CLibertyC

"A simplified lab can slash the cost of in-vitro fertilisation treatment to around 200 euros ($256), offering hope to millions of infertile couples in the developing world, a conference heard on Monday. The cost would be just 10 to 15 percent of western-style IVF programmes, according to the Belgian team behind the project. Their approach uses a scaled-down version of the typical IVF lab, using a simple two-tube system to replace special carbon dioxide (CO2) incubators, medical gas and air purification systems in which to culture the embryo in a lab dish. So far 12 healthy 'low-cost' babies have been born." Continue reading →

"The vessels, all deliberately sunk more than 3,000 years ago, are the largest group of bronze age boats ever found in the same UK site and most are startlingly well preserved. One is covered inside and out with decorative carving described by conservator Ian Panter as looking 'as if they’d been playing noughts and crosses all over it'. Another has handles carved from the oak tree trunk for lifting it out of the water. One still floated after 3,000 years and one has traces of fires lit on the wide flat deck on which the catch was evidently cooked. They were preserved by the waterlogged silt in the bed of a long-dried-up creek which buried them deep below the ground." Continue reading →