Flu... there's a shot for that. Broken bone...there's a shot for that too

Today, a broken hip usually means surgery and extensive rehab. But what if all you needed was an injection and a shorter recovery period? That's the vision that inspires Thomas Webster, an associate professor of engineering at Brown University.

Webster has developed a nanomaterial that quickly solidifies at body temperature into a bone-like substance. This week, Brown announced a deal with medical device maker Audax Medical of Littleton, Massachusetts, to further develop the material and launch trials in animals.

Injecting New Bone - Technology Review

Skip the biopsy...ask for laser beams instead

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a noninvasive imaging technique that captures images at the molecular level so quickly that they can "watch" red blood cells move through the capillaries of a live mouse. The system uses two laser beams set at different frequencies to excite specific types of molecules in the skin. A custom-designed detector picks up the excited molecular signal and translates it into an image.

With such a capability, says Ji-Xin Cheng, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue University, doctors may be able to identify other diseases that manifest on the surface of organs other than skin.

"Some cancers start in the epithelial layer, or the surface of tissues, like colon cancer," says Cheng. "Diagnosing such cancers could be a good application for a system like this."

Lasers Give Scientists Close-Up View of the Skin - Technology Review

People helping computers process information for a change

Most brain-computer interfaces are designed to help disabled people communicate or move around. A new project is using this type of interface to help computers perform tasks they can't manage on their own. In experiments, researchers used the interface to sort through satellite images for surface-to-air missiles faster than any machine or human analyst could manage alone.

Computers Get Help from the Human Brain - Technology Review

Essay writing turns into facebook browsing turns into youtube watching...

With the growing application of computers and technology in educating the youth of today, the question becomes how to focus attention on relevant tasks while filtering out the limitless stimuli provided by the internet?

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction - NYTimes.com

Yay alma mater...UBC research actually matters!

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using nanocrystals of cellulose, the main component of pulp and paper, chemistry researchers at the University of British Columbia have created glass films that have applications for energy conservation in building design because of their ability to reflect specific wavelengths of light, such as ultra violet, visible or infrared.

Researchers create iridescent glass that can reflect UV or infrared light

Turning skin into blood...21st century alchemy

(PhysOrg.com) -- In an important breakthrough, scientists at McMaster University have discovered how to make human blood from adult human skin.

Scientists turn skin into blood (w/ Video)

Earthquake repair 101

A bacteria that can knit together cracks in concrete structures by producing a special 'glue' has been developed by a team of students at Newcastle University.

'BacillaFilla' for concrete cracks

Muscle regeneration just needs some guidance in the right direction

Researchers have repaired large muscle wounds in mice by growing and implanting "microthreads" coated with human muscle cells. The microthreads—made out of the same material that triggers the formation of blood clots—seem to help the cells grow in the proper orientation, which is vital for rebuilding working muscle tissue.

Microthreads Help Grow New Muscles - Technology Review

Jon Stewart is awesome period

Who put the microchip in my benadryl?

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG is developing a pill containing an embedded microchip, which it hopes to submit for regulatory approval in Europe within 18 months.

The chip is activated by stomach acid and transmits information to a patch attached to the patient’s skin, which then sends it on to a doctor via the Internet or a smartphone.

Chip-in-a-pill may be approved in 2012 | KurzweilAI

Thinking about replacing your home's windows? Go green with solar-powered ones!

A material with semiconducting abilities has been developed which also happens to be largely transparent, paving the way for potential future applications in "energy-generating solar windows, transparent solar panels, and new kinds of optical displays."

Transparent Conductive Material Could Lead to Power-Generating Windows | KurzweilAI

Wake up U.S. government, infrastructure spending = jobs + productivity

Job-Creation Idea No. 13: No Better Time Than Now To Build The Future

A Long-Lasting Universal Flu Vaccine

For decades, researchers have been doggedly pursuing a universal flu vaccine--one that would protect against the evolving influenza virus for years rather than just a single season--with little success. The bug mutates so quickly that a new vaccine must be specially formulated each year. But a relatively new strategy, targeting a rarely seen portion of the virus, is now showing some success.

While vaccines for other infections can create immunity that lasts for decades, the flu virus has proved a more challenging adversary. Because the human immune system is so adept at recognizing it, the virus has evolved the ability to modify its most recognizable protein--called hemagglutinin--from year to year. So every year, six months prior to flu season, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration devises the country's annual vaccine according to its best guess for which strains will be most virulent. And every year, we need another flu shot.

Palese's experimental vaccine, however, targets a part of the hemagglutinin protein that remains relatively stable over time, enabling its broad immunizing effects.

Technology Review: A Long-Lasting Universal Flu Vaccine

Making a Genome Quickly from Scratch

A rapid DNA-synthesis technique has been used to synthesize a complete mitochondrial genome from scratch. The new method will be used to make vaccines rapidly by a startup company called Synthetic Genomics Vaccines.

Technology Review: Making a Genome Quickly from Scratch

Reefer Gladness

Reefer Gladness - NYTimes.com

A little insight on the upcoming vote to legalize and tax marijuana in California.

Stephen Colbert Hearing (VIDEO): Updates From Colbert's Visit To Congress

Stephen Colbert Hearing (VIDEO): Updates From Colbert's Visit To Congress

Yet another step towards a television free world

Miniature device could allow a cell phone to project images on a wall | KurzweilAI
     A new one-cubic-centimeter projector head that can be integrated into a portable computer or mobile telephone has been developed by Lemoptix, a spin-off of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), and the Maher Kayal Laboratory.

     The projector uses very little energy, requiring on average 30% less current than the matrix- or LED-based technology currently available on the market. It should be available in 2011 for industrial applications, and the following year for consumer electronics, according to Nicolas Abelé, Technical Director of the start-up.

Test tube babies are so 2009

Technology Review: Artificial Ovary Could Help Infertile Women

     First time that a 3-dimensional environment containing the three main types of ovarian cells: theca cells, granulosa cells, and the eggs (oocytes) has been developed. Immediate importance in studying fertility, environmental and pharmaceutical impacts, contraceptive development, and ovarian cancer with future clinical potential in harvesting and maturing eggs safely for infertile women.

I bet this was the reporter's idea

Weekend Chuckles

Job Descriptions

1. A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.

2. An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

3. A statistician is someone who is good with numbers but lacks the personality to be an accountant.

4. An actuary is someone who brings a fake bomb on a plane, because that decreases the chances that there will be another bomb on the plane.

5. A programmer is someone who solves a problem you didn't know you had in a way you don't understand.

6. A mathematician is like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there.

7. A topologist is someone who doesn't know the difference between a coffee cup and doughnut.

8. A lawyer is a person who writes a 10,000-word document and calls it a "brief."

9. A psychologist is someone who watches everyone else when a beautiful girl enters the room.

10. A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep.

11. A consultant is someone who takes the watch off your wrist and tells you the time.

12. A committee is a body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.