Tag: Life Science

In future cables could transport useful items autonomously. Blood clots (detectable by smartphone) are anything but useful. These ball-shaped tangles of protein strands trap red blood cells and cause strokes and heart attacks. Now, a Californian-based research team has designed a milli-spinner, introduced into the bloodstream via catheter, to treat them. The team developed a hollow pipe with elongated...

Groundnut shells can help cultivate saplings sustainably. Now, a Japan-based research team has been investigating how cashew nuts can break down fatty tissue in the body. The nut itself grows in a shell, the shell in a kind of fleshy apple. The latter is rich in ascorbic acid, fibre and polyphenols, which have anti-inflammatory properties. An extract taken from...

Adding algae to food reduces emissions in livestock. Cultivating rice also generates methane, a fact that prompted a Swedish-based research team to take action. The source lies in substances secreted by rice roots and metabolised by microorganisms. Studies involving a bioengineered rice strain with low methane emission showed that two substances in particular had a decisive influence. Secreted salts...

A collar can purify the air. A particularly important point for people with asthma, allergies or respiratory diseases. But their breath can also provide information about their health. Enter a California-based research team and its smart mask, which allows patients to diagnose issues at home. First, exhaled air condenses in the mask through a cooling hydrogel. The liquid is...

Thanks to 3D-printed alternatives, things are getting better for living test objects. Animals, too, could soon be spared chemical testing thanks to the work of an Edinburgh-based research team. Using a 3D printer, the team created a model comprising five interconnected compartments and filled each of those with human cells from the brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidney respectively....

Maze-like paths keeps insects away from plants. Mosquitoes aren’t just annoying; they are also carriers of disease. Sometimes simple concepts are the best. An idea that an Alabama research team has developed to create a material that protects humans from mosquito bites. The insects can bend their piercing and sucking proboscises at 90 degree angles, penetrating even the thickest...

Video games can help diagnose depression, and smartphones identify blocked arteries. Now, a research team in Singapore has developed a light-emitting diode (LED), less than a micrometre in size, which has been used to build a holographic mini-microscope. Both LED and microscope are the smallest of their kind in the world. A neural network-algorithm converts objects measured by the microscope, such as cells...

Human urine could help build astronauts’ sleeping quarters on the moon, or supply fertiliser for farming. Cattle, however, are a major contributor to greenhouse gases by passing methane front and back. According to a study by a Washington State University research team, help might come from an unlikely source: the faeces of baby kangaroos. For, in contrast to their...