Science

New lithium-ion battery design: 2,000 times more powerful, recharges 1,000 times faster

"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new lithium-ion battery technology that is 2,000 times more powerful than comparable batteries. According to the researchers, this is not simply an evolutionary step in battery tech, 'It’s a new enabling technology… it breaks the normal paradigms of energy sources. It’s allowing us to do different, new things.' In real-world use, this tech will probably be used to equip consumer devices with batteries that are much smaller and lighter — imagine a smartphone with a battery the thickness of a credit card, which can be recharged in a few seconds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew lithium-ion battery design: 2,000 times more powerful, recharges 1,000 times faster

Scientists’ accidental find reveals Vitamin C kills tuberculosis bacteria

"Scientists said Tuesday they had managed to kill lab-grown tuberculosis (TB) bacteria with good old Vitamin C — an 'unexpected' discovery they hope will lead to better, cheaper drugs. A team from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York made the accidental find while researching how TB bacteria become resistant to the TB drug isoniazid. The researchers added isoniazid and a 'reducing agent' known as cysteine to the TB in a test tube, expecting the bacteria to develop drug resistance. Instead, the team 'ended up killing off the culture'. In the lab tests, the bacteria never developed resistance to Vitamin C — 'almost like the dream drug', Jacobs said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScientists’ accidental find reveals Vitamin C kills tuberculosis bacteria

Vitamins That Cost Pennies a Day Seen Delaying Dementia

"Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) have spent billions of dollars on ineffective therapies in a so-far fruitless effort to come up with a treatment for dementia and Alzheimer’s. Now, in the latest of a steady drumbeat of research that suggests diet, exercise and socializing remain patients’ best hope, a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that vitamins B6 and B12 combined with folic acid slowed atrophy of gray matter in brain areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVitamins That Cost Pennies a Day Seen Delaying Dementia

An open letter to marijuana prohibitionists and so-called third-way-ers

"I keep hearing from your side that you have noble motives for your opposition to marijuana legalization. I hear that all you care about is using scientific inquiry to determine what is best for the people. However, I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but you keep talking about things in ways that aren’t scientific, or that are meaningless without the proper context. That kind of thing may have worked once, but in general, people are a little more sophisticated about scientific knowledge — they no longer uncritically accept 'Here be dragons' for cartography or 'If she floats, she’s a witch' as a judicial system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAn open letter to marijuana prohibitionists and so-called third-way-ers

18-year-old’s breakthrough invention can recharge phones in seconds

"An 18-year-old science student has made an astonishing breakthrough that will enable mobile phones and other batteries to be charged within seconds rather than the hours it takes today’s devices to power back up. Saratoga, Calif. resident Eesha Khare made the breakthrough by creating a small supercapacitor that can fit inside a cell phone battery and enable ultra-fast electricity transfer and storage, delivering a full charge in 20-30 seconds instead of several hours. The nano-tech device Khare created can supposedly withstand up to 100,000 charges, a 100-fold increase over current technology, and it’s flexible enough to be used in clothing or displays on any non-flat surface." Continue reading →

Continue Reading18-year-old’s breakthrough invention can recharge phones in seconds

Next to Use 3-D Printing: Your Surgeon

"Surgeons are finding industrial 3-D printers to be a lifesaver on the operating table. This technology, also known as additive manufacturing, has long produced prototypes of jewelry, electronics and car parts. But now these industrial printers are able to construct personalized copies of livers and kidneys, one ultrathin layer at a time. The medical field in particular is expected to benefit greatly from 3-D printing. Scientists are working on ways to print embryonic stem cells and living human tissue with the aim to produce body parts that can be directly attached to or implanted in the body." Continue reading →

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Medical breakthrough: Antibiotics could cure 40% of back pain patients

"Up to 40% of patients with chronic back pain could be cured with a course of antibiotics rather than surgery, in a medical breakthrough that one spinal surgeon says is worthy of a Nobel prize. The shock finding means that scores of patients with unrelenting lower back pain will no longer face major operations but can instead be cured with courses of antibiotics costing around £114. Scientists at the University of Southern Denmark found that 20% to 40% of chronic lower back pain was caused by bacterial infections. The NHS spends £480m on spinal surgery each year, the majority of which is for back pain." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMedical breakthrough: Antibiotics could cure 40% of back pain patients

Living in U.S. raises risk of allergies

"Children born outside the United States have a lower risk of asthma, skin and food allergies, and living in the United States for a decade or more may raise the risk of some allergies, said a study Monday. The research in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that certain environmental exposures could trigger allergies later in life, overcoming the protective effects of microbial exposure in childhood. The study examined records from 2007-2008 phone surveys of nearly 92,000 people in the United States, where food and skin allergies have been on the rise in recent years." Continue reading →

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South Korean toddler gets first ever windpipe transplant

"An international team of surgeons has successfully given a South Korean-Canadian toddler a life-saving windpipe transplant made from plastic fibers and some of her own stem cells. Hannah Warren, 2, was born without a trachea and is now the youngest person to ever receive a bio-engineered organ, after an operation in the United States. She had spent her life in an intensive care unit in Seoul, with a feeding tube keeping her alive. Doctors had initially given her little chance of surviving. The nine-hour transplant was a life-saving surgery for the child, who was unable to breathe, speak, swallow, eat or drink on her own since birth." Continue reading →

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Why It’s So Hard For Scientists To Study Medical Marijuana

"Both the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians have called for more research into the therapeutic uses of marijuana and for the U.S. government to reconsider its classification as a Schedule I substance. The University of Mississippi grows and harvests cannabis for studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, yet because NIDA's congressionally mandated mission is to research the harmful effects of controlled substances and stop drug abuse, the institute isn't interested in helping establish marijuana as a medicine." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy It’s So Hard For Scientists To Study Medical Marijuana