World's smallest periscopes

World's smallest periscopes

  2:05:00 AM    Science Lover

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A team of scientists has designed the world's tiniest version of the periscope to peer at cells and other micro-organisms from all the sides at once.

"With an off-the-shelf laboratory microscope you only see cells from one side, the top," said Chris Janetopoulos, assistant professor of biological sciences at the Vanderbilt University (VU) and member of the research team.

"Now not only can we see the tops of cells, we can view their sides as well - something biologists almost never see," he added.

The researchers dubbed their devices "mirrored pyramidal wells". They consist of pyramidal-shaped cavities moulded into silicon whose interior surfaces are coated with a reflective layer of gold or platinum.

They are about the width of a human hair and can be made in a range of sizes to view different-sized objects. When a cell is placed in such a well and viewed with a regular microscope, the researcher can see several sides simultaneously.

"This technology is exciting because these mirrored wells can be made at very low cost, unlike other, more complex methods for 3D microscopy," said VU assistant professor Kevin Seale.

"This could easily become as ubiquitous as the microscope slide and could replace more expensive methods currently used to position individual cells," said Ron Reiserer, lab manager at the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE) who helped design the protocol used to make the micropyramids.

The Vanderbilt group is not the first to make microscopic pyramidal wells, but it is the first to apply them to make 3D images of microorganisms, said a Vanderbilt release.

These findings were published in the Journal of Microscopy.

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Men smell of cheese, and women of onion

Men smell of cheese, and women of onion

  10:32:00 AM    Science Lover

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Women smell of onion while men are more likely to whiff of cheese, says a group of scientists after "sniffing" both sexes' armpits.
The bizarre research, which investigated the distinctive armpit odours of men and women, was conducted by scientist at Firmenich,a company in Geneva that researches flavours and smell for the food and perfume industry.
Analyses found that samples for women contained high amount of an odourless sulphur-containing compound,according to New Scientist magazine.
When this was mixed with bacteria usually found under the arm, it was transformed into a chemical called thiol, which is well known for its onion-like smell.
In men , the boffins found high levels of an odourless fatty acid that released a cheesy smell when exposed to enzymes produced by bacteria in the armpits.
"Men smell of cheese, and women of grapefruit or onion," said study leader Christian Starkenmann of Firmenich.
A team of independent testers recruited by the scientists also found the smell from women's armpits was more unpleasant.
Dr Starkenmann hopes to use the findings to develop deodorants aimd at particular sexes.
However, some scientists claim that external factors might mean that this study does not apply universally.
Professor Tim Jacob, who researches the science of smell at Cardiff University in the UK, said : "Factors include what you eat, what you wash with, what you wear and what genes you inherit."

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Stem cells for 10 disorders created

Stem cells for 10 disorders created

  3:49:00 PM    Science Lover

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US stem cell experts have produced a library of the powerful cells using ordinary skin and bone marrow cells from patients.

They used a new method to re-program ordinary cells so they look and act like embryonic stem cells - the master cells of the body with the ability to produce any type of tissue or blood cell. The new cells come from patients with 10 incurable genetic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's, the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, juvenile diabetes and Down's Syndrome.

The team at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston said the point is not yet to treat anyone, but to get as many researchers as possible experimenting with these cells in lab dishes to better understand the diseases.

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Hackers control the internet traffic

Hackers control the internet traffic

  4:42:00 PM    Science Lover

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Internet security researchers on Thursday warned that hackers have caught on to a "critical" flaw that lets them control traffic on the Internet. An elite squad of computer industry engineers that laboured in secret to solve the problem released a software "patch" two weeks ago and sought to keep details of the vulnerability hidden at least a month to give people time to protect computers from attacks.

"We are in a lot of trouble," said IOActive security specialist Dan Kaminsky, who stumbled upon the Domain Name System (DNS) vulnerability about six months ago and reached out to industry giants to collaborate on a solution.

"This attack is very good. This attack is being weaponised out in the field. Everyone needs to patch, please," Kaminsky said. "This is a big deal."

DNS is used by every computer that links to the Internet and works similar to a telephone system routing calls to proper numbers, in this case the online numerical addresses of websites.

The vulnerability allows "cache poisoning" attacks that tinker with data stored in computer memory caches that relay Internet traffic to its destination.

Attackers could use the vulnerability to route Internet users wherever the hackers wanted, no matter what website address is typed into a web browser.

The threat is greatest for business computers handling online traffic or hosting websites, according to security researchers. The flaw is a boon for "phishing" cons that involve leading people to imitation web pages of businesses such as bank or credit card companies to trick them into disclosing account numbers, passwords and other information.

"I was not intentionally seeking to cause anything that could break the Internet," Kaminsky said during a conference call with peers and media. "It’s a little weird to talk about it out loud."

Kaminsky built a webpage, www.doxpara.com, where people can find out whether their computers have the DNS vulnerability. As of Thursday, slightly more than half the computers tested at the website still needed to be patched. "People are spending tens of thousands of hours getting this patch out the door," Kaminsky said.

The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), a joint government-private sector security partnership, is among the chorus urging people to quickly protect computers linked to the Internet. "Just like you should wear a seat belt going down the road to be safe in a car accident, the same applies here," said Jerry Dixon, a former director of cyber security at the US Department of Homeland Security.

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