A new analysis supports the hypothesis that viruses are living entities that share a long evolutionary history with cells. The study offers the first reliable method for tracing viral evolution back to a time when neither viruses nor cells existed in the forms recognized today. Until now, viruses have been difficult to classify because of the abundance and diversity of viruses. Less than 4,900 viruses have been identified and sequenced so far, even though scientists estimate there are more th...

Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that Brain neurons which control hunger and appetite also regulate bone mass. “We have found that the level of your hunger could determine your bone structure,” said one of the senior authors, Tamas L. Horvath, the Jean and David W. Wallace Professor of Comparative Medicine, and professor of neurobiology and obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences.“The less hungry you are, the lower your bone density, and surprisingly, the effects of th...

Stanford researchers are building layers of logic and memory into skyscraper chips that are smaller, faster, cheaper and taller. They have created a four-layer prototype high-rise chip in which the bottom and top layers are logic transistors. Sandwiched between them are two layers of memory. The vertical tubes are nanoscale electronic "elevators" that connect logic and memory, allowing them to work together to solve problems. The circuit cards are like busy cities in which logic chips compute...

Spiraling and swiveling, the large, metal structure currently sitting in the lobby of Princeton University’s School of Architecture opens and closes like a blossom. An aluminum blossom with sharp, louvered blades for petals. It’s a Cool Oculus, a high-tech chimney prototype that uses passive cooling techniques to keep a building comfortable in a desert climate. It integrates two passive cooling strategies into one architectural system.These complement one another on a day-night cycle in a des...

New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars. NASA researchers using an imager aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter confirmed the watery flows by looking at light waves returned from seasonal dark streaks on the surface, long suspected to be associated with liquid water. They detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. The...

Possibly the world’s most intelligent shower, EcoVéa recycles water within your shower to push the limits of water conservation. The EcoVéa is a revolutionary ecological shower system that provides considerable water and energy savings, whatever the length, flow, or temperature of the shower. You can now enjoy long, comfortable, guilt-free showers. Promising a savings of up to 80% on both water and energy, the Ecovea system recycles water for immediate reuse, letting you shower in a sort of g...

Scientists have discovered that those who replaced saturated fats with whole grains or unsaturated fats found in vegetable oils and nuts, had a lowered risk of heart disease. While research last year seemed to exonerate butter as being a health food, recent research out of Harvard has suggested otherwise. The findings contradict a controversial paper published in 2014 that said there was little evidence that reducing saturated fat lead to lessened risk for heart disease. But researchers said ...

The latest invention from Google are the new self-adjusting specs that could change the lives of the active and near-sighted .Wearing spectacles and keeping them in place, especially while doing physical work such as running, would be much easier now. The patent outlines a system built into a wearable device like Google Glass that uses motors and motion detectors to automatically tighten or loosen the spectacles' arms depending on what the wearer is doing. It relies on a simple input, adjustm...

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified a key culprit responsible for the fluid loss and resulting shock that are the hallmark of severe and potentially fatal dengue virus infections. A team of researchers led by molecular virologist Eva Harris, a UC Berkeley School of Public Health professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, presented new evidence that the guilty party is a protein secreted by cells infected with the mosquito-borne dengue v...

Olivia Hallisey of Greenwich, won the top prize for her Ebola test kit in the fifth annual Google Science Fair, which honored nine students aged 13 to 18 from all over the world last week. The Connecticut-based sophomore from Greenwich High School invented the much needed "novel temperature-dependent, rapid, simple and inexpensive Ebola detection platform." It could soon be much easier to diagnose Ebola thanks to this student’s new invention. Aid workers in Ebola-stricken regions could soon b...

The innovative app iCPooch combines video chat with a treat dispenser which could be remotely activated for pets which are alone at home. iCPooch comes with tiny plastic dishes where you can stack the treats within a sleeve of the device. You can video chat with your pet. The device works both ways, it lets the dog see humans and hear their voices, and it lets the owner look in on their dog while they are far away. Military personnel, college students and any pet owner who lives away from the...

Scientists at the Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have created an invisibility cloak made from a thin material covered with millions of gold-plated antennae which wraps around an object and uses the antennae to divert light waves from its surface, rendering it undetectable to the human eye. Light reflects off the cloak as if it were reflecting off a flat mirror. Unlike the fictional character, the ultrathin cloak is real, and it successfully concealed microscopic 3D objects from detection in vis...

Wish you could check your vital stats while brushing your teeth? Thanks to the new innovation by MIT PhD student Ming-Zher Poh, reading your pulse and other vital stats may someday be as easy as standing in your bathroom. Working with public-domain software, Poh developed a way to measure the pulse by analyzing subjects sitting in front of a two-way mirror. The MIT Media Lab Medical Mirror is equipped with a computer monitor along with a built-in camera that tracks changes in brightness pr...

A new material controlled by light may help scientists build better soft-bodied robots. The UC Berkeley scientists created the gel using graphene and a synthetic protein similar to elastin, which is found in humans' blood vessels, skin and more. The synthetic elastin, created from genetically engineered bacteria, absorbs water at room temperature, but at higher temperatures it expels the water and shrinks. Inspired by the way plants grow toward light sources, a phenomenon known as phototropis...

The amazing concept of a sci-fi cloaking device which is a shield of ionized air that damps the force of a shock wave and bends it, could protect soldiers protect soldiers from intense shock waves generated by explosions. The US Army has experienced much collateral damage due to shock waves from explosions and this new device will help in reducing the damage to the vehicle and the injuries to the soldiers onboard. An armored vehicle is equipped to handle debris from an explosion but is not...

Unreal MIT invention Inform - allows you to reach through the screen and touch things. Recently unveiled, inFORM is MIT's new scrying pool for imagining the interfaces of tomorrow. Almost like a table of living clay, the inFORM is a surface that three-dimensionally changes shape, allowing users to not only interact with digital content in meatspace, but even hold hands with a person hundreds of miles away inFORM can also interact with the physical world around it, for example moving obj...

Microbes in the human gut can digest fiber in order to ferment them into nutrients that nourish human cells. The latest research by scientists is that microbes in the human gut can digest fiber, breaking it down into simple sugars in order to ferment them into nutrients that nourish human cells. Scientists have scoured cow rumens and termite guts for microbes that can efficiently break down plant cell walls for the production of next-generation biofuels, but some of the best microbes actua...

A new study suggests that low dose beta-blockers may be as effective as high dose after a heart attack. Surprisingly, heart attack patients live as long or even longer on one-fourth the suggested dose. In a surprising new finding, heart attack patients treated with a substantially lower dosage of beta-blockers than used in earlier clinical trials, survived at the same rate, or even better, than patients on the higher doses used in those trials. In fact, patients who received one-fourth of ...

iPad Game System Osmo wants to make learning math fun. Osmo, the clever educational gadget for iPads, got a new game. Numbers teaches math with special tiles. Aiming to make math fun and engaging, Osmo Numbers offers multiple ways to solve each puzzle and real time feedback. Numbers is an under-the-sea themed game where players have to come up with equations that equal a given integer using physical tiles. If they are successful, a trapped fish is freed from a bubble. As numbers appear ...

WikiFoods, Inc. has developed a revolutionary, plastic-free food and beverage packaging technology that delivers Triple Good called WikiPearls™ which are good for you, good for the environment, and just plain good. Created by David Edwards, a Harvard professor and biomedical engineer, the intention of the WikiPearl is to kill the packaging and make its relationship with food symbiotic. WikiPearl skins are inspired by the way nature packages fruits and vegetables. These skins are delicious ...

Stanford engineers invent transparent coating that cools solar cells to boost efficiency. A transparent material that can improve the efficacy of solar cells, this coating has been invented by three Stanford engineers and has the tendency to radiate thermal energy into space which is released by solar cells, making cells cool. This invention shunts away the heat generated by a solar cell under sunlight and cools it in a way that allows it to convert more photons into electricity. The gr...

Scientists have discovered a genetic clue to why some breast cancers relapse, which could lead to better treatment. The latest research on breast cancer was presented at the European Cancer Congress (ECC) in Vienna by Rd. Lucy Yates, leader of the team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute at the University of Cambridge, Xinhua. The research team has found genetic mutations as clues to breast cancer relapse, which could tell whether breast cancer is likely to relapse after treatment. ...

Stretchy batteries inspired by origami could power smartwatches and other wearable electronics. Newly introduced, stretchy origami-style batteries could power the wearable devices of the future, say researchers who have managed to power a Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 with a battery of their own invention. The lithium-ion batteries developed by a team from Arizona State University are capable of stretching to 150 percent of their natural size and of powering existing smartwatches. Scientists wo...

Solar power could be increased tenfold without additional storage in the near future. A team of Harvard scientists and engineers demonstrated a rechargeable battery that could make storing electricity from intermittently available energy sources, like sun and wind which is safe and cost-effective for both residential and commercial use. Much of the nation’s energy policy is premised on the assumption that clean, renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, will require huge quantities o...

MotionSavvy is putting forward a device to help the hearing impaired listen and speak. UNI, a sensitive tablet that interprets sign language and turns it into text and audible voice. There are plenty of things to take for granted in this life, and the ability to hear is one of them. MotionSavvy, is building a tablet case that leverages the power of the Leap Motion controller in order to translate American Sign Language into English and vice versa. The entire 6-person team is deaf. Known...

New study reveals the soft palate is a key site for evolution of airborne transmissibility. Researchers from MIT and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) made the surprising finding on Flu virus, while examining the H1N1 flu strain, which caused a 2009 pandemic that killed more than 250,000 people Scientists have discovered that the soft palate which is the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth, plays a key role in viruses’ ability to travel through ...

Mobile app automatically sends a caller’s location and medical data to dispatch centers. RapidSOS, a startup with MIT roots, is gearing up to release a one-touch 911 app that automatically sends location and preset medical data from a smartphone to dispatch centers, with aims of drastically reducing the time it takes first responders to get to a scene. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), around 70 percent of 911 calls today are made via mobile phones. Yet when fieldin...

A combination of two drugs appears to be effective at shrinking pancreatic cancers in laboratory mice Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly of all human cancers, and its incidence is increasing. A combination of two drugs, one already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, appears to be effective at shrinking pancreatic cancers in laboratory mice, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The drugs, which affect the structure and fu...

Sugru is a moldable putty made out of silicone rubber and can be used to repair electronics along with its many other uses. Designer-inventor Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh’s unique silicone technology, Sugru feels like play-dough, and it's that easy to use too. Sugru is a moldable putty made out of silicone rubber and can be used to repair electronics along with its many other uses. The product adheres to many surfaces, fills in gaps better than most glues and sets in 30 minutes giving you tim...

Gerwin Hoogendoorn, has recently introduced the Senz umbrella which can withstand winds of up to 62 miles per hour. With its aerodynamic shape that resists turning inside out, Senz umbrellas also come in different three sizes, the original, the XL and the mini. The unusual shape reminds one of a stealth fighter jet or perhaps something Batman might pull out if caught in a downpour. The XL storm-proof umbrella from Senz° with its striking silhouette is capable of withstanding winds of up...