The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the expanded use of the Vidas Brahms PCT Assay to help health care providers determine if antibiotic treatment should be started or stopped in patients with lower respiratory tract infections, such as community-acquired pneumonia, and stopped in patients with sepsis. This is the first test to use procalcitonin (PCT), a protein associated with the body’s response to a bacterial infection, as a biomarker to help make antibiotic management decisions...

University of Melbourne research has found that treating chronic knee osteoarthritis  by conducting online exercise sessions by a physiotherapist (via Skype), combined with an automated online pain-coping program, has substantial benefits for improving pain, function and quality of life. Treating chronic knee osteoarthritis is set to go “virtual” after new research found that exercise delivered by a physiotherapist via Skype, combined with an automated online pain-coping program, has substant...

When astronauts in the Orion spacecraft travel beyond the moon to explore deep space destinations, they’ll need a robust diet to keep them healthy and sharp. While crew members aboard the International Space Station can choose from approximately 200 items for their meals and have the space to stow an array of options, feeding the crew on deep space missions presents several unique challenges that NASA scientists are working to tackle. Orion has limited room inside it to accommodate the suppli...

A perovskite solar cell is a type of solar cell which includes a perovskite structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material, as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials such as methylammonium lead halides are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture. Perovskite solar cells have shown potential both in the rapid efficiency improvement (from 2.2% in 2006 to the latest record 20.1% in 2014) and in cheap material and manufacturing c...

Healing with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself. The connection between man and his search for drugs in nature dates from the far past, of which there is ample evidence from various sources: written documents, preserved monuments, and even original plant medicines. Awareness of medicinal plants usage is a result of the many years of struggles against illnesses due to which man learned to pursue drugs in barks, seeds, fruit bodies, and other parts of the plants. Contemporary science ...

Sonoporation, or cellular sonication, is the use of sound (typically ultrasonic frequencies) for modifying the permeability of the cell plasma membrane. This technique is usually used in molecular biology and non-viral gene therapy in order to allow uptake of large molecules such as DNA into the cell, in a cell disruption process called transfection or transformation. Sonoporation employs the acoustic cavitation of microbubbles to enhance delivery of these large molecules. The bioactivity of ...

In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study in the June 5 issue of the Cell Stem Cell shows that cycles of prolonged fasting not only protect against immune system damage — a major side effect of chemotherapy — but also induce immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal. In both mice and a Phase 1 human clinical trial involving patients receiving chemotherapy, long pe...

It’s a well-known fact that water, at sea level, starts to boil at a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit, or 100 degrees Celsius. And scientists have long observed that when water is confined in very small spaces, its boiling and freezing points can change a bit, usually dropping by around 10 C or so. But now, a team at MIT has found a completely unexpected set of changes: Inside the tiniest of spaces — in carbon nanotubes whose inner dimensions are not much bigger than a few water molecule...

Neutron scattering and computational modeling have revealed unique and unexpected behavior of water molecules under extreme confinement that is unmatched by any known gas, liquid or solid states. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory describe a new tunneling state of water molecules confined in hexagonal ultra-small channels – 5 angstrom across – of the mineral beryl. An angstrom is 1/10-billionth of a meter, a...

Researchers have developed a smart balaclava which warms oxygen before it’s inhaled to reduce the risk of athletes contracting chest infections in winter. Nottingham Trent University and German advanced knitting machine manufacturer Stoll GmBH created a prototype to help runners and skiers who can be exposed to increased risk of infections when exercising in the cold. The technology centres on a knitted patch of electric-conductive yarn over the nose and mouth which emits heat when cha...

Left your phone behind? You can always stay in touch with the LG Watch Sport™ on your wrist. This standalone smartwatch stays connected to your smartphone, no matter where it is, even if it's off.* Send and receive calls and texts. Stream music from Google Play™ Music. Monitor your heart rate and track your progress. Download apps easily, and customize the display with your important info. The LG Watch Sport is available in Titanium Google and LG have teamed up to create a pair of smartwatche...

Even though it is hotter than the surface of the Sun, the crystallized iron core of the Earth remains solid. A new study from KTH Royal Institute of Technology may finally settle a longstanding debate over how that’s possible, as well as why seismic waves travel at higher speeds between the planet’s poles than through the equator. Spinning within Earth’s molten core is a crystal ball – actually a mass formation of almost pure crystallized iron – nearly the size of the moon. Unde...

Researchers have developed a completely new type of display that creates 3D images by using a laser to form tiny bubbles inside a liquid "screen." Instead of rendering a 3D scene on a flat surface, the display itself is three-dimensional, a property known as volumetric. This allows viewers to see a 3D image in the columnar display from all angles without any 3D glasses or headsets. In The Optical Society's journal for high impact research, Optica, researchers led by Yoshio Hayasaki of ...

University of Tokyo and RIKEN researchers have identified seven genes responsible for causing mice to stay awake or fall asleep based on a theoretical model of sleep and on experiments using 21 different genetically-modified mice, some of which showed different sleep durations. Researchers hope that their research will contribute to the understanding and treatment of sleep disorders and associated neurodegenerative diseases. All animals appear to sleep for varying durations. In humans, sleep ...

Pulling strings to obtain food is an experiment often used to test the intelligence of apes and birds, but it is the first time this technique has been discovered in an insect. Moreover the cultural spread of such a technique from a single informed individual has also been described for the first time in an invertebrate animal. The results, published in PLOS Biology,  show that rare innovator bees were able to solve the problem of pulling the string to reach a sugar water reward by themsel...

Amazon Go is a new kind of store with no checkout required. Amazon has created the world’s most advanced shopping technology so you never have to wait in line. With Amazon's Just Walk Out Shopping experience, simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go! No lines, no checkout. https://youtu.be/NrmMk1Myrxc   Amazon checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sens...

  UPS has successfully tested a drone that launches from an electric van, delivers a package, and then returns to the vehicle. Drones could make last-mile delivery more efficient, especially in rural areas. Global shipping giant UPS has teamed with Ohio-based electric truck and dronedeveloper Workhorse Group to trial of a drone. The trial system used Workhorse HorseFly drones that were integrated into the top of standard UPS vans. The drones, which recharge automatically when docke...

When is an internal combustion engine not an internal combustion engine? When it’s been transformed into a modular reforming reactor that could make hydrogen available to power fuel cells wherever there’s a natural gas supply available. By adding a catalyst, a hydrogen separating membrane and carbon dioxide sorbent to the century-old four-stroke engine cycle, researchers have demonstrated a laboratory-scale hydrogen reforming system that produces the green fuel at relatively low temperature i...

Smart Cloud is an interactive speaker/lamp designed to mimic a thunderstorm in both sound and light. Functions include; streaming music via bluetooth, music visualization, motion sensing & creating ambient light displays. Acting as both an immersive lightning experience and visual feedback integrated speaker, The Cloud introduces innovative physical computing and interaction design hardware by bringing this technology into the home. The Cloud celebrates collaborative code, free-sharing an...

Engineers and biologists at MIT have teamed up to design a new “living material” — a tough, stretchy, biocompatible sheet of hydrogel injected with live cells that are genetically programmed to light up in the presence of certain chemicals. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers demonstrate the new material’s potential for sensing chemicals, both in the environment and in the human body. The team fabricated various wearable sensor...

Around 35-40 per cent of a child’s BMI – how fat or thin they are – is inherited from their parents, a new study has found. For the most obese children, the proportion rises to 55-60 per cent, suggesting that more than half of their tendency towards obesity is determined by genetics and family environment. The study, led by the University of Sussex, used data on the heights and weights of 100,000 children and their parents spanning six countries worldwide: the UK, USA, China, Indonesia, Sp...

Disney Research created a method to wirelessly transmit power through a room, allowing electronic devices to charge quickly via connected Wi-Fi hotspots, removing the need for electrical cords and charging cradles. Wireless power delivery has the potential to seamlessly power our electrical devices as easily as data is transmitted through the air. However, existing solutions are limited to near contact distances and do not provide the geometric freedom to enable automatic and un-aided chargin...

The neurodegeneration that occurs in Parkinson’s disease is a result of stress on the endoplasmic reticulum in the cell rather than failure of the mitochondria as previously thought, according to a study in fruit flies. It was found that the death of neurons associated with the disease was prevented when chemicals that block the effects of endoplasmic reticulum stress were used. Some inherited forms of early-onset Parkinson’s disease have typically been blamed on poorly functioning mitochondr...

Ever since humans began to invent, we were trying to find ways to go faster. From creating saddles and horse drawn carriages to creating cars and airplanes, we always have striven for faster and faster means of transportation. The current fastest mode of commercial transportation is air transportation, with the average speed of a passenger plane being 540 miles per hour. However, inventor Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, proposed an idea back in late 2012 for a new mode of transportation ...

Optogenetics is a biological technique which involves the use of light to control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels. It is a neuromodulation method employed in neuroscience that uses a combination of techniques from optics and genetics to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons in living tissue—even within It is a neuromodulation method employed in neuroscience that uses a combination of tech...

UV Towel dryer and sanitizer UV Towel dryer and sanitizerThis is becuase we have the Dry Clean, a very capable towel drier that not only dries towels but also disinfects them. The device uses a miniature turbine to direct hot air towards the towels and maintains the temperature to allow for easy drying. An ultraviolet (UV) light disinfects the towel and keeps them fresh and fluffy. On a daily basis this may seem as an extravagance but think of cold and wet seasons, plus hotels where uneccesary ...