Science and biotech

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have created a disposable lab-on-a-chip sensor that can test levels of potentially harmful heavy metals in humans in as few as 10 minutes.

Their work, published in the August issue of the journal Biomedical Microdevices, is co-authored by assistant professor of environmental engineering Erin Haynes, who has also been studying air pollution and the effects of lead and manganese on residents in Marietta, Ohio--home to the only manganese refinery in the U.S. and Canada. (Manganese compounds are used to make steel and other products.)

Manganese is naturally ubiquitous and considered essential both nutritionally … Read more

Researchers have built a battery that's six times thinner than a bacterium. The microscopic power pack could be used to run all sorts of minuscule electronic devices, including sensors that spy on single cells.

Does this mean we'll start seeing commercials for the Energizer bacterium? At 150 nanometers wide, the nano battery is hundreds of times thinner than a human hair and more than 60,000 times smaller than a AAA battery. How many "A"s is that?

The little battery, developed at Rice University, is actually a cross between a battery and a supercapacitor. Supercapacitors can deliver more power at once than batteries--a bigger jolt. The diminutive battery is made by the thousands in dense arrays. Each battery is a nanowire, with one half of the wire working as a negative electrode and the other half as a positive electrode.… Read more

Japan's struggle to contain a nuclear power plant crippled in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has had another setback as record-high radiation levels at the site have been detected.

Radiation levels at least 5 sieverts per hour were detected on the second floor of the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, the highest detected indoors at the plant since the quake and tsunami, operator Tokyo Electric Power Company said this week.

The previous highest dose detected indoors there was 4 sieverts per hour in the No. 1 reactor building.

The beleaguered utility … Read more

Every time there dawns a new era of airport safety, we the citizens and passengers of the world bow in wonder at the latest new technology that will save us from our fellow man.

So it was at Australia's Sydney Airport yesterday, where the well-meaning authorities launched a shiny new full-body scanner that would not only ensure that you are not armed, but could also tell what you had for lunch last Tuesday. (That's merely a slight exaggeration, of course.)

News.com.au sniffed out a certain snafu, however, in the scanner's nervous system. For it seemed … Read more

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology say they have built what they call the world's first artificial neural network out of DNA molecules and that it can answer questions correctly.

Postdoctoral scholar Lulu Qian and colleagues describe "how molecular systems can exhibit autonomous brain-like behaviors" in a paper published about their research in the July 21 issue of the journal Nature.

Taking their cue from the limited intelligence exhibited by single-celled organisms, the researchers built four neurons made up of 112 distinct DNA strands (by contrast, the human brain has some 100 billion neurons).

This rudimentary … Read more

Like the idea of a fully transparent cell phone, e-reader, or other device?

Stanford University graduate student Yuan Yang has come up with a way to make a see-through lithium ion battery, and it could pave the way for completely see-through flexible electronics (some partially transparent gadgets already exist). Developed in conjunction with Yi Cui, a professor of photon science at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the battery would cost nearly the same as a regular battery if produced on a mass scale, the creators say.

So how does one make a see-through power source? According to Stanford News, "Yang and Cui devised a mesh-like framework for the battery electrodes, with each 'line' in the grid being approximately 35 microns wide. Light passes through the transparent gaps between the gridlines; because the individual lines are so thin, the entire meshwork area appears transparent." … Read more

Researchers have invented a silicone lab on a chip they say could make genetic analysis far more sensitive--not to mention rapid and cost-effective--by routing fluid through microscopic tubes and valves, and allowing individual cells to fall into place much like balls in a pinball machine.

Standard genetic testing involves vast numbers of cells that, when analyzed, provide a sort of composite picture that cannot reveal the behaviors of individual cells.

"It's like trying to understand what makes a strawberry different from a raspberry by studying a blended-fruit smoothie," said Carl Hansen, an assistant professor who led the … Read more

FDA approval is a big deal for medical device manufacturers. Reflexonic is celebrating the recent approval of its Viberect device, a gadget designed to tackle the issue of erectile dysfunction.

The device's name offers a clue to how it works. It's a handheld device that stimulates the penile nerves with vibrations sent through medical softpads. It's battery-operated. This all may sound familiar. Essentially, it's a high-tech vibrator for men (but we're not sure how the "it's a back massager" explanation will go over, guys).

Anyone who has been hit by the potential side effects ascribed to pills like Viagra and Cialis may find the Viberect to be a welcome alternative. It doesn't require popping pills or getting injections.

There are no side effects listed for the Viberect as long as users stick to the operation manual. That means one application per day for less than 10 minutes.

The $300 Viberect is available by prescription only with sales getting underway in the middle of August. So far, no health insurance providers are covering the device.

This video of the device has visuals on par with a progressive high school sex ed class, so keep that in mind before you click on it at work.… Read more

The power of self-incrimination is now at your fingertips, thanks to a new device out of the U.K. that can test for drugs in a person's system simply by taking a fingerprint.

The technology developed by Intelligent Fingerprinting, a spin-off company from the University of East Anglia in in Norwich, England, can simultaneously confirm a subject's identity and detect the presence of a number of drugs, including cocaine, cannabis, methadone, and nicotine.

The tip-off to the presence of drugs has less to do with the actual fingerprints, and more with the sweat that is secreted through the pores of the fingertips and then detected using dyed antibodies. Those antibodies are applied to the fingertips via gold nanoparticles on the device.

The antibodies stick to metabolites secreted through the pores when a person is under the influence. In other words, if a subject's fingerprint turns a bright, pretty color, it could mean an extended conversation with law enforcement.

The device, which is expected to be available this year, represents a significant advance for detecting whether a driver is under the influence, which usually requires more invasive testing and produces results that can often be easily tainted. The whole testing process can take as little as 15 minutes, which coincidentally is about the time required to concoct a story about your roommate's hilarious practical joke involving switching the baking soda with his stash.

(Via New Scientist)… Read more