Yearly Archives: 2013

Scientists use 3D printer to make tissue-like material

"British scientists have used a custom-made 3D printer to make living tissue-like material that could one day serve medical purposes, according to findings released Thursday. The material is made up of thousands of connected water droplets, encapsulated within lipid films, that can carry out some of the functions of human cells. These 'droplet networks' could be the building blocks of a new technology used to pass on drugs and, down the road, could even replace damaged tissue, said a statement from Oxford University, where the scientists are based. Their findings were published in Friday’s issue of the US journal Science." Continue reading →

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Scientists used modified T-cells to wipe out childhood leukemia in a little girl

"US researchers on Monday reported encouraging success with a new type of immune cell therapy that wiped out leukemia in a young girl by using her own modified T cells to fight the cancer. The case study of Emily 'Emma' Whitehead, age 7, offers hope for a new path against a stubborn form of leukemia, known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), maybe even replacing the need for chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants someday. An attempt at T cell reprogramming in another child who did not survive pointed to the need for more research to improve on the therapies being tested." Continue reading →

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Science Fiction Comes Alive as Researchers Grow Organs in Lab

"Since a laboratory in North Carolina made a bladder in 1996, scientists have built increasingly more complex organs. There have been five windpipe replacements so far. A London researcher, Alex Seifalian, has transplanted lab-grown tear ducts and an artery into patients. He has made an artificial nose he expects to transplant later this year in a man who lost his nose to skin cancer. Sir Roy Calne, an 82-year-old British surgeon, figured out in the 1950s how to use drugs to prevent the body from rejecting transplanted organs. Now, with the quest to build a heart, researchers are tackling the most complex organ yet." Continue reading →

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NASA slams spending cuts that put Earth at risk of undetected killer asteroids

"A trio of experts testified before the House Science Committee of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday and warned that the detection and early warning of approaching Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and other threats from space is imperiled by current political wrangling over the national budget. Holdren, Shelton and Bolden emphasized that while odds of a devastating strike from an object from space are small, the consequences could be enormous. While dozens of objects a meter or more in size strike the Earth’s atmosphere every year, most burn up harmlessly in the upper limits of the stratosphere." Continue reading →

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White House confirms NASA plan to ‘lasso’ and bring asteroid near Earth

"President Barack Obama’s administration will seek $100 million in funding for a mission to tow an asteroid closer to Earth for the purpose of helping future expeditions to Mars. NASA’s mission proposal, adapted from a scenario (PDF) designed by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, calls for a robotic probe to grab an asteroid measuring approximately 500 tons and 25 to 35 feet in width in 2019 and bringing it into orbit near the moon, which would shorten future asteroid expeditions by months, on top of providing access to the asteroid’s natural resources." Continue reading →

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Sonic ‘lasso’ catches cells and moves them around

"Academics have demonstrated for the first time that a 'sonic lasso' can be used to grip microscopic objects, such as cells, and move them about. The researchers have shown experimentally how tiny particles, such as cells, or any small objects can be trapped by a spinning ultrasonic, or sonic, vortex. The vortex acts as a lasso that can be controlled and moved, catching the microscopic particles and enabling their careful positioning. This new technology makes possible applications such as assembly human tissue from a collection of cells and assembling nano materials." Continue reading →

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PC Shipments Post the Steepest Decline Ever in a Single Quarter

"Worldwide PC shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13), down -13.9% compared to the same quarter in 2012 and worse than the forecast decline of -7.7%, according to the International Data Corporation. The extent of the year-on-year contraction marked the worst quarter since IDC began tracking the PC market quarterly in 1994. The results also marked the fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year shipment declines. Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering Windows 8, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago." Continue reading →

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Scientists use iPhones to diagnose intestinal worms

"Scientists used an iPhone and a camera lens to diagnose intestinal worms in rural Tanzania, a breakthrough that could help doctors treat patients infected with the parasites, a study said on Tuesday. Research published by the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene showed that it is possible to fashion a low-cost field microscope using an iPhone, double-sided tape, a flashlight, ordinary laboratory slides and an $8 cameral lens. The researchers used their cobbled-together microscope to successfully determine the presence of eggs from hookworm and other parasites in the stool of infected children." Continue reading →

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