Tech

A new study has demonstrated that genetically modified Salmonella can be used to kill cancer cells. The study is published in this week's issue of mBio, an American Society for Microbiology online-only, open access journal.

A liquid form of marijuana may show promise as a treatment for children with severe epilepsy that is not responding to other treatments, according to a study released today which involved 213 people, ranging from toddlers to adults, with a median age of 11 who had severe epilepsy that did not respond to other treatments. Participants had Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, epilepsy types that can lead to intellectual disability and lifelong seizures, as well as 10 other types of severe epilepsy.

A blood test may help to predict which people will have severe allergic reactions to foods according to a new study led by Mount Sinai researchers and published online today in the The Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Strategic partnering has become commonplace when introducing innovations to systems markets. In standards battles, network affiliation has been used as a market signal to create confidence in a format's success. This paper's authors thus develop and test a model aimed at finding the right partners to sponsor an innovative technology.

Using technology like tablets in schools has turned into a heated political debate, Los Angeles infamously spent $1.3 billion on a program to give iPads to each student that has subsequently been plagued with problems. In the United Kingdom the head of the National Association of Head Teachers claimed he was dubious about using tech as a teaching aid in non-IT classes.

A newly developed assay may help investigators identify novel drug candidates to protect kidney cells and prevent or treat chronic kidney disease (CKD).

As numerous organizations promote the need for a healthy and well-funded transportation system during "Stand Up for Transportation Day", the Diesel Technology Forum is highlighting technology that offers better fuel efficiency and improved environmental performance.

Science needs to catch up with the public awareness, say researchers.

The organic chemicals in fracking fluid have been uncovered in two new studies, providing a basis for water contamination testing and future regulation. The research, published in Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry and Science of the Total Environment, reveals that fracking fluid contains compounds like biocides, which are potentially harmful if they leak into the groundwater.

Light is an extremely useful tool for quantum communication, but it has one major disadvantage: it usually travels at the speed of light and cannot be kept in place. A team of scientists at the Vienna University of Technology has now demonstrated that this problem can be solved - not only in strange, unusual quantum systems, but in the glass fiber networks we are already using today.

Researchers are always searching for improved technologies, but the most efficient computer possible already exists. It can learn and adapt without needing to be programmed or updated. It has nearly limitless memory, is difficult to crash, and works at extremely fast speeds. It's not a Mac or a PC; it's the human brain. And scientists around the world want to mimic its abilities.

The television version of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire", named after the first book "Game Of Thrones" returns to television this Sunday. Like the books, it is full of War Of The Roses-style intrigue, indiscretions and, of course, swords.

An unusual and very exciting form of carbon - that can be created by drawing on paper- looks to hold the key to real-time, high throughput DNA sequencing, a technique that would revolutionize medical research and testing. Led by Dr Jiri Cervenka and PhD candidate Nikolai Dontschuk from the University of Melbourne, the study also included scientists from the Australian Synchrotron and La Trobe University and is published in Nature Communications.

By modifying the CRISPR-Cas genome editing system, researchers are now able to manipulate Candida albicans' genome systematically--an approach that could help identify novel targets for therapies against this serious pathogen for which there are a limited number of anti-fungal agents.

A test that costs less than a $1 and yields results in minutes has been shown in newly published studies to be more sensitive and more exact than the current standard test for early-stage prostate cancer.

The simple test developed by University of Central Florida scientist Qun "Treen" Huo holds the promise of earlier detection of one of the deadliest cancers among men. It would also reduce the number of unnecessary and invasive biopsies stemming from the less precise PSA test that's now used.

In 2005, scientists studying tiny sac-like creatures called sea squirts found bacteria containing two types of chlorophyll (a and b) in cavities inside the squirts' tissues. These two pigments were soaking up most of the sunlight -- the violets, indigos, blues, green, yellows and oranges.