A team of astronomers, led by Istvan Dékány of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, has used data from the survey, taken between 2010 and 2014, to make a remarkable discovery, a previously unknown component of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. “The central bulge of the Milky Way is thought to consist of vast numbers of old stars. But the VISTA data has revealed something new, and very young by astronomical standards!” says Istvan Dékány, lead author of the new study. Analysing data fro...

A toxin in Polybia paulista's sting reportedly kills tumor cells without harming healthy ones. It seems like an oxymoron, but scientists say the venom of Polybia paulista, a wasp native to Brazil, fits that description. According to a study published in the Biophysical Journal this week, the wasp’s venom contains a toxin, named MP1, that selectively destroys tumor cells without harming normal ones. The BBC called the venom a potentially powerful “weapon against cancer.” In lab tests, MP1 was ...

Lack of adequate sleep can do more than just make you tired. It can short-circuit your system and interfere with a fundamental cellular process that drives physical growth, physiological adaptation and even brain activity, according to a new study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Albrecht von Arnim, a molecular biologist based in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, studied plants but said the concepts may well translate to humans. His team examined h...

Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made the first direct images showing that electrical currents can flow along the boundaries between tiny magnetic regions of a material that normally doesn’t conduct electricity. The results could have major implications for magnetic memory storage. "This can provide a more straightforward way to use magnetic material as memory,” said Eric Yue Ma, a graduate student in the laboratory of Z...

A research led by scientists from the University of the Pacific holds new possibilities for the treatment of cancer and other diseases using peptide drugs. The researchers concocted a technique to considerably enhance the lifespan of peptides such that they could be used more efficiently. Peptides are small chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Treating diseases like cancer by using peptides is thought to be effective because they can be more potent, and safer to use than large...

Researchers from the University of Alexandria have developed a cheaper, simpler and potentially cleaner way to turn seawater into drinking water than conventional methods. This could have a huge impact on rural areas of the Middle East and North Africa, where access to clean water is a pressing issue if social stability and economic development is to improve. Right now, desalinating seawater is the only viable way to provide water to growing populations, and large desalination plants are now a f...

Astronomers announced that they have spotted a large, rocky object disintegrating in its death spiral around a distant white dwarf star. The discovery also confirms a long-standing theory behind the source of white dwarf “pollution” by metals. “This is something no human has seen before,” said lead author Andrew Vanderburg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). “We’re watching a solar system get destroyed.” The evidence for this unique system came from NASA’s Kepler K2 miss...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are looking to take human intuition out of big data analysis by letting computers choose the feature set used to identify predictive patterns in the data. This effort is called “Data Science Machine”. Big Data represents a huge, complex ecosystem that brings together innovative processes from across the spectrum of data analysis, storage, networking, curation, search,...

Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Cambridge-based Technology Company Novalia, the method allows graphene and other electrically conducting materials to be added to conventional water-based inks and printed using typical commercial equipment. This is the first time that graphene has been used for printing on a large-scale commercial printing press at high speed. A low-cost, high-speed method for printing graphene inks using a conventional roll-to-roll p...

Sleep Number just announced the x12, which packs a variety of sensors to monitor your sleeping habits, movement, heart rate and breathing rate. The bed has two sections, each of which are independently adjustable, so that once the bed knows your sleeping patterns, it can suggest ways you might want to change, say, the head incline. Additionally and this is perhaps our favorite feature a Partner Snore feature allows you raise your partner's headrest to help ease snoring. Having a lumpy mattres...

Mars has acid fog which eats away rocks and is caused by volcanic eruptions on the red planet, a new study suggests. A planetary scientist has pieced together a compelling story about how acidic vapors may have eaten at the rocks in a 100-acre area on Husband Hill in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater on Shoshanna Cole. An assistant professor at Ithaca College in New York, used a variety of data gathered by multiple instruments on the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover Spirit to tease out informatio...

Scientists have developed a 3D-printing method capable of producing highly uniform blocks of embryonic stem cells. These cells are capable of generating all cell types in the body and could be used as the ‘Lego bricks’ to build tissue constructs, larger structures of tissues, and potentially even micro-organs. They could also be used for stem cell regulation and expansion, regenerative medicine, drug screening studies, and potentially even for the construction of micro-organs. “It was really ...

A newly launched mobile eye-test device could lead to prescription virtual-reality screens. After five years of development and about 40,000 tests worldwide, the smartphone-powered eye-test devices developed by MIT spinout EyeNetra is coming to hospitals, optometric clinics, optical stores, and even homes nationwide. But on the heels of its commercial release, EyeNetra says it’s been pursuing opportunities to collaborate with virtual-reality companies seeking to use the technology to develop “vi...

A Harvard University lab has developed the first insect-size robots capable of flight and swimming. Researchers at the Harvard Paulson School have demonstrated a flying, swimming, insectlike robot, easing the way to create future aerial-aquatic robotic vehicles. Coming from the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, this discovery can only mean one thing, swimming RoboBees. The biggest challenge involved the conflicting design requirements. Aerial vehicles require large airfoils such as wings or sails to...

Researchers at Northeastern University are developing patient-specific 3D printed medical devices for newborns. Anything to do with babies tugs at the heartstrings of most anyone, so the idea of patient-specific catheters made to offer greater support to premature newborns is exponentially inspiring. Their innovative designs are different indeed in that they use magnetic fields to mold 3D printed material into customized devices and products. Meant to be more durable, as well as lightweight, Nor...

Scientists have discovered a naturally occurring protein that can be used to create ice cream that is more resistant to melting than conventional products. The protein binds together the air, fat and water in ice cream, creating a super-smooth consistency. The new ingredient could enable ice creams to keep frozen for longer in hot weather. It could also prevent gritty ice crystals from forming, ensuring a fine, smooth texture like those of luxury ice creams. The development could allow products ...

Eye Diseases Eighty percent of Americans fear losing their sight. But, unfortunately, after the age of forty, macular degeneration, and with it cloudy, soft, blurred vision at best, becomes a reality for millions of people. Age-related macular degeneration, and Stargardt disease, the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration, are diseases of the retina that cause a loss of central vision over time. The retina is a layer of light-sensitive cel...

Digital currencies like Bitcoin are poised to make a dramatic impact on most people’s lives over the next decade. They offer tremendous possibilities for growing our global economy, and, similar to the cell phone, enabling developing nations to leapfrog the tech of developed nations. But, we are at a pivotal point for this nascent technology. Getting digital currencies right and realizing the projected impact, present daunting challenges that will require significant research and development to ...

Robots are an intriguing technology that can straddle both the physical and social world of people. Inspired by animal and human behavior, MIT's robotic team's goal is to build capable robotic creatures with a "living" presence, and to gain a better understanding of how humans will interact with this new kind of technology. People will physically interact with them, communicate with them, understand them, and teach them, all in familiar human terms. Ultimately, such robots will possess the socia...

A team of researchers have been working on a handheld camera that sports the technology that can see through the wall using micro wave, additionally future usage envisioned is for cancer detection and aerospace engineering. The camera currently takes 30 images per second by transmitting millimeter and microwaves to a "collector" on the other side of a subject, and then sends them to a laptop for real-time inspection. Aside from being able to see straight through your BVDs, it can also be used...

Using lasers to regenerate and grow body parts sounds like science fiction, but researchers have just demonstrated that it might be a tranformative tool in medicine—or at least dentistry—in the future. A Harvard-led team just successfully used low-powered lasers to activate stem cells and stimulate the growth of teeth in rats and human dental tissue in a lab. The results were published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Stem cells exist throughout the body, and they fasci...

The structure of the human brain is complex, reminiscent of a circuit diagram with countless connections. But what role does this architecture play in the functioning of the brain? To answer this question, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, in cooperation with colleagues at the Free University of Berlin and University Hospital Freiburg, have for the first time analysed 1.6 billion connections within the brain simultaneously. They found the highest agreement ...

Smart Mice with half Human brain Mice have been created whose brains are half human. As a result, the animals are smarter than their siblings by professors at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. The idea is not to mimic fiction, but to advance our understanding of human brain diseases by studying them in whole mouse brains rather than in dishes. The altered mice still have mouse neurons – the “thinking” cells that make up around half of all their brain cells. But pra...

“IQ gene” and, inevitably, the possibility of enhancing human intelligence. The inspiration for the study of Tang et al. comes from the predominant theory on the cellular basis for learning, called Hebb's rule, which states that synaptic transmission between two neurons will be strengthened if the two cells are simultaneously active and one cell repeatedly excites or causes the other cell to fire. This form of synaptic plasticity called long-term potentiation (LTP) clearly exists, as well as th...

A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. The human brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and change—even into old age. This ability is known as neuroplasticity. With the right stimulation, your brain can form new neural pathways, alter existing connections, and adapt and react in ever-changing ways. The brain’s incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase y...

Designer Babies Genetically modified babies have DNA from three different adults. Although having DNA from more than two sources can occur naturally (as in the cases of microchimerism and tetragametic chimerism), these 15 babies were created with a method called “cytoplasmic transfer,” which had been banned by the FDA. The method was initially developed to save female eggs that had been difficult to fertilize and was showing much promise—until tracking the growth of the genetically modified b...

You've probably seen ads for IBM's SmarterCity initiative, a program that uses the company's information technology to help municipal governments create healthier, more intelligent urban environments for their residents. Using their ability to collect and analyze data, IBM is able to provide information about elements of daily city life ranging from weather and traffic to water usage and air quality. But what they've done with that data has largely been used to make policy and economic decisions...

ROOST SMART BATTERY THAT CAN MAKE YOUR SMOKE ALARM INTELLIGENT Roost is a smart battery that is wifi enabled with sensors to alert you of any smoke or fire condition via its app on smart phone. Simple but very useful device that can save life. Making your smoke alarm intelligent is simple, connect the Roost Smart Battery to your home Wi-Fi network, replace the existing 9V battery in your smoke alarm with Roost and immediately receive emergency alerts on your smart phone - no matter where y...

GENETICALLY modified potatoes that glow when they need watering have been developed by scientists. The vegetables' leaves have been implanted with a fluorescent gene from a jellyfish, which can be seen using a handheld monitor. Researchers say using the plant could increase the efficiency of food production by raising crop yields, leading to lower shop prices. And the technique could be used on root vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips. 'It has been shown that if potato crops do...

The staff at a Japanese hotel manned entirely by robots includes a realistic-looking woman and a bow tie-clad velociraptor. The Henn na Hotel -- which translates to "Weird Hotel" -- features the humanoid robot and English-speaking dinosaur as receptionists and also features a tulip-shaped concierge robot, named Tuly, in charge of controlling lights in the rooms, as well as giving information on the time and weather. An automated porter robot carries luggage to guests' rooms, which use phot...