scientific breakthroughs

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Team Creates Lightest Material on the Planet

'Ultralight metallic microlattice' 100 times lighter than Styrofoam

(Newser) - A University of California team says it has created a material lighter than any other on Earth. The team's "ultralight metallic microlattice" is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam, and can sit atop a fluffy dandelion without crushing its seeds, the Los Angeles Times reports. The material is 99....

Full-Body Prosthetic Could Allow Paralyzed to Walk

Sensory information can be sent directly to brain: scientists

(Newser) - If an international team of neuroscientists, engineers, and physiologists has its way, a quadriplegic will open the 2014 World Cup—by striding out onto the field. The team is working on a "prosthetic exoskeleton," a full-body device that would allow those who have been paralyzed to walk again....

Video Gamers Unlock AIDS Molecule Puzzle

'They did it in less than 10 days': scientist

(Newser) - Video gamers have figured out a molecular puzzle that has long baffled scientists and may lead to crowd-sourced cures for AIDS and other illnesses, MSNBC reports. In a surprising step for so-called citizen science, players of the online game Foldit discovered the molecular structure of an enzyme in an AIDS-like...

Scientists: Time Travel Impossible

Researchers prove nothing can violate the 'traffic laws' of the universe

(Newser) - Wait, so Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey is suddenly implausible? A group of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology physicists say they've proven that time travel is physically impossible, reports Discovery News . They demonstrated that a single photon obeys Einstein's theory that nothing can travel faster...

Fountain of Youth Drug Found on Easter Island
 Fountain of 
 Youth Drug 
 Found on 
 Easter Island 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 3, 2011 7:29 AM CDT

Fountain of Youth Drug Found on Easter Island

Scientists think Rapamycin might be able to slow aging

(Newser) - Scientists think a drug derived from a chemical found in the soil of Easter Island may be able to slow down the aging process and extend human life spans. The drug Rapamycin, nicknamed the “forever young” drug, has been shown in experiments to counteract the effects of Hutchinson-Gilford Progerias...

You Could Soon Be Classified by Gut Bacteria
You Could Soon Be
Classified by Gut Bacteria
study says
Apr 21, 2011 9:43 AM CDT

You Could Soon Be Classified by Gut Bacteria

Scientists find just three distinct microbe ecosystems

(Newser) - Humans can be identified by their blood type, but soon they may also be able to be classified by their "bug type," the New York Times reports. Scientists have discovered that, in the guts of people recently studied, there are three distinct types of microbe ecosystems. Since gut...

Paralyzed Patient Undergoes Stem Cell Experiment

21-year-old got drug 6 months ago, but it's too early to gauge results

(Newser) - A 21-year-old nursing student in Alabama paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident says he's "doing well" after receiving an experimental drug made from embryonic stem cells, but that it's too early to gauge his prospects of being able to walk again. Timothy Atchison tells the Washington ...

Scientists Take 'Big, Solid Step' on Alzheimer's

They identify five more genes associated with the disease

(Newser) - Promising news on the Alzheimer's front: Scientists have identified five more genes associated with the disease, a development that should improve their understanding of how and why it develops. That, in turn, could lead to better treatment and earlier detection, especially among those who show no symptoms, reports USA Today...

Scientists Grow Sperm From Mice in Laboratory for First Time
 Sperm Grown 
 in Lab for First Time 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 27, 2011 3:37 PM CDT

Sperm Grown in Lab for First Time

If it works in humans, it could help with men's infertility

(Newser) - Japanese researchers have grown sperm in the laboratory for the first time, reports Nature . If the breakthrough with mice transfers to humans, it could open up IVF treatments for infertile men, notes the Guardian . Scientists created the sperm from the testicular tissue of mice and successfully produced a dozen baby...

Humans Left Africa Far Earlier Than We Thought

Stone tools defy genetic story

(Newser) - Stone tools discovered in the Arabian peninsula suggest modern humans may have left Africa 125,000 years ago—some 50,000 years earlier than previously believed. Genetic data points to humans departing Africa around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, the BBC notes. But the genetic data is "...

Scientists Find Potential Cure for Diabetes for Men
Scientists Find Potential Cure for Diabetes in Men
in case you missed it
Dec 18, 2010 8:29 AM CST

Scientists Find Potential Cure for Diabetes in Men

Testicular tissue could help patients grow their own insulin

(Newser) - Scientists have made a breakthrough that they think could lead to a cure for diabetes in men. In recent experiments on diabetic mice, researchers were able to use tiny slivers of human testicular tissue to make replacements for the faulty cells that cause the condition, allowing the mice to produce...

Felisa Wolfe-Simon Is the Young NASA Scientist Who Led the 'New Life' Research
 Girls, Meet Your 
 New Role Model 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 5, 2010 10:36 AM CST

Girls, Meet Your New Role Model

Felisa Wolfe-Simon is the young scientist behind the 'new life' discovery

(Newser) - Jezebel has a girl crush, and it's a good one. Meet Felisa Wolfe-Simon, the lead scientist behind the whiz-bang discovery about potential new life forms . Though only in her early 30s by "standard graduation-year math," she is already "insanely accomplished by anyone's standards," writes Irin...

Scientists Slay Superbugs... With Light

Wavelengths cause chemical reaction, researchers find

(Newser) - Scientists have shed light on a new way to kill hospital superbugs like MRSA: literally shed light on them. A set of wavelengths called HINS-light acts by stimulating molecules in the bacteria, causing them to create chemicals that kill the germs. In trials, the process appears far more effective than...

Scientists Find Secret of Regeneration

Boosting cancer risk might allow humans to regrow limbs

(Newser) - Researchers think they’ve found a trick that could allow humans to someday regrow limbs or heart tissue in much the same way some lizards do. The scientists say humans gave up much of their regenerative power as part of an evolutionary trade-off: Our genes suppress cell growth, and with...

MIT Creates Viruses That Mimic Photosynthesis

Innovation could create unlimited solar power

(Newser) - Scientists building complex, designer viruses in the lab may sound sort of terrifying, but what if those viruses could potentially solve the world’s energy problems? A group of researchers at MIT has fabricated an artificial virus that can be fabricated into wire-like chains that can transport solar power and...

'Puberty Pill' Could Make Kids Smarter

Drug would act on brain, blocking receptor that slows learning

(Newser) - Studying, schmudying: A pill that boosts teenagers’ ability to learn may be in the pipeline soon. A receptor in the hippocampus area of the brain appears to slow down learning when kids hit puberty, researchers at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn report. Give kids a steroid to suppress that receptor, and...

Lollypop-Like Device Lets Blind Soldier 'See'

Camera sends current to tongue; brain can visualize

(Newser) - A lollypop-like device hooked up to a video camera is allowing a British soldier blinded in Iraq to “see” with his tongue. Craig Lundberg, 24, wears sunglasses with the camera embedded, the Guardian reports; the camera then turns his surroundings into electric currents sent to Lundberg’s tongue, and...

Scientists 'Tie Light in Knots'
 Scientists 'Tie Light in Knots' 
Jan 18, 2010 10:30 AM CST

Scientists 'Tie Light in Knots'

Breakthrough could lead to more precise lasers, traffic speed guns

(Newser) - A team of physicists say they’ve managed to “tie light in knots” using holograms and abstract mathematics. The breakthrough could have a host of practical applications, including more precise lasers and traffic speed guns. It’s also the first physical application of “knot theory,” a branch...

Monkeys Pass Altered Traits to Offspring

Genetic breakthrough will aid disease study, but troubles some

(Newser) - Japanese scientists have produced the first genetically modified monkeys that can pass on their new traits to offspring, a research breakthrough mired in ethical quandaries. The technique is meant to be used to infect monkeys with diseases like Parkinson’s and then test treatments on them, but could eventually be...

Counting Chicks Redefine Birdbrain

Study shows chickens can do basic math

(Newser) - No dumb clucks, young chickens appear capable of basic arithmetic, Discover reports. Scientists relied on two innate chick traits—an instinct to flock with the biggest group and an attachment to objects—to test the birds’ noggins. After hiding yellow balls of varying numbers behind screens, they released the chicks....

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