Tech

BOSTON, Aug. 23, 2010 — Scientists reported progress today in using a common virus to develop improved materials for high-performance, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that could be woven into clothing to power portable electronic devices. They discussed development of the new materials for the battery's cathode, or positive electrode, at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have created the first frozen bank for Hawaiian corals in an attempt to protect them from extinction and to preserve their diversity in Hawaii. Mary Hagedorn, an adjunct faculty member at HIMB and a research scientist with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, leads the laboratory at the HIMB research facilities on Coconut Island in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, that is banking the frozen coral cells.

CHAPEL HILL – Flu vaccine will soon be available at local pharmacies and doctor's offices, and government officials are urging everyone over 6 months of age to receive it. This year's vaccine protects against H1N1 and two other strains of seasonal flu.

The recommendation represents a break from past years, when the government focused on vaccinating people in certain "high-risk" groups and those in contact with people at high risk.

But these, too, aren't yet perfect, says Canic. Blood flowing over a coated stent can still clot or tear cells away. This is, as Canic puts it, "not good."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- By creating a unique system of blood vessels that is engineered to interact with the tissue surrounding an implanted device, the longevity and function of these devices may be better preserved, according to a study led by researchers in the University of Louisville/ Jewish Hospital's Cardiovascular Innovation Institute (CII).

The study was published early online on August 23, 2010 in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research and was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

A new analysis has found that short-term and long-term costs of prostate cancer care vary considerably based on which treatment strategy a man initially receives. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study finds that treatments that may be less expensive in the short-term may have higher long-term costs.

BOSTON, Aug. 22, 2010 — The first measurements of healthful antioxidant levels in commercial bottled tea beverages has concluded that health-conscious consumers may not be getting what they think they are paying for: healthful doses of those antioxidants, or 'poylphenols', that may ward off a range of diseases.

New studies show that treatments targeting specific viral genes protected monkeys infected with deadly Ebola or Marburg viruses. Furthermore, the animals were protected even when therapeutics were administered one hour after exposure—suggesting the approach holds promise for treating accidental infections in laboratory or hospital settings.

A new approach to building an "artificial nose" – using fluorescent compounds and DNA – could accelerate the use of sniffing sensors into the realm of mass production and widespread use, say Stanford chemists. If their method lives up to its promise, it could one day detect everything from incipiently souring milk to high explosives.

A better understanding of the ground beneath our feet will result from research by seismologists and Rapid—a group of computer scientists at the University of Edinburgh. The Earth's structure controls how earthquakes travel and the damage they can cause. A clear picture of this structure would be extremely valuable to earthquake planners, but it requires the analysis of huge amounts of data. The Rapid team developed a system that performs the seismologists' data-crunching, and have made it easy to use by relying on an interface familiar to all scientists – a web browser.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a gas more commonly associated with the smell of 'rotten eggs' and blocked drains. However, it has now been shown to be present naturally in our bodies and reside in knee joint synovial fluid, the protective fluid found in the cavities of joints that reduces friction between the cartilage of joints during movement. Synovial fluid H2S may play a role in reducing inflammation in joints.

Global plant productivity that once was on the rise with warming temperatures and a lengthened growing season is now on the decline because of regional drought according to a new study of NASA satellite data.

NASA's Aqua satellite noticed that the showers and thunderstorms from the remnants of Tropical Depression 5 (TD5) extended from Louisiana northeast into southwest Alabama. Infrared imagery indicated some strong thunderstorms over south central Louisiana and northwest Alabama.

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In the study, which appears in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Science, the researchers measured distinguishing petroleum hydrocarbons in the plume and, using them as an investigative tool, determined that the source of the plume could not have been natural oil seeps but had to have come from the blown out well.