has expanded on that initial work to show that these gauges of cellular health serve as barometers of environmental and emotional stress and predictors of various diseases. In this expansion of an interview in the October issue of Scientific American , Blackburn talks about additional ways that this research has started to branch out. Most of your studies look at telomere l... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5330927 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5330927 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5330928&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5b3d8dc6f7e251433c749250b30e9076 Right now about one billion people suffer from chronic hunger. the world’s farmers grow enough food to feed them, but it is not properly distributed and, even if it were, many cannot afford it, because prices are escalating.But another challenge looms. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5330928 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0100 5330928 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5310931&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5b3d8dc6f7e251433c749250b30e9076 Right now about one billion people suffer from chronic hunger. the world’s farmers grow enough food to feed them, but it is not properly distributed and, even if it were, many cannot afford it, because prices are escalating.But another challenge looms. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5310931 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0100 5310931 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5310932&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df0f76a5c350c4a49aae109329c81e4ca Feeling embarrassed? You can probably thank your pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC), a boomerang-shaped region of the brain nestled behind the eyes. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5310932 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5310932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5310933&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5dc5ab4209c263ce5721746ff3640171 For decades cancer specialists have offered ­patients three main therapies: surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. (Some cancer survivors pointedly refer to this harsh trinity as “slash, poison and burn.”) Over the years continual refinements in these admittedly blunt instruments have made the more severe side effects increasingly manageable. At the same time, effectiveness has improved markedly. And new, very targeted drugs (Herceptin and Gleevec) have become available for a few specific cancers. All told, the average five-year survival rate for invasive cancers as a group has risen from 50 percent to 66 percent in the past 30-plus years. In spite of these gains, many cancer survivors will not have a normal life span.Researchers have long suspected that they could add a weap... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5310933 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5310933 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5310934&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D7165b293fe8c5bb927083c12be602e0a This story is a joint project with ProPublica, PBS Frontline and McClatchy . The story will air on Frontline on Oct. 11 . Check local listings. WASHINGTON -- In March 2007, federal agents convened an elite group of outside experts to evaluate the science that had traced the anthrax in the letters to a single flask at an Army lab in Maryland. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5310934 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5310934 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5310935&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D41eb9dd05edcab864d93a832afb4b247 1 How Did Life Begin? The moment when the first living beings arose from inanimate matter almost four billion years ago is still shrouded in mystery. How did relatively simple molecules in the primordial broth give rise to more and more complex compounds? And how did some of those compounds begin to process energy and replicate (two of the defining characteristics of life)? At the molecular level, all of those steps are, of course, chemical reactions, which makes the question of how life began one of chemistry. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5310935 Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:05:00 +0100 5310935 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5301932&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D50c861531cd89cfd0e3a0879c89987ba At first glance the mammoth screen running down a former parking ramp at Lincoln Center looks like something on loan from Times Square, about a dozen blocks to the south. But this 37.5- by 4.3-meter digital data-visualization wall, parked in the heart of Manhattan, is offering much more than enticements to buy snacks or the latest cologne. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5301932 Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5301932 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5301933&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Da2b576873a90b26cf0d1cfdc5c377d78 PCR--the polymerase chain reaction--is a crucial tool. The DNA amplification technique is used in genome sequencing, forensics and the diagnosis of various diseases.To give researchers more genetic material to work with, a PCR instrument repeatedly heats and cools an original biological sample. Which gives enzymes a chance to replicate the DNA millions of times so it can be more easily analyzed. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5301933 Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:51:08 +0100 5301933 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5301935&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Db2e4e92d81ae303e249247ca429b0f18 Two books and one TV series explore the oddities of the human mind.Extraordinarily complex as the human brain may be, it is far from perfect. Human memory is unreliable; we are easily swayed by advertisements; and we tend to hold fast to superstitions. In his new book Brain Bugs: How the Brain’s Flaws Shape Our Lives (W. W. Norton, 2011), neuroscientist Dean Buonomano explores these neural “bugs,” delving into studies that reveal why the brain may have developed some of its quirks. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5301935 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5301935 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5301934&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D91aa7d46baf1e6ccc986147d3d6021c7 For millions of diabetes sufferers, life is a constant battle to keep their blood sugar balanced, which typically means they have to test their glucose levels and take insulin throughout the day. A new generation of “artificial pancreas” devices may make tedious diabetes micromanagement obsolete. In healthy people, the pancreas naturally produces insulin, which converts sugars and starches into energy. People with type 1 diabetes, however, do not produce any insulin of their own, and those with type 2 produce too little. All type 1 and many type 2 diabetics have to dose themselves with insulin to keep their bodies fueled--and doing so properly requires constant monitoring of blood sugar because appropriate dosages depend on factors such as how much patients eat or exercise. Stu... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5301934 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5301934 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5301936&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Deef18998698d7bf2249a1fcf904a7692 Steve Jobs was a rare case, right down to his death. Announced Wednesday, Jobs's death from "complications of pancreatic cancer" only hints at the vast complexity of the disease to which he succumbed at the age of 56. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5301936 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5301936 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5293103&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D73aee72f4ff15e8357b573aafee655bf Like the detectives on the CBS drama Cold Case , anthropologist Ann H. Ross of North Carolina State University spends many of her days thinking about unsolved crimes. Her most recent work has aimed at developing software that helps forensic scientists determine the sex and ancestry of modern ­human skulls.Typically forensic scientists measure remains with sliding rulers called calipers. Doing so results in two-dimensional measurements. Ross’s software, called 3D-ID and developed with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, relies on three-dimensional measurements that scientists take with a digitizer--a computer and stylus. “The stylus allows you to place the coordinates in real space, so you get a better idea of the actual biological form of whatever you’re meas... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5293103 Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5293103 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281693&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D6d94379fa4dbb6d6fc9b97ce1465b434 Big Picture : Blackburn has extended her Nobel Prize–winning work on telomeres to develop measures that aim to assess overall risks for heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses.A molecular timepiece that resides inside each cell still makes headlines, decades after Elizabeth H. Blackburn conducted pioneering studies into how it works. The most recent experiments by Blackburn and other researchers have demonstrated that these cellular clocks, known as telomeres, may act as barometers of whether a person will remain healthy or not. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281693 Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:02:00 +0100 5281693 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281694&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dad0dcd743c2133549b6642b9de9d8c71 Ever stay up so late you feel like parts of your brain are falling asleep? They might be. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281694 Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5281694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281695&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D01b99d69a140d734ae7a6b1fd13fdab1 In the first week of the trial of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson 's physician, Los Angeles jurors heard audio recordings of the late pop star's slurred speech, in addition to the litany of prescription drugs he had taken in the hours and weeks prior to his June 25, 2009, death. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281695 Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:00:00 +0100 5281695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281696&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D3996ed5f137954b4cffc87b8019150ee Controlled heat transfer with mammalian bodies : In the 1990s Stanford University biologists Dennis Grahn and H. Craig Heller discovered a novel way of treating patients with a condition known as postanesthetic hypothermia, in which patients emerging from anesthesia are so cold that they shiver for up to an hour. The condition develops in part because anesthesia reduces the body’s ability to control its own temperature. Applying heat alone does not always help, so Grahn and Heller tried another approach: they increased the volume of blood flowing to the skin of patients’ hands and then applied heat to the same area. “These people were fine within 10 minutes,” Grahn says. “Then the question was, ‘What the heck is going on here?’”They had stumb... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281696 Sun, 02 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5281696 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281697&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dd851d9ef661594c98bd0a6c634e1192a The biotechnology industry has had its share of woes, but so far 'patent trolls' have not numbered among them. These companies, which profit by legally enforcing patents they own rather than developing products, may benefit from a 31 August ruling at a US federal court of appeal in Washington DC.The court upheld a lawsuit filed by Classen Immunotherapies of Baltimore, Maryland, against four biotechnology companies and a medical group, for infringing on a patent that covered the idea of trying to link infant vaccination with later immune disorders. A district court had thrown out the lawsuit, finding that the concept at the heart of the case amounted to an abstract idea that could not be patented. The appeals court found otherwise. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281697 Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:55:00 +0100 5281697 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281698&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Db6bede1cd0ec084ca7a206fb12436578 The testing began shortly after Bobby’s first birthday. By the time he was 19 he had been anesthetized more than 250 times and undergone innumerable biopsies in the name of science. Much of the time he lived alone in a cramped, barren cage. Bobby grew depressed and emaciated and began biting his own arm, leaving permanent scars.Bobby is a chimpanzee. Born in captivity to parents who were also lab chimps, he grew up at the Coulston Foundation, a biomedical research facility in Alamogordo, N.M., that was cited for repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act before it was shuttered in 2002. He is one of the lucky ones. Today he lives in a sanctuary called Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Fla., where he can socialize and roam freely. Last year the National Institutes of Health announced... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281698 Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5281698 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5281699&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8399f6f2adceabca8cf74b2720392c4a On the surface, Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) seem to have little in common. Tourette’s is characterized by repetitive involuntary facial or vocal tics, whereas OCD sufferers have all-consuming thoughts and overwhelming urges to perform certain actions. But 50 to 70 percent of people with Tourette’s also have OCD, and recent studies suggest that the same genetic roots may underlie both conditions [see “ Obsessions Revisited ,” by Melinda Wenner Moyer; Scientific American Mind , May/June 2011]. Now a new study published in Neurology may help scientists further understand how the disorders overlap and differ by revealing several key differences in the brain activity of Tourette’s patients with and without OCD.Andrew Feigin and... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5281699 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:00:00 +0100 5281699 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5257357&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc9c41762b8ebef1101d755ffeafb38cd [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5257357 Sat, 24 Sep 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5257357 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5246526&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddcd60e5e05ce86fb2238e02d1fc69485 STICKING TO CLIMATE SCIENCE As an undergraduate physics major in the mid-1980s at the University of California, Berkeley, I knew about Richard Muller--the physics professor who was the subject of Michael D. Lemonick’s interview, “‘ I Stick to the Science ’”--and his controversial theory that a “death star” was responsible for major mass extinctions. Later, as a graduate student studying climate, I became aware of Muller’s work attempting to overthrow the traditional Earth orbital theory of the ice ages--that, too, didn’t pan out. To be clear, there is nothing wrong in science with putting forth bold hypotheses that ultimately turn out to be wrong. Indeed, science thrives on novel, innovative ideas that--even if ultimately wrong--may lea... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5246526 Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:00:00 +0100 5246526 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5246527&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df827df1031876188fd6f089f6ab9a4b7 MALTA--For millions of U.S. pigs, their short lives are going to be full of travel. Born in one state, fattened and slaughtered in another, these hogs get around. And so, too, do their infections. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5246527 Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:30:00 +0100 5246527 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5246528&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D57569fc3c043e1a604651bff7b4406dc Pity our neighbors to the north. A change in the U.S. flu shot policy for preschoolers has led to a 34 percent decline in flu cases for children ages 2 to 4 compared with their Canadian counterparts, according to researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and McGill University in Montreal.The flu rates in the two countries had mirrored each other for years, the researchers found, but rates improved dramatically in the United States starting in 2006, the year that the U.S.-based Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended flu shots for tots . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5246528 Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:01:00 +0100 5246528 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5233622&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D80687cbb596efbb911fabae15fac85e5 When it came to surviving freezing weather, mammoths relied on more than their woolly coats: even their blood was specially adapted to let them thrive in chilly climes. Their hemoglobin functioned well over a larger range of temperatures than does the hemoglobin found in modern elephants--and in humans. That finding is in the journal Biochemistry . [Yue Yuan et al, A Biochemical–Biophysical Study of Hemoglobins from Woolly Mammoth, Asian Elephant, and Humans ] [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5233622 Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:10:08 +0100 5233622 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5233623&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Db3e3b35eb747a3b08c4dbb7fac170f68 MALTA-- Contagion , a film released earlier this month, depicts a gruesome outbreak of an exotic and deadly new virus. In the real world, a not-so foreign infection is circulating among animals every day of every year. If it picks up just a handful of certain mutations, it could start spreading among people, with a mortality rate as high as 60 percent. What is this potent virus? The flu. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5233623 Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:30:00 +0100 5233623 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5233624&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5e53ddce13819c1f78af4bfc5e2d179c Young researchers Jan Gralton and Sven-Eric Schelhorn are fascinated by the minute world of viruses. They have plenty of questions for Harald zur Hausen who won a Nobel Prize for proving that human papillomaviruses (HPV) can cause cervical cancer. All three are worried by public distrust of the HPV vaccine, which was made possible by zur Hausen’s work. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5233624 Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:00:00 +0100 5233624 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5204382&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D91836fb664f98f8ba3f43ac554232b66 The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, prompted vast changes in air travel protocols and in national security in general . But significant incidents in prior decades had spurred authorities to take other precautions, some incremental and some dramatic, intended to stave off specific kinds of threats. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5204382 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0100 5204382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5204383&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dbc122663c20c469f58bccbf362a18111 A specific, credible but unconfirmed terrorist threat to residents of New York City and Washington, D.C., was brought to the public's attention Thursday evening, just three days before the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on those two cities. In the past decade such alerts from government and public safety officials have been all too common as home-grown and international terrorists alike have attempted to use a variety of methods to inflict widespread damage on the U.S. and its residents. So the question remaining these days is: What's likely to be next among all the possible threats?The CIA notes the annual U.S. death rate is 8.38 fatalities per 1,000 citizens, below that of a country like Nigeria but above other places, such as Uzbekistan. The leading causes of death in the ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5204383 Fri, 09 Sep 2011 22:01:00 +0100 5204383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5204384&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dba7038873d4df9e9bb2f4ee81c7e3e51 CAUGHT TOO EARLY In discussing the search for better detection of breast cancer in “ Beyond Mammograms ,” Nancy Shute misses one key problem: when tests become too “perfect.” As we have learned from our experience in detecting prostate cancer by testing for high levels of the prostate-specific antigen protein, finding cancers at extraordinarily early stages raises new issues. Are we now left to treat cancers that have no clinical relevance? We already often diagnose breast cancers at one to three millimeters in size. Do women with such cancers need radiation and hormone therapy for five years after a lumpectomy? Is performing a mastectomy too radical in such cases? I believe the future of cancer therapy is getting a much better grasp of the malignant potential of th... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5204384 Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5204384 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5204385&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dec431a0b34feb524d2bf86f45437e3a8 The protein encoded by the tumour-suppressor gene BRCA1 may keep breast and ovarian cancer in check by preventing transcription of repetitive DNA sequences, says a study published today in Nature . This explanation brings together many disparate theories about how the gene functions and could also shed light on how other tumour suppressors work.Since the discovery in the mid-1990s that defects in BRCA1 strongly predispose women to breast and ovarian cancer, researchers have suggested numerous ways in which the protein might stop cells from becoming cancerous. Some have focused on its ability to repair DNA damage, whereas others have studied how it regulates cell-cycle checkpoints, transcription or cell proliferation. But until now, no unifying theory of how these different functions mi... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5204385 Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:30:00 +0100 5204385 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5204386&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8a47bf2889fd47db1f8e90693d18da45 As any smoker can tell you, quitting is relatively easy. The hard part is avoiding relapse--the urge to light up weeks or even months after you have supposedly kicked the habit. The patch, the gum and all the other tricks smokers use to get through the first few months are often powerless against those later urges.That is one reason why an antinicotine vaccine now wending its way through clinical trials has public health officials so excited. Like all vaccines, NicVAX, made by NABI Biopharmaceuticals, works by stimulating the body’s immune system to produce antibodies against a certain target--in this case, nicotine. Because immune responses are generally lifelong, the vaccine makers say it could serve as a long-term antismoking aid. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotec... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5204386 Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5204386 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191378&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D565c0f741b7fd0e35df48b3326cba9fe James Locke, a flight surgeon at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, has made dozens of people sick in the name of science. When he puts subjects in a spinning chair designed to induce motion sickness, roughly 70 percent of them succumb--and at nearly the exact same point on each ride. Locke has used this research and his work with shuttle astronauts to determine which medications and doses best prevent the nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191378 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 17:00:00 +0100 5191378 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191380&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Da0c176344e7bd9f1e3df89dd9e2b0cb3 SEPTEMBER 7–10 Neuroimaging techniques have revolutionized our understanding of how the brain works. A recent study, for instance, used functional MRI to show that physical and emotional pain, such as feelings of rejection after a breakup, activate the same pathways in the brain. At the four-day International Society for Neuroimaging in Psychiatry conference, researchers will focus on how to use imaging techniques to visualize both normal changes that occur during a person’s life and the effect of age-related diseases, such as schizophrenia or dementia, on brains over time. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191380 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:00:00 +0100 5191380 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191379&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Da8a607c4ac854d70c14465cd268eebe4 Drugs useful in the long-term management of cardiac arrhythmia, which occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become irregular and put patients at risk of sudden death, have eluded researchers for decades. Despite best efforts, most of the medications developed to calm abnormally fast heartbeats, a type of arrhythmia known as tachyarrhythmia , have faltered. Several clinical trials, including the seminal 1986 Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (CAST) , even showed that the use of certain drugs designed to correct tachyarrhythmia--encainide and flecainide , in particular--actually increased the risk of death . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191379 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:00:00 +0100 5191379 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191382&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D22b395da5877d25997fbbcaffb8305e9 It sounds like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe tale of horror . A man becomes agitated by strange sounds only to find that they are emanating from inside his own body--his heart, his pulse, the very movement of his eyes in their sockets. Yet superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) is a very real affliction caused by a small hole in the bone covering part of the inner ear . Such a breach results in distortion of hearing and, often, impaired balance. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191382 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5191382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191381&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D984fb838e97fcc4da038e370ae1f6a22 Two months after al Qaeda terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan on September 11, 2001, analytical chemist John Butler found himself working late nights in his lab, developing DNA assays to identify 911 victims from the tens of thousands of charred human remains recovered at Ground Zero. Thinking back, he still clearly remembers the sense of rising to a national need that was shared by dozens of researchers recruited to the same difficult problem. "People wanted to step up and help the country," he says.Ten years on, Butler's solitary effort at National Institute of Standards and Technology has grown to a large research group working on the forensics of blended, degraded or soiled DNA, and U.S. expertise developed in the wake of 9/11 has also be... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191381 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5191381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191383&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D2b2518ac8197845dc03e98ad46a06aa5 Publication of the genome of the North American green anole lizard has filled a yawning genome-sequence gap in the animal lineage. The paper, which appears today in Nature , is the first to sequence the genome of a non-avian reptile. "This fills out a clade that has been completely ignored before," says lead author Jessica Alföldi of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Amniotes, the first truly terrestrial vertebrates, diverged from other animals some 320 million years ago to form the mammalian and reptilian lineages. Until now, however, the only representatives of the reptile branch to be sequenced were birds - the chicken, the turkey and the zebra finch. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191383 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:05:00 +0100 5191383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5191384&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc99894c9ede2d76b8db0eff42ed7c5d8 Does a blind person reading Braille process words in the brain differently than a person who reads by sight? Mainstream neuroscience thinking implies that the answer is yes because different senses take in the information. But a recent study in Current Biology finds that the processing is the same, adding to mounting evidence that using sensory inputs as the basis for understanding the brain may paint an incomplete picture.Researchers in Israel, Canada and France used brain imaging to observe the neural activity of eight blind subjects as they read Braille. They found that although the blind subjects were using their sense of touch, their brains showed activity in the same so-called visual region that sighted people use when they read. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnol... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5191384 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5191384 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5179264&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df8196ef576c8f5cc1151c4433cab6a91 Cell-Phone Paradise Communication is at the heart of the future. A future city would need to respond to people on a personal level. Our cell phones can become devices that are able to open the door to our home, pay for our bus and subway charges, make purchases at any store with a tap and a password, and give us unfettered access to the Internet. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5179264 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5179264 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5168981&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Da08f3cba5ab5933947621855fb666c36 X-rays can help reveal anything from bombs hidden in luggage to tumors in breasts, but some potentially vital clues might be too faint to capture with conventional methods. Now a new x-ray technique adapted from atom smashers could resolve more key details.Conventional x-ray imaging works much like traditional photography, relying on the light--in this case, x-rays--that a target absorbs, transmits and scatters. To make out fine details, one typically needs a lot of x-rays, either over time, which can expose targets to damaging levels of radiation, or all at once from powerful sources such as circular particle accelerators, or synchrotrons, which are expensive. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5168981 Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5168981 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5168982&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D04cbd711148907b063d507037ed79155 NAME: Shree Bose AGE: 17 [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5168982 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5168982 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5168983&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D9c7d1cda8a362f53e214631428c54450 From Nature magazine.When it was first used in the 1990s to treat an immune deficiency, gene therapy -- treating diseases by correcting a patient's faulty genes -- was touted as a breakthrough that was likely to cure scores of hereditary diseases. But when 18-year-old Jessie Gelsinger died in 1999 after having a corrected gene injected to treat his liver disease, the field became wary, and researchers found it difficult to fix the problems associated with the technique. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5168983 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:00:00 +0100 5168983 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5155853&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dafc9b4a605ae219a307c50b55a68e7d7 Last year 10 children died in California in the worst whooping cough outbreak to sweep the state since 1947. In the first six months of 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 10 measles outbreaks--the largest of which (21 cases) occurred in a Minnesota county, where many children were unvaccinated because of parental concerns about the safety of the standard MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. At least seven infants in the county who were too young to receive the MMR vaccine were infected.These troubling statistics show that the failure to vaccinate children endangers both the health of children themselves as well as others who would not be exposed to preventable illness if the community as a whole were better protected. Equally troubling, the number of d... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5155853 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5155853 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5129989&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D2470b43e42ff505f8113135271d444f3 Cloud-borne bacteria may be to blame for rain, snow and hail because they affect the way water molecules bind. Does that mean snowballs are germ warfare? Trials of two different drugs show promise in treating advanced melanoma, which is usually fatal. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5129989 Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5129989 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5124502&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D6b8b361eef7ce9a6dbe29f9b507f6404 Red Planet Mars Life Lawrence M. Krauss’s “ Rethinking the Dream ” [Forum] rightly points out that the benefits of flying humans in space have not been commensurate with the cost, especially when human flight is compared with advanced robotic or automatic systems that can do many of the same tasks at one tenth of the cost and with no risk to humans. I think this is a result of nasa’s focus on dramatic, exciting exploration and failure to create an economical, durable infrastructure. I disagree with Krauss only where he advocates one-way missions to Mars. I believe that keeping humans alive on the planet for more than a few weeks will be extremely costly. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5124502 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5124502 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5124501&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df5ba63378c25f19df49b17b5d4637978 If you want to convince the world that a fish can sense your emotions, only one statistical measure will suffice: the p -value.The p -value is an all-purpose measure that scientists often use to determine whether or not an experimental result is “statistically significant.” Unfortunately, sometimes the test does not work as advertised, and researchers imbue an observation with great significance when in fact it might be a worthless fluke. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5124501 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5124501 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5124503&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D44740e0701218af1f276155bd127212d You might think that temporary tattoos look cool, but what if they could also collect and transmit information about your heart rate , temperature, muscle contractions or brain waves? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5124503 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:00:00 +0100 5124503 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5117237&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3De1a36a334e8935a16fd27a173cfea611 Edmonton is Canada's chief oil city as well as the capital of Alberta, the province that hosts the bulk of the country's tar sands . Given the expense of converting this mix of dirt and heavy oils to more usable petroleum products, the province is not keen on alternative fuels. Nevertheless, in 2012 Edmonton will host a chemical plant owned by Enerkem that will turn garbage into 36 million liters of ethanol and methanol per year. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5117237 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0100 5117237 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5117238&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D2740ec5ad6c834efa7f363e670608a15 Range fuels was a risky but tantalizing bet. The high-tech start-up, begun by former Apple executive Mitch Mandich, attracted millions of dollars in private money plus commitments for up to $156 million in grants and loans from the U.S. government. The plan was to build a large biofuels plant in Soperton, Ga. Each day the facility would convert 1,000 tons of wood chips and waste from Georgia’s vast pulp and paper industry into 274,000 gallons of ethanol. “We selected Range Fuels as one of our partners in this effort,” said Samuel Bodman, then secretary of energy, at the groundbreaking ceremony in November 2007, “because we really believe that they are the cream of the crop.”That crop has spoiled in the ground. Earlier this year Range Fuels closed its newly bui... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5117238 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:00:00 +0100 5117238 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5117239&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D435d0849038e0b03bd10b988e6bf8895 Schizophrenia, depression, addiction and other mental disorders cause suffering and cost billions of dollars every year in lost productivity. Neurological and psychiatric conditions account for 13 percent of the global burden of disease, a measure of years of life lost because of premature mortality and living in a state of less than full health, according to the World Health Organization.Despite the critical need for newer and better medications to treat a range of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, drugs to treat these diseases are just too complex and costly for big pharmaceutical companies to develop. The risk of spending millions on new drugs only to have them fail in the pipeline is too great. That’s why many big drug ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5117239 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5117239 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5117240&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D21abf228b1225cf7f2f25f9a9b0e2318 No organ in the human body is as resistant to study as the brain. Whereas researchers can examine living cells from the liver, lung and heart, taking a biopsy of the brain is, for many reasons, more problematic.The inability to watch living human brain cells in action has hampered scientists in their efforts to understand psychiatric disorders. But researchers have identified a promising new approach that may revolutionize the study and treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia, autism and bipolar dis­order. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., took skin cells from a patient with schizophrenia, turned them into adult stem cells and then grew those stem cells into neurons. The resulting tangle of brain cells gave neuroscientists... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5117240 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5117240 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5102843&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D410582816ef0fb26ea2e81d1979b4c01 The treatment of hepatitis C virus infections has taken a major step forward with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of two new drugs, telaprevir and boceprevir, for managing the disease. Blocking the same viral protein as the first ­anti-HIV drugs, they are also the latest chapter in an ongoing story of medical success.Telaprevir and boceprevir are protease inhibitors, thwarting the activity of key viral enzymes. The first in this class of drugs was saquinavir, available since 1995 for the treatment of HIV. Several protease inhibitors have subsequently been developed for HIV, but the new hepatitis C drugs are the first to tackle other viruses. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5102843 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5102843 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5094382&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D4f4e89053684285001f91bb1e6461fee On a sweltering August evening in 2009 Pat Elliott noticed that her feet seemed swollen. Because she had been standing for hours while teaching a workshop in Phoenix, she was not surprised. “I thought it was the heat,” she says. But her feet hurt, too, so Elliott decided to play it safe and called her doctor, who suggested she come in for some tests. Days later the marketing professional learned that she had developed an uncommon form of blood cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).Elliott’s cancer is the result of a genetic change that arose in one or more stem cells in her bone marrow. (Normally these stem cells give rise to various blood cells in the body.) The defect caused the stem cells and their progeny to produce an abnormal enzyme known as Bcr-Abl. This... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5094382 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5094382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5094383&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dd0f4b4409d9577df3157dc27123c24e4 The skinned knee is a hallmark of childhood summers. After the tears are kissed away, a time-honored ritual follows: a few squirts of a pain killing spray, a good slather of antibiotic ointment, an adhesive bandage, and then back to the neighborhood for more rites of passage.The venerable tools of this healing ceremony may take the form of commercial consumer products but they are rooted deeply in the chemistry and pharmacy of nature. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5094383 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:30:00 +0100 5094383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5076448&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df078df9b1ebf7ff79fa829eef4b18b14 OBSERVATIONS BLOGS: [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5076448 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0100 5076448 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5076449&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D6961cdae9b71e7b2f8c022be86ffb483 Since man’s discovery of fire, cooking has been mainly a process of subjecting food to high temperatures that chemically alter its color, taste and texture. But the invention of cryogenic technology has handed chefs an exciting new tool--liquid nitrogen--for transforming food in fun and surprising ways. In our culinary research laboratory, we use this ultra­-cold liquid to cryopoach oils, cryoshatter cheese, cryopowder herbs and cryograte meat. It is great for making instant ice cream and perfectly cooked hamburgers. For many years the coldest substance chefs had ready access to was dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide), which sublimates directly to CO 2 gas at –109 degrees Fahrenheit. Although dry ice has some interesting culinary uses, its solid form limits its utility. Ni... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5076449 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5076449 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5076450&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D2043a6388d964df3d27421ec3a0b3566 The "disease of kings" has now reached the masses. In the past half century the prevalence of gout in the general U.S. population has more than doubled. Once thought of only for the privileged few who had the means to overindulge in food and drink, gout now afflicts more than eight million American adults. And research suggests that the rates of this form of localized arthritis are still on the rise. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5076450 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:45:00 +0100 5076450 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5076451&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D596406530a0efcaa0ffd2eac7745352b To find abnormal tissue in mammograms, radiologists have increasingly relied on computers to spot the potential tumors. In fact, three out of four screening mammograms include computer-assisted detection (CAD) in the U.S., and Medicare pays for the procedure to the tune of $30 million annually. A group of researchers reports, however, that the technology doesn't improve a doctor's chance of detecting cancer. Nor did CAD significantly decrease false positives (when an initial exam erroneously suggested a tumor was present), which lead to more screenings and biopsies. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5076451 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:14:00 +0100 5076451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5076452&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D5af9856c8ebe616fa3226ff223b7b63c The thundering rumble and whine of race cars whizzing around NASCAR tracks across the U.S. boast engines burning a new fuel this year: ethanol. Given the sport's roots in running corn whiskey among other products during Prohibition in the 1920s, it might be viewed as coming full circle. After all, ethanol as fuel is just a 200-proof version of the drinking variety--albeit blended with more traditional petroleum-based gasoline.But NASCAR is hardly alone: U.S. IndyCar has run exclusively on ethanol at times since 2007. Of course, ethanol made from fermented corn starch plays a more prosaic role in the U.S. these days, making up some 10 percent of national passenger vehicle fuel. In fact, in 2010 the U.S. took roughly 40 percent of the national corn crop that grows on some 30 million hectares... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5076452 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:30:00 +0100 5076452 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5061549&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D28ca49eb2ee6fa286624d3cc312d11bc In 1989 when scientists discovered the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis, a serious hereditary disorder that primarily strikes children of European descent, it seemed as though a long-hoped-for cure might soon follow. After all, tests in many laboratories showed that providing normal copies of the gene should enable patients to make healthy copies of the protein specified by the gene. If successful, that feat would go a long way toward restoring health in the tens of thousands of people around the world who suffered from cystic fibrosis and typically died in their late 20s. (Half of all patients now live to their late 30s or beyond.) The question was whether researchers would be able to reliably insert the correct gene into the proper tissues in patients’ bodies to rid them ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5061549 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5061549 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5061550&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D4219c62e5b2b0886c502cdc9d1b8f3c1 Two decades ago individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) had an average life expectancy of less than 30 years. A serious hereditary disorder that makes breathing and digestion difficult, cystic fibrosis still cannot be cured, but several drugs and supportive health regimens have helped extend the life span of many people to 40 years or more. New drugs that, for the first time, address the underlying biological cause of cystic fibrosis are the subjects of " A Breath of Fresh Air ," a feature article by Steven M. Rowe, J. P. Clancy and Eric J. Sorscher in the August 2011 issue of Scientific American .Watch the videos below to get a sense of CF patients' daily challenges--and bravery. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5061550 Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:58:00 +0100 5061550 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5057286&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddfab7d80905c65c4e67866239ab80d57 On-the-go doctors can already see your latest MRI or CT scan via a smart phone or tablet. But would you want them to be able to download an app that essentially turns an iPad into an EKG to determine if you are having a heart attack? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5057286 Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:30:00 +0100 5057286 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5048422&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D779a6f0119303184e497e7c06a2a30eb Sperm face steep odds when set free to fertilize an egg. A slightly faulty tail, a miscalibrated electrical charge on their cell membrane or some other subtle defect can keep these genetic couriers from becoming the lucky, lone swimmer that sires offspring. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5048422 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:15:00 +0100 5048422 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5048423&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D322943a859bcaace3f24c46454b8c327 Eight-month-old Lucas Kronmiller has just had the surface of his largely hairless head fitted with a cap of 128 electrodes. A research assistant in front of him is frantically blowing bubbles to entertain him. But Lucas seems calm and content. He has, after all, come here, to the Infancy Studies Laboratory at Rutgers University, repeatedly since he was just four months old, so today is nothing unusual. He--like more than 1,000 other youngsters over the past 15 years--is helping April A. Benasich and her colleagues to find out whether, even at the earliest age, it is possible to ascertain if a child will go on to experience difficulties in language that will prove a burdensome handicap when first entering elementary school.Benasich is one of a cadre of researchers employing brain-recording ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5048423 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5048423 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5035513&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dfed2262f561cb764fccf4ef4ab93fdc5 It’s one of the most commonly consumed snacks in the Western world and has been made in one form or another for at least three centuries, so you might think nothing new could come of the humble french fry. But British chef Heston Blumenthal put paid to that notion years ago. He and his research chef Chris Young came up with a triple-cooked “chip” with a taste and texture that blow away anything you will find at a burger joint. Other chefs have raised the bar further. Nils Norén and Dave Arnold of the French Culinary Institute in New York City, building on work by a Polish researcher, figured out how to improve the texture inside fries by treating the potatoes with an enzyme. The chemical helps break apart the pectin in the fries, yielding a smoother mouthfeel.Inspi... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5035513 Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5035513 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5035514&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc17a8064ead1c493bbe1a0d99283cdd7 As a single plant, cogongrass is unassuming, bucolic even. But in dense stands, it is a powerful vegetative force that alters forests and forges monocultures. The plant, known as Imperata cylindrica, has established itself on tens of thousands of acres in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia and on one million acres in Florida, and it’s spreading fast. “Cogongrass could become a greater threat than kudzu or Japanese honeysuckle,” says Stephen Enloe, an invasive plant specialist at Alabama’s Auburn University.Cogongrass not only forms into thick mats of thatch and leaves that make it nearly impossible for native plants to survive, but it also burns hotter than native species. After a burn, a six- to 12-inch-deep rhizome network sends up new shoots, regenerating themselve... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5035514 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5035514 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5026920&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D7df297c0bf5cd87c2a25eb8623c71a69 Would you buy a product that promised that 60 percent of the time it works every time? Maybe for caricature news anchors like Ron Burgundy , there is no question that a method (exotic cologne) with this type of track record (for attracting women) would be a good investment. But what if that rate was found to be true for a surgery that cost tens of thousands of dollars and might save your life--with a small risk of serious complications? Or a relatively cheap allergy medication that was prone to causing headaches? [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5026920 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:00:00 +0100 5026920 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5018087&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dbed65c87cc5462d9d37d14fc8d16d4e2 Given the ubiquity of automated teller machines (ATMs) in most Western countries, it may be difficult to envision places in the world where people have never set foot in a bank nor touched an ATM. Efforts to change this are often stymied not only because locals are unfamiliar with the concept of financial services but also because they are semi-literate or illiterate, making the use of an ATM challenging. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5018087 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0100 5018087 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5018088&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc25f948ed5b189b7f4ee1cdb253f927b It was the largest and most important investigation of treatments for high blood pressure ever conducted, with a monumental price tag to match. U.S. doctors enrolled 42,418 patients from 623 offices and clinics, treated participants with one of four commonly prescribed drugs, and followed them for at least five years to see how well the medications controlled their blood pressure and reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems. It met the highest standards of medical research: neither physicians nor their patients knew who was placed in which treatment group, and patients had an equal chance of being assigned to any of the groups. Such randomized controlled trials have long been unmatched as a way to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs and other treatm... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5018088 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0100 5018088 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5018089&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D644eba9b98012820a8975047af1ed82e FOOD FOR THOUGHT In the article on physical ailments influencing the brain, " Ruled by the Body ," Erich Kasten listed a number of medical conditions that can masquerade as mental disorders. To that list, I would add celiac disease, in which an intolerance to the gluten found in wheat and other grains causes an autoimmune reaction in the gut that prevents the absorption of crucial vitamins and minerals. The resulting malnutrition can cause fatigue, muddled thinking, anxiety and depression, along with many digestive symptoms. Although this condition has become more widely known in the U.S. during the past couple of years, it is not commonly tested for--yet its effects can be mentally and physically debilitating. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5018089 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5018089 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5018090&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3De378444eb95e42874517af687a29aeca The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics raised the profile of graphene --a super strong one-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern with countless potential commercial applications. The material can conduct heat and electricity extremely well while also being transparent and highly flexible, making it an ideal candidate for improving fuel cells , electronics and even hygiene products . [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5018090 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:28:00 +0100 5018090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997186&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D08bc5a9d62b3028144d559ab8e821389 Scientists may still be debating the role of viruses in chronic fatigue syndrome, but blood banks aren’t taking any chances. Last summer the AABB, a nonprofit that represents blood-collecting organizations, advised people with the disorder, marked by severe fatigue and aches lasting six months or more, to self-defer from blood donation. Last December the American Red Cross went further, banning people who revealed during a predonation interview that they had the syndrome from ever giving blood at its centers.The cause for this abundance of caution is XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus–related virus), a retro­virus that has been associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. In a highly publicized 2009 study published in Science , XMRV was found in 67 percent of patients and ... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997186 Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0100 4997186 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4991876&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Df2fd296ddf57a66e2d43d15099b3168a Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from a chapter in the book Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good by David Linden. Copyright (c) 2001 by David Linden. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4991876 Sat, 02 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0100 4991876 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4991877&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D6b900780ddf8cc61f4b4b3ed954c2b7c LINDAU, Germany--A 93-year-old Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine received a standing ovation from hundreds of scientists June 30 at the end of a speech in which he urged the world's young people to take measures to control runaway population growth in order to resolve related ills that have resulted from humans' remarkable evolutionary success as a species. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4991877 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:01:00 +0100 4991877 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4991878&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D0763f75baf92f1749bcb2feb249c8927 LINDAU, Germany--A vaccine to prevent infections of cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) is currently approved for use in the U.S. in boys and girls and in the U.K. in girls. The U.S. public health campaign focuses on vaccinating girls. The virologist who won a Nobel Prize for confirming that HPV causes cervical cancer supports educational efforts to help parents understand the importance of vaccinating girls. But he actually suggests a step further. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4991878 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:00:00 +0100 4991878 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4991879&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dd6b7dbae11f7cdbec6f20c3150922b48 LINDAU, Germany--There's a magazine ad for an expensive skin care product marketed by Christian Dior that claims to trade on aquaporins, the discovery of which by Peter Agre won him the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2003 (he shared it with Roderick MacKinnon). These proteins allow water to move across cell membranes , and are involved in skin maintenance among many other critical biological processes. The prize is noted lower down in the ad copy, well below the visage of a striking young woman. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4991879 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:30:00 +0100 4991879 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4974760&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dca36a067cd84d741c27491189bfb67fc It's no secret that health care in the U.S. is not as good as that in many other developed countries . And a new report finds that hospitals in U.S. territories--including Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands--are even farther behind. "Virtually all of the territorial hospitals performed below the U.S. national averages," noted the authors of the study. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4974760 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:10:00 +0100 4974760 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4974761&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D942a27ce47376ca316b42a5c95ec6950 It was an accidental mutation of the Tetrahymena thermophila (left), a pond organism, during a lab experiment that revealed that the enzyme telomerase keeps the protective caps on the end of chromosomes long. Speaking at the 61st Meeting of Nobel Laureates at Lindau, Elisabeth Blackburn compared the caps, called telomeres , to the tips on the end of a shoelace that prevent it from fraying. Telomeres protect DNA during cell division.Most Tetrahymena are immortal, Blackburn explained, and they have lots of telemorase, but the mutant had shorter and shorter telomeres over time, so its cells started to die. It was found that the mutant had no telemorase in its cells. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4974761 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:00:00 +0100 4974761 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4974762&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D76222b90b85f80533bc96e8fec4d9bf7 LINDAU, Germany--Microsoft founder Bill Gates thrilled a crowd of 566 young researchers from 77 countries gathered here June 26 for opening ceremony of the 61st Meeting of Nobel Laureates, and he wasted no time in telling them what to do. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4974762 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:10:00 +0100 4974762 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4951439&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dc6d8cc05ee8e1cc84bdaf7dd956282b3 NORMAN, Okla.--Snakes have been around for some 150 million years, but their ancient physiology might hold some important clues to developing new drugs. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4951439 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:37:07 +0100 4951439 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4932451&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D63c5871fca9da45c8aa7f283b7f10d83 When food prices rose steeply in 2007 and climaxed in the winter of 2008, politicians and the press decried the impact on the billion or so people who were already going hungry. Excellent growing weather and good harvests provided temporary relief, but prices have once again soared to record heights. This time around people are paying less attention.The public has a short attention span regarding problems of the world’s have-nots, but experts are partly to blame, too. Economists have made such a fuss about how complicated the food crisis is that they have created the impression that it has no ready solution, making it seem like one of those intractable problems, like poverty and disease, that are so easy to stash in the back of our minds. This view is wrong. [More] (Source: Scientifi... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4932451 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +0100 4932451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4932452&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D6046e46424fe6167a2c90815f11f6b58 Magician David Copperfield waved his hand over the envelope, which popped open. He wiggled his fingers, and the card slid upward. A moment later we heard the winner’s name: “ Scientific American .” The guests at our tables roared with approval.A group of Scientific American colleagues were at the 2011 National Magazine Awards, the Oscars of publishing. The magazine won for General Excellence in the category of “Finance, Technology and Lifestyle Magazines.” The award, bestowed by the American Society of Magazine Editors, was for the September, November and December 2010 issues. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4932452 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:00:00 +0100 4932452 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4932453&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Dbc589e140e0ac50f9257cb04c40f6cc7 A joke among researchers in the field of male contraception is that a clinically approved alternative to condoms or vasectomy has been five to 10 years away for the past 40 years. The so-close-yet-so-far state of male contraceptive development has persisted in large part because of three serious hurdles: the technical challenges of keeping millions of sperm at bay, the stringent safety standards that a drug intended for long-term use in healthy people must meet, and, ultimately, the question of whether men will use it. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4932453 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +0100 4932453 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4932454&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D7d4682c13cc7c8251fd35e950c3ab65e Electricity controls much of the human body: consider the electrical firing of neurons and the current transmitted by the heart. Yet historically the electrodes that have been used in medicine to monitor and regulate essential activity have been biologically incompatible because they are stiff, big and water-sensitive.Now scientists are setting new standards with their designs for flexible, stretchable and waterproof circuits and electrodes that mimic the properties of human tissues. These new methods can also monitor and control biological electrical activity more naturally and easily. John A. Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has developed a technique that thinly slices silicon wafers or LEDs with a chemical etcher. Then, to make them stretc... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4932454 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0100 4932454 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4932455&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Da9c420c4868bb5229050c9470728d881 In a unique fusion of biology and physics, researchers have created the world's first living laser. Single cells containing a special protein that acts as an optical amplifier have been coaxed to emit green laser light, according to a new study. And, perhaps surprisingly, the cell survives its stint as part of the laser. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4932455 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:00:00 +0100 4932455 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4920126&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3De06fe100c0450267d11d4ddb850fcb61 Journalist Jeffrey Bartholet talks about his June Scientific American magazine article on the attempts to grow meat in the lab, and Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina talks about the cover piece in the May issue on radical energy solutions. Web sites related to this episode include "Inside The Meat Lab " and "7 Radical Energy Solutions". [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4920126 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:00:00 +0100 4920126 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4920127&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D8097c20fc10dcf6caa49ee848dc116f0 This study gives us the molecular basis for seedlessness, which is the first time this has been done for a fruit plant,” Gasser says. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4920127 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:00:00 +0100 4920127 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4920128&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddfc0bd7d92229196ecce44ac1f30fb39 Ever since IBM supercomputer Watson beat Jeopardy! champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, there’s been a lot of talk about putting the computer’s question-and-answer capabilities to real applications.In addition to consuming massive amounts of information, the supercomputer has been trained to understand literary references, interpret linguistic nuance, generate hypotheses, perform analysis, and score its own answers for likelihood of accuracy. All of these abilities enable Watson to make reasoned judgments, a skill hitherto attributed exclusively to human beings. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4920128 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:27:00 +0100 4920128 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4920129&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Db64ae0a42f7854eb6604a5238fbbde1e One day 12-year-old Elizabeth McIngvale became obsessed with the number 42, which happened to be her mother’s age at the time, 11 years ago. When she washed her hands, she had to turn the sink on and off 42 times, get 42 pumps of soap and rinse her hands 42 times. Sometimes she decided that she actually needed to do 42 sets of 42. When she dressed, she put her right leg in and out of her pant leg 42 times, then the left. Even getting up from a chair took 42 attempts. She was afraid that if she did not follow her self-prescribed ritual, something terrible would happen to her family--they might die in a car accident, for instance. “Everything I did was completely exhausting and grueling,” she recalls. “I was probably doing 12 to 13 hours a day of rituals.”McIngv... Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4920129 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:00:00 +0100 4920129 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4910485&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D0c46a6cae0907c47f21f315dd0f0ffae The underpinnings of autism are turning out to be even more varied than the disease's diverse manifestations. In four new studies and an analysis published June 8 researchers have added some major landmarks in the complex landscape of the disease, uncovering clues as to why the disease is so much more prevalent in male children and how such varied genetic mutations can lead to similar symptoms. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4910485 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:27:50 +0100 4910485 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4910487&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3D33896032ed90422dd867f34336d21be8 Every year in Lindau, Germany, winners of Nobel Prizes join young researchers for panel discussions, presentations and informal conversation. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4910487 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0100 4910487 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4910486&cid=s_37981_70_f&fid=37981&url=http%3A%2F%2Frss.sciam.com%2Fclick.phdo%3Fi%3Ddb2cf679ed863d0a2325dc2110feb869 The 61st Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany, is taking place from June 26 to July 1. At the event, about 20 past laureates in physiology or medicine will mingle with more than 550 young scientists. In honor of the meeting Scientific American has collected articles that Nobel Prize winners have published in the magazine recently as well as more than 60 years ago. You can find a number of excerpts from those articles in the June issue and enjoy others here. For ease of reading, we have not indicated deletions within these excerpts, some of which have been condensed considerably.Compiled by Ferris Jabr [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology) Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4910486 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0100 4910486