Latest Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare News from Science Blog

U.S. equipped to grow serious amounts of pond scum for fuel

A new analysis shows that the nation’s land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United...

The pirate ant: A bizarre pigmentation pattern

Scientists have discovered a new enigmatic species of ant coming from the Philippines. Cardiocondyla pirata or the pirate ant engages the imagination with a bizarre pigmentation pattern that has no...

Enrichment therapy effective among children with autism

Low-cost, at-home treatment involves sensory exercises with common household items Children with autism showed significant improvement after six months of simple sensory exercises at home using...

Vitamin C can kill drug-resistant TB

In a striking, unexpected discovery, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have determined that vitamin C kills drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in...

Common Food Supplement Fights Brain Disorders

Widely available in pharmacies and health stores, phosphatidylserine is a natural food supplement produced from beef, oysters, and soy. Proven to improve cognition and slow memory loss, it’s a...

Timing of cancer radiation therapy may minimize hair loss

Discovering that mouse hair has a circadian clock – a 24-hour cycle of growth followed by restorative repair – researchers suspect that hair loss in humans from toxic cancer radiotherapy...

Apigenin: The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells ‘mortal’

New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells’ “superpower” to escape death. By altering a very specific step in gene regulation,...

Needed: Breakup of physician, drug co. relationship

A new report suggests that improved health care and significant reductions in drug costs might be attained by breaking up the age-old relationship between physicians and drug company representatives...

1 in 10 teens using ‘study drugs,’ but parents aren’t paying attention

As high schoolers prepare for final exams, teens nationwide may be tempted to use a “study drug” — a prescription stimulant or amphetamine — to gain an academic edge. But a...

Compressed Air as Energy Storage

Enough Northwest wind energy to power about 85,000 homes each month could be stored in porous rocks deep underground for later use, according to a new, comprehensive study. Researchers at the...

More than half of spiders have abandoned building webs

The great ecological success of spiders is often substantiated by the evolution of silk and webs. Biologists of the Kiel University and the University of Bern now found an alternative adaptation to...

For PTSD combat vets, ‘fear circuitry’ in the brain never rests

Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these...

Frogs, salamanders suffering under erratic rainfall

By day, insects provide the white noise of the South, but the night belongs to the amphibians.  In a typical year, the Southern air hangs heavy from the humidity and the sounds of wildlife. The...

Ancient diet find could shatter ideas of how agriculture emerged

Archaeologists have made a discovery in southern subtropical China which could revolutionise thinking about how ancient humans lived in the region. They have uncovered evidence for the first time...

New method proposed for detecting gravitational waves from ends of universe

A new window into the nature of the universe may be possible with a device proposed by scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno and Stanford University that would detect elusive gravity waves...

World’s smallest droplets

Physicists may have created the smallest drops of liquid ever made in the lab. That possibility has been raised by the results of a recent experiment conducted by Vanderbilt physicist Julia Velkovska...

Carbon storage in Arctic tundra shows ecosystem resiliency

When UC Santa Barbara doctoral student Seeta Sistla and her adviser, environmental studies professor Josh Schimel, went north not long ago to study how long-term warming in the Arctic affects carbon...

Active videogaming (‘exergaming’) recommended to improve children’s health

Levels of physical inactivity and obesity are very high in children, with fewer than 50% of primary school-aged boys and fewer than 28% of girls meeting the minimum levels of physical activity...

‘Brainstorm’ device could wirelessly detect brain bleeding

New technology developed at the University of California, Berkeley, is using wireless signals to provide real-time, non-invasive diagnoses of brain swelling or bleeding. The device analyzes data from...

Look out! Invasive crazy ants displacing fire ants in southeast

Invasive “crazy ants” are displacing fire ants in areas across the southeastern United States, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. It’s the latest in a...

Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect

A team of researchers from several universities – including UCF –has observed a rare quantum physics effect that produces a repeating butterfly-shaped energy spectrum in a magnetic field, confirming...

Competitors Likelier to Choose Red if High Testosterone

Why do so many sports players and athletes choose to wear the color red when they compete? A new study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological...

X-ray Tomography on a Living Frog Embryo

Classical X-ray radiographs provide information about internal, absorptive structures of organisms such as bones. Alternatively, X-rays can also image soft tissues throughout early embryonic...

Weather on the Outer Planets Only Goes So Deep

What is the long-range weather forecast for the giant planets Uranus and Neptune? These planets are home to extreme winds blowing at speeds of over 1000 km/hour, hurricane-like storms as large around...

Natural Killer cells activate hematopoiesis

Infections can trigger hematopoiesis at sites outside the bone marrow – in the liver, the spleen or the skin. LMU researchers now show that a specific type of immune cell facilitates such “extra...