A new process for coating copper nanowires with graphene - an ultrathin layer of carbon – lowers resistance and heating, suggesting potential applications in computer chips and flexible displays.

As a novel energy storage device, supercapacitors have attracted substantial attention in recent years due to their ultra-high charge and discharge rate, excellent stability, long cycle life and very high power density. Imagine charging your cell phone in just a few seconds or fueling up an electric car in but a few minutes, which are both part of the promising future that supercapacitors could offer.

Researchers in South Korea have, for the first time, developed a simple technique to produce a two-dimensional nitrogen-containing crystal that has the capacity to be a potential rival to graphene and silicon as semi-conductor materials.

The increased use of engineered nanoparticles (ENMs) in commercial and industrial applications is raising concern over the environmental and health effects of nanoparticles released into the water supply. A timely study that analyzes the ability of typical water pretreatment methods to remove titanium dioxide, the most commonly used ENM, is published in Environmental Engineering Science, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Researchers at the MIT Media Laboratory have built a prototype of a finger-mounted device with a built-in camera that converts written text into audio for visually impaired users. The device provides feedback—either tactile or audible—that guides the user's finger along a line of text, and the system generates the corresponding audio in real time.

The Apple watch will go on sale this year after much anticipation and curiosity as to what level of excellence can possibly be tapped to make the smartwatch a hot wearable. One recent distraction, though, is in the form of stories coming from numerous tech sites on Monday that a smartwatch from Oppo might be in the wings and if so it will be a watch that can charge in five minutes. This would not be a trivial feature to promote because of the convenience factor, which might in turn motivate consumers to own something that will not require them to plug it in at night or else.

Hui Hu picked up a 3-D printed model of a typical wind turbine and began explaining two problems with the big, tall, three-bladed machines.

A small team of researchers has developed a possible means for creating a Turing test for computer vision. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Donald Geman, Neil Hallonquist and Laurent Younes with Johns Hopkins University and Stuart Geman with Brown University describe their idea of using a query engine to create a series of yes/no questions to show how well another computer system is able to understand content appearing in a photograph.

The MacBook Air was revolutionary when Apple started selling it in 2008. Though still thin and light, the Air now feels like a cheap cousin next to more powerful MacBook Pro laptops and Windows laptops known as ultrabooks.

Solar Impulse 2 landed in India late on Tuesday, completing the first major sea leg of its epic bid to become the first solar-powered plane to fly around the world.

Don't play with your food. In the 3D printing era, parents may want to modify that traditional admonishment because a creative thinker and maker has devised a way for children to experience creative thinking and the use of modern technology in making pancakes. Miguel Valenzuela, creator of a pancake-making machine, has taken to crowdfunding to push his pancake-maker through. He is offering, after all, a way to not merely make pancakes but to creatively create them.

Apple made a strong case for how you can use its upcoming Apple Watch, and the device stacks up well against the competition.

An incision from the surgeon's scalpel sends liquid oozing over the surface of a the lung, but on this occasion it doesn't matter if something goes wrong—the doctor can simply create another model with a 3D printer.

HBO announced its standalone online TV service will launch next month, appearing on Apple's streaming media player.

A Swiss-made solar-powered aircraft took off just after dawn on Tuesday from Muscat, Oman, bound for India for the second leg—and its first sea crossing—in a historic round-the-world trip.

There is certainly no shortage of headlines on wearable sensors these days. "A contact lens measures your glucose level." "New electronic tattoos could help monitor health during normal daily activities." A "headband can read your brainwaves." Numerous wearable sensors are currently on the market that can monitor body data including activity and sleep, heart rate, galvanic skin response, and electrocardiogram (ECG). But are these wearables making any difference? Are they actually making us healthier?

Future visions of electromobility include a comprehensive charging station network. However, it would be impossible to monitor them all in order to protect them from being manipulated. Under the umbrella of the "SecMobil" project, engineers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), headed by Prof Dr Tim Güneysu and in collaboration with project partners, developed a new sensor for charging stations which unites three functions: in one chip, charging current is measured, manipulation to charging station is detected and all data are encoded, before being forwarded to the provider for invoicing purposes.

In all but the most disconnected places, most of us are connected to our online social networks and contacts information throughout the working day and either side. Moreover, even in face-to-face meetings it is now common for people to check their phones periodically. Research to be published in the International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing suggests that the online world is now increasingly facilitating new relationships in the offline world.

Amid all the dire warnings that machines run by artificial intelligence (AI) will one day take over from humans we need to think more about how we program them in the first place.

The Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has used the Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool (BLAST) to confirm that energy storage for demand-charge management can deliver attractive economic benefits. The analysis paired recent utility rate structures with historic data on solar photovoltaic electricity generation and commercial facility loads to evaluate 6,860 unique scenarios. The results revealed that, in the absence of incentives, small battery systems reducing peak demand by 2.5 percent offer the most attractive return on investment.

These tiny programs on Internet-connected mobile phones are increasingly becoming entryways for surveillance and fraud. Computer scientists from the center for IT-Security, Privacy and Privacy, CISPA, have developed a program that can show users whether the apps on their smartphone are accessing private information, and what they do with that data. This year, the researchers will present an improved version of their system again at the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover (Hall 9, Booth E13).

An aircraft with a 72-metre wing-span – larger than a Boeing 747 – yet weighing only 2.3 tonnes, the Solar Impulse 2 has set off from Abu Dhabi on an attempt to circumnavigate the globe powered only by the sun.

Stephanie Hirmer, a PhD student from the Department of Engineering's Centre for Sustainable Development, is investigating the value-perception of the users of rural electrification projects in Uganda.

The sheer number of phishing scams that bombard our inboxes is an indication of the success scammers have in deceiving people through electronic communication. It is such a prevalent problem that some businesses are now taking action to defend against the scams by sending out fake phishing emails to educate employees who respond.

A new app created by Canterbury Christ Church University academics aims to help you improve motivation and achieve the things you want.

Biorobotics researchers at the Institut des Sciences du Mouvement - Etienne-Jules Marey (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université) have developed the first aerial robot able to fly over uneven terrain that is stabilized visually without an accelerometer. Called BeeRotor, it adjusts its speed and avoids obstacles thanks to optic flow sensors inspired by insect vision. It can fly along a tunnel with uneven, moving walls without measuring either speed or altitude. The study was published on 26 February 2015 in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.

It's not much harder or more expensive to send a tweet or a Facebook post to hundreds or even thousands of people than to just a handful. So you'd think that the ease of communicating with lots of people via social networks would result in more and more people sharing their thoughts, political views, and cat videos.

Gigaom, one of the oldest major technology news blogs, announced it was shutting down after running out of cash.

Two Swiss pioneers are attempting to fly around the world in a solar-powered airplane without a drop of fossil fuel. Here's a look at the plane and the pioneers behind it:

The Central Intelligence Agency has been working for years to break encryption on Apple devices, to spy on communications of iPhone and iPad users, a report said Tuesday.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday by the operator of Wikipedia and other organizations challenges the US government's mass online surveillance programs, claiming that tapping into the Internet "backbone" is illegal.

An in-car alarm that sounds when sensors on the vehicle detect an imminent crash could cut crash rates from 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 for drivers over the of 60 suffering tiredness on long journeys, according to a study published in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics.

Online payments group PayPal announced Tuesday it was acquiring Israeli cybersecurity firm CyActive and establishing a new security hub in Israel.

A new model examining cybercrimes adds an important way of examining the perishable value of stolen data so policy makers can plan against future hacks like the recent Anthem data breach, according to a study in the Articles in Advance section of Service Science, a journal published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

The Secret Service is conducting middle-of-the-night drone flights near the White House in secret tests to devise a defense against the unmanned aircraft, The Associated Press has learned.

The leader of German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk has sued a company for dubbing its new electric smartphone charger with the same name as the band.

Computer security firm Blue Coat Systems said Tuesday it was being acquired by private equity group Bain Capital for $2.4 billion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took a figurative victory lap at his company's annual shareholder meeting, one day after he announced details about the new smartwatch Apple plans to start selling next month.

Jurors in a sex discrimination trial against one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture capital firms will hear a second day of testimony from the woman behind the high-profile gender bias lawsuit.

How can we support agricultural productivity around the world? How can we develop public health models that leverage social data, health data and environmental data? What are best practices to ensure the stewardship of research data today and tomorrow?

Fueling stations that offer both hydrogen and natural gas could benefit distributors of both fuel types, says a new Sandia National Laboratories report, "Transitioning the Transportation Sector: Exploring the Intersection of Hydrogen Fuel Cell and Natural Gas Vehicles."

Delays in installation, testing and activation of electrical systems will push back delivery of the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy from this summer to November, officials said Tuesday.

A New York man has apparently escaped his electronic monitoring bracelet and fled rather than face charges that he fraudulently claimed an ownership stake in Facebook, a judge said Tuesday as he revoked bail and questioned whether the escape had been planned for months.

(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers in France has found a way to alter how a mouse "feels" about something it has remembered. In their paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the team describes how they recorded brain activity while mice visited new areas of their cage, then stimulated their brains while they slept in a way that made them favor the place they had visited and remembered.

Imagine a single drug that could prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, treat patients who have already contracted HIV, and even remove all the dormant copies of the virus from those with the more advanced disease. It sounds like science fiction, but Salk scientists have gotten one step closer to creating such a drug by customizing a powerful defense system used by many bacteria and training this scissor-like machinery to recognize the HIV virus.

Researchers in the UC Department of Cancer Biology have found new protein players that help keep genome stability—a promising finding with the potential to help with the development of new targeted therapeutics in diseases with genetic instability, such as cancer.

A new study reveals an important connection between dozens of genes that may contribute to autism, a major step toward understanding how brain development goes awry in some individuals with the disorder.

It's called the gambler's fallacy: After a long streak of losses, you feel you are going to win. But in reality, your odds of winning are no different than they were before.

Genes linked with a greater risk of developing autism may also be associated with higher intelligence, a study suggests.

Washington State University researchers have found a mechanism in the brain that facilitates the pathologically powerful role of memory in drug addiction. Their discovery opens a new area of research for targeted therapy that would alter or disable the mechanism and make drug addiction less compulsive.

Research reported today by Tufts University biologists shows for the first time that bioelectrical signals among cells control and instruct embryonic brain development and manipulating these signals can repair genetic defects and induce development of healthy brain tissue in locations where it would not ordinarily grow.

New evidence published today in the Cochrane Library shows that hormone replacement therapy does not protect post-menopausal women against cardiovascular disease, and may even cause an increased risk of stroke.

In a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers from the RAND Corporation report that for people receiving food assistance there are significant links between depression, poor dietary quality, and high body mass index (BMI). They suggest that understanding the risk of depression among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants could be important to understanding the relationship among SNAP participation, diet, and weight.

Households can serve as a reservoir for transmitting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a study published this week in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Once the bacteria enters a home, it can linger for years, spreading from person to person and evolving genetically to become unique to that household.

Individuals who get easily bored, frustrated or impatient are more inclined to develop skin-picking and other body-focused repetitive behaviors, say researchers at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and the University of Montreal.

Researchers at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in New York and the United Kingdom, have identified genetic markers, derived from blood samples that are linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The markers are associated with gene networks that regulate innate immune function and interferon signaling.

Norovirus infections—sometimes known as the stomach flu—typically last for the same amount of time, independent of age or the type of norovirus a person is infected with, according to a recent study by the University of Georgia College of Public Health, Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the journal Epidemiology and Infection.

On March 8 in (most) of United States we again advanced the time on our clocks by one hour. Shifting clocks an hour can't be that much of a big deal, right? Actually, it is. In our sleep-deprived society, every minute counts. Losing 60 precious minutes of sleep can really hurt.

A new iPhone mobile app which allows patients with Parkinson's disease to track their symptoms in real time and share this information with researchers was featured by Apple executives today during the company's semi-annual product launch event.

A new study from the University of Warwick is calling for more UK compulsory regulation of devices used in hip replacements to reduce the need for further traumatic and expensive surgery.

Female athletes endure two to eight times more anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries than male athletes. Now it appears that genes are a major factor, according to Dr. William Landis, G. Stafford Whitby Chair in Polymer Science at The University of Akron, and Dr. Kerwyn Jones, chair of pediatric orthopedics for Akron Children's Hospital. Their findings could change the way women receive sports training and treatment for their injuries and could possibly lead to genetic counseling regarding athletic participation.

When a child is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, parents often find themselves overwhelmed by the process of working with a team of specialists.

People with dementia don't wander into harms way as often as carers and family fear, with a new QUT study finding wandering out of bounds and into a person's private space occurs only five per cent of the time in residential aged care.

"You see their smile, hear their laugh, see their face, see you break down," girl student, 12.

A free iPhone app allows users to contribute to a study of human heart health while learning about the health of their own hearts, and uses a new software framework developed by Apple.

Among people with advanced basal cell carcinomas who see their skin cancers shrink or disappear in response to a common drug therapy, about 20 percent will relapse within months as the cancer cells become resistant to the treatment. The situation is frustrating to both patients and their physicians.

Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer. The prognosis depends greatly on the stage at which the tumour is discovered. Colonoscopy is regarded as the best method for identifying pre-cancerous changes. If these changes are treated promptly, the disease can be stopped in its tracks. To mark "International Bowel Cancer Month" in March 2015, experts at the MedUni Vienna are strongly recommending that all men should have a colonoscopy from the age of 45 and women from the age of 50.

Prescription drugs spending jumped 13 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 2003, according to the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager.

International researchers together with local scientists have created a theoretical model to help nurses become less susceptible to stress.

A UWM engineer is building a device that could help answer a particularly puzzling biological question – how blood is directed to the brain to power thinking.

The younger a person is when they immigrate to Canada, the higher their risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and its major subtypes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, according to a study by researchers at the University of Ottawa, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Canada has one of the highest rates in the world of IBD and while immigrants to Canada have lower rates of IBD compared to Canadian-born residents, that risk goes up in immigrants who are younger at arrival to Canada. In addition, Canadian-born children of immigrants from some regions have a higher risk of developing IBD.

Caesarean section rates vary widely across Europe with percentages of women giving birth by caesarean ranging from a high of 52% in Cyrus to a low of 14.8% in Iceland. This compares with around a quarter of births in the countries of the UK, according to a new Euro-Peristat study.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham believe that a new method of genetically engineering immune cells could lead to improved treatment of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.

A new study by researchers from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and the School of Dental Science in Trinity College Dublin has found a positive relationship between higher levels of water fluoridation and oral health among older people in Ireland.

The level of vitamin D in our blood should neither be too high nor to low. Scientists from the University of Copenhagen are the first in the world to show that there is a connection between high levels of vitamin D and cardiovascular deaths.

In an analysis of outcomes of about 12,000 patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement, death rate after one year was nearly one in four; of those alive at 12 months, almost half had not been rehospitalized and approximately 25 percent had only one hospitalization, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.

They're alive thanks to the most advanced care modern hospitals can provide. But for survivors of sepsis, the hospital door often looks like a revolving one, a new study shows. And many of the conditions that send them back to a hospital bed should be preventable.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes among 25,000 patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (a genetic disorder characterized by high low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol levels) was significantly lower than among unaffected relatives, with the prevalence varying by the type of gene mutation, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.

Among patients with a displaced fracture in the upper arm near the shoulder (proximal humeral), there was no significant difference between surgical treatment and nonsurgical treatment in patient-reported outcomes over two years following the fracture, results that do not support the trend of increased surgery for patients with this type of fracture, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.

Scientists led by molecular immunologists at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have identified a way to target a recently discovered cell type that causes asthma, paving the way to cure the chronic respiratory disease that affects 25 million Americans.

New clinical-trial findings provide further evidence that combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy is the best treatment for people with a low-grade form of brain cancer.The findings come from a phase II study co-led by a researcher at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) and researchers at the University of Maryland and at London Regional Cancer Program in Ontario, Canada.

A team of scientists led by Johns Hopkins cardiologist and biomedical engineer Hiroshi Ashikaga, M.D., Ph.D., has developed a mathematical model to measure and digitally map the beat-sustaining electrical flow between heart cells.

People whose family life regularly interferes with their job are more likely to become emotionally exhausted and, in turn, verbally abusive to co-workers and loved ones, a new study indicates.

A new study finds that obstructive sleep apnea is associated with a significantly increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, and this risk is reduced when sleep apnea is treated effectively using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy.

(HealthDay)—Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may slow down prostate cancer in men who are also taking medication to reduce their levels of male hormones, according to new research.

(HealthDay)—Delaying the start of school for a year for children with summer birthdays or those born prematurely may lead to worse academic performance later, new British research suggests.

(HealthDay)—For patients with hypersensitivity reaction (HSR) to iodinated contrast media (ICM), skin tests can be helpful for diagnosis, according to a meta-analysis published online Feb. 3 in Allergy.

(HealthDay)—Limited evidence supports use of herbal remedies in gastrointestinal disorders, and the lack of quality control must be considered, according to research published in the March issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

(HealthDay)—For young patients presenting with acute confusion, Susac syndrome should be considered, according to a case report published online Feb. 10 in the Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases.

(HealthDay)—Neither circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels nor common variations in vitamin D pathway genes appear to be associated with risk of fatal prostate cancer, according to research published online March 2 in Cancer.

(HealthDay)—The expected shortfall of physicians is projected to reach about 46,000 to 90,000 by 2025, according to a study conducted by IHS Inc. for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

(HealthDay)—Labiaplasty is safe, with high satisfaction, although current practices are diverse, according to a review published in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

A newly discovered cache of industry documents reveals that the sugar industry worked closely with the National Institutes of Health in the 1960s and '70s to develop a federal research program focused on approaches other than sugar reduction to prevent tooth decay in American children.

The combination of stress and heavy depression can significantly increase heart patient's risk of death or heart attack, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

In a study published in The Lancet on March 10, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) report that patients with a genetic sensitivity to warfarin - the most widely used anticoagulant for preventing blood clots - have higher rates of bleeding during the first several months of treatment and benefited from treatment with a different anticoagulant drug. The analyses from the TIMI Study Group, suggest that using genetics to identify patients who are most at risk of bleeding, and tailoring treatment accordingly, could offer important safety benefits, particularly in the first 90 days of treatment.

How much does health care really cost?

Brain tumor experts at Barrow Neurological Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have launched a revolutionary fast-track approach to cancer research, giving new hope to brain cancer patients. In partnership with The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation, the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the Barrow studies are the first of their kind.

Today marked the publication of the first ever genome-wide association study of rosacea, a common and incurable skin disorder. Led by Dr. Anne Lynn S. Chang of Stanford University's School of Medicine, and co-authored by 23andMe, the study is the first to identify genetic factors for this condition.

Identifying loss of dignity and lack of respectful treatment as preventable harms in health care, researchers at Johns Hopkins have taken on the ambitious task of defining and ensuring respectful care in the high-stakes environment of the intensive care unit (ICU). Their novel, multi-method approach is presented in a dedicated supplement to the journal Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics.

UCLA cancer research pioneer Dr. Patricia Ganz and collaborators Apple and Sage Bionetworks today announced the launch of Share the Journey: Mind, Body and Wellness after Breast Cancer, a patient-centered mobile app that empowers women to be partners in the research process by tracking their symptoms and successes.

Can someone actually get addicted to their indoor tanning salon?

Germany is mostly considered a low-fertility nation, at least in the public debate, the birth rate having been stagnating at an average of 1.39 children per woman since the 1990s. This figure gives the impression that couples everywhere in Germany are deciding for or against having children on the basis of similar patterns of behaviour and attitudes. But birth rates vary from region to region, in some cases dramatically. Sociologist Barbara Fulda explains the influence of regional cultural norms.

A substantial proportion of patient information materials in general practice are written at a level too complex for the population they serve, and may contribute to increasing health inequalities, a new study has found.

France's Parliament started debate Tuesday on a bill aimed at allowing doctors to keep terminally ill patients sedated until death comes, amid national debate about whether to legalize euthanasia.

Those contribution lines on your 540 State Income Tax Return where you can fill in donation amounts for nearly 30 different California-based funds? Those are just nickel-and-dime funds without much impact, right?

A new approach to care for patients with advanced HIV in Tanzania and Zambia, combining community support and screening for a type of meningitis, has reduced deaths by 28%.

A bird flu deadly to poultry has been confirmed at a second turkey farm in Missouri, and state agriculture leaders are making efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

An accurate system for tracking the quality of colonoscopies and determining the appropriate intervals between these procedures could contribute to both better health outcomes and lower costs. Clinician-researchers from the Regenstrief Institute have created and tested such a system in the nation's first multiple institution colonoscopy quality measurement study utilizing natural language processing and report that it is as accurate but less expensive than human review.

When Michael Gazzaniga began working on the latest of his many books, he expected to write a scientific review of the last 50 years of the study of the split brain, work that added to the understanding of what many of us know as the left brain and the right brain.

Depression affects about 350 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of disability. Mindfulness training is a promising approach to decreasing depressive symptoms. The success of an intensive mindfulness meditation program on reducing depression, and how factors such as age, gender, and spirituality affect an individual's response to training are presented in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Poland's government has drafted new legislation to clarify regulations for in vitro fertilization for married and unwed couples.

(HealthDay)—Clinical performance of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT)-guided vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) is superior to that of prone stereotactic (PS) VAB, according to a study published in the March issue of Radiology.

A subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal criminal charge that it sold over-the-counter infant's and children's liquid medicine containing metal particles.

US senators on Tuesday introduced the most comprehensive legislation on medical marijuana ever brought before Congress, a bipartisan effort aimed at ending federal restrictions on the increasingly accepted treatment.

A new U.N. report says a $60 billion campaign to improve the health of women and children has led to a decrease in maternal and child death rates in all 49 targeted countries.

A review of nutrition and weight-loss interventions for people with impaired mobility found strategies are sorely lacking for people with neurological disabilities, according to a team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic.

Nearly 8 million people could lose up to $24 billion a year in health insurance subsidies in a Supreme Court case threatening President Barack Obama's law, according to a government report released Tuesday.

US fast-food chain Burger King said Tuesday it was cutting soft drinks from its children's meals amid mounting pressure to reduce the amount of sweet sodas that kids drink.

An origami paper-folding pattern called the square twist is the basis of a microscopic switch that Cornell physicists say could lead to origami-inspired materials and machines.

Tooth decay is a serious health problem and it is often necessary to repair cavities. Today they often use a composite filling material made of acrylate compounds, as it resembles the colour of the teeth and is reasonably strong so it can handle the rigors of the powerful chewing movements. But composite filling materials have some disadvantages and now researchers are working on an interdisciplinary collaboration between physicists and dentists to develop a material comprised of glass ionomer cement. The results are published in the scientific journal, Scientific Reports.

Researchers from Cornell University have synthesized a new thin-film catalyst for use in fuel cells. In a paper published March 10 in the journal APL Materials, from AIP Publishing, the team reports the first-ever epitaxial thin-film growth of Bi2Pt2O7 pyrochlore, which could act as a more effective cathode—a fundamental electrode component of fuel cells from which positive current flows through an external circuit delivering electric power.

In a study published March 9 in Nature Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry Professor Kyoung-Shin Choi presents a new approach to combine solar energy conversion and biomass conversion, two important research areas for renewable energy.

A combination of semiconductor catalysts, optimum catalyst shape, gold-copper co-catalyst alloy nanoparticles and hydrous hydrazine reducing agent enables an increase of hydrocarbon generation from CO2 by a factor of ten.

While efficient and affordable electrical energy storage batteries are critical to the success of renewable solar and wind power systems and smart grids, the current high cost and short life of storage batteries remain the two major hurdles for widespread market acceptance.

As sailors and mountaineers know very well, every knot carries out a specific function. There's a knot that slides, one that "floats", and one that comes undone with a single pull. In the field of nanotechnology as well, it is useful to have several kinds of molecular knots to be used, for instance, as mechanically resistant nano-cages for delivering chemical compounds or for confining and controlling toxic reagents. So far, molecular knots have only been produced by chemical synthesis, obtaining constructs on an atomic scale.

Proteins from salt-loving, halophilic, microbes could be the key to cleaning up leaked radioactive strontium and caesium ions from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant incident in Japan. The publication of the X-ray structure of a beta-lactamase enzyme from one such microbe, the halophile Chromohalobacter sp. 560, reveals it to have highly selective cesium binding sites.

Most military battlefield casualties die before reaching a surgical hospital. Of those soldiers who might potentially survive, most die from uncontrolled bleeding.

Researchers from the Faculty of Engineering of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia, have studied the capability of new polymers derived from potato starch as insulators which do not show any remarkable electro activity.