Tag: #159

Dialysis could soon be administered on the move. But movement remains an issue for some people with diabetes, owing to nerve problems in their feet. Enter a Swiss startup and its smart knee-high socks. Sensors embedded in the sole capture the pressure exerted by users while walking, and send the information to a miniature control unit integrated into the...

A venture capital firm is specifically backing LGBTQ+ teams, while an app focuses on the community’s mental health. For some time, a German non-profit organisation has been using wool from gay rams to promote its pro-LGBTQ+ message. A message that was recently given a global platform with financial help from a queer dating app: special wool pieces, whose designer...

Innovative and sustainable dyes for yarn are formed through fermentation using bacteria. Yet, in its search for a petroleum-free alternative for colourful textiles, a research team in South Korea created rainbow-coloured cellulose in a single process. Their recipe? Combining cultures from two optimised bacterial strains. Acetic acid bacteria belonging to the K. xylinus strain generated the cellulose, while E.coli...

Fleas help protect implants from bacterial settlement. Now a Japanese research team has discovered that frogs could assist in combating colorectal cancer. They tested 45 bacterial strains from the intestines of Japanese tree frogs, fire belly newts and grass lizards and found one particular strain from the tree frog to be most effective. It killed all tumour cells without...

Proteins are known to give viruses a hard time. And speaking of ‘hard time’, proteins could soon be used in criminal proceedings. According to an Australian research team, when hair samples fail to provide DNA, hair proteins can be equally good at individual identification. Why? Because proteins’ structure, like DNA, comprises a sequence of amino acids. Genetically variant peptides...

A new screen displays the highest resolution humans can perceive. Now for people who use bi- or varifocal lenses comes the latest development from a Finnish startup: ‘autofocus’ glasses. Its lenses are cut for users’ distance vision and feature embedded liquid crystals in a large circular area in the centre. Sensors in the frame send invisible infrared light to...