A treatment kills cancer cells with nanoparticles in half an hour

A team of scientists from the University of Georgia, United States, have used nanoparticles and alternating magnetic fields to attack the cancer cells of head and neck tumors in mices.

The nanoparticles used were iron oxide nanoparticles (a component of many minerals also present in our body), which recently have become very important for their applications as carriers of antitumor drugs or molecules in the blood detectors linked to certain diseases , among other uses.

The results revealed that this system can kill cancer cells in just half an hour without being damaged nearby healthy cells.

The advance is in addition to other investigations that are noting the usefulness of these microscopic particles to treat cancer. In fact, nanoparticles can also be used to carry drugs to tumors and there supply them, very selective.

Qun Zhao, director of research and professor of physics at the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, UGA says: "We've shown that we can use a small concentration of nanoparticles to kill cancer cells."

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Augmented reality promises astronauts instant medical knowhow

A new augmented reality device developed by ESA could help astronauts diagnose medical problems or perform surgery in a completely autonomous way. Will be as easy as putting on a visor and follow the instructions in 3D.

For now, CAMDASS (Computer Assisted Medical Diagnosis and Surgery System ) only guides the user through the implementation of ultrasound examinations, but is a technology that in principle could apply to any medical procedure.

It has been decided to start with ultrasound examinations because they are a versatile and effective diagnostic tool, and because in the International Space Station already have the equipment needed to run them.

The astronauts who embark on future missions of exploration of the solar system will have to learn to take care of themselves. As they move away from our planet, conversations with experts on the ground will entail several minutes of delay, or will be blocked entirely.

"Although the crews have some medical knowledge, can not pretend that the astronauts know and stay trained in all medical procedures that could eventually be needed," said Arnaud Runge, a biomedical engineer who oversees the project for ESA.

The indications of CAMDASS help the user to place and move correctly the ultrasound transducer to examine the area of interest

The prototype has undergone a series of usability tests at the University Hospital Saint-Pierre in Brussels, Belgium, with medical students and nursing and paramedical staff and the Belgian Red Cross.

During these tests, users with no experience were able to perform relatively difficult procedures without outside help, the transducer operating properly.

The prototype has been developed for ESA by a consortium headed by Space Applications Services NV in Belgium, with support from the Technical University of Munich and the German Center for Research on Cancer, DKFZ, with funding from the ESA's Program for the Development of Basic Technology.

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A wireless power system

Scientists at Stanford University in the U.S., have designed a charging system that uses highly efficient magnetic fields to transmit electrical currents between metal coils spaced several meters, without using a single cable.

The long term goal of the research is to apply this system to transfer power wirelessly to the roads. Thus, when electric cars circulate through the highways, your batteries will be recharged, without requiring vehicles to stop.

According to Stanford University in a statement, in the future, this technology could dramatically increase the rate of conduction of electric vehicles and transform travel by highway.

Thus, could be resolved one of the main problems with electric cars: limited autonomy. Generally, these vehicles can travel less than 160 miles after each refueling, and its batteries take to recharge several hours.

The ability to be recharged while driving exceed this limitation, it would allow a drive for an indefinite period of time, without having to stop. In fact, at the end of each trip, the batteries would be fuller than at the time of departure.

In 2007, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used magnetic resonance coupling to power a 60 watt bulb.

In experiments, it was shown that electricity could be transferred between two fixed coils, separated by a distance of six feet, even when standing between two obstacles.

The tests also found that the magnetic fields did not affect the people, though they be rooted in the middle of the coils, which is important in terms of security.

MIT researchers created after these findings, the company WiTricity, which is developing a charging system capable of transferring wireless about three kilowatts of electricity to a vehicle parked in a garage or street.

The researchers aim to ensure that this source of electricity will not affect drivers and passengers or electronic devices of vehicles that are responsible for controlling, among other factors, air conditioning or power steering.

Scientists have also begun to study the optimal design of electric road transmitters, and determine whether the metals used as reinforcement in the highways could reduce the electrical efficiency of the network of coils.

According to Fan: "We have an opportunity to rethink how to deliver electricity to our cars, homes and work. We are accustomed to thinking in such terms of supply cables and plugs. Imagine that instead of cables and plugs, can transfer electricity through a vacuum. Our work is a step in that direction. "The results of detailed research have appeared in the journal Applied Physics Letters (APL).

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The satellite telephony is less secure than believed

In some regions, the common communication via mobile phones is not available, due to lack of necessary infrastructure. In war zones, developing countries and on the high seas is usually only feasible to use satellite phones, which are connected by radio directly to a satellite. This passes the incoming call to a ground station. From there, communication also uses the public telephone network.

So far, thanks to this method, the encryption algorithms A5-GMR-1 and A5-GMR-2 of the "European Institute of Telecommunications Standards" (ETSI), the satellite phone appeared to be safe from intruders. However, a team of researchers has managed to crack the encryption algorithms from ETSI, thereby revealing that the system has obvious weaknesses.

In less than an hour and with simple tools, these researchers from the "Horst Goertz Institute of Technology Security Information (HGI)" of the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, found the encryption key that is needed to intercept telephone conversations. Using open source software based on the results of previous research, were able to exploit security weaknesses.

To verify the results, the team of "Benedikt Driessen" intercepted and recorded his own telephone conversations. Carsten Willems, from the research team, admitted they were surprised of the lack of additional security measures that would have dramatically complicated their work to intercept telephone conversations.

Encryption algorithms are used to protect user privacy, so it should be sufficiently robust to withstand at least the hacker attacks made ​​from current resources or moderate. "Our results show that the use of satellite phones holds hazards, and that the current encryption algorithms are not at the required height," says Ralf Hund, another of the experts from the University.

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Use a laser, save a tree

Dr. Julian Allwood, Leader of the Low Carbon Materials Processing Group at the University of Cambridge, and David Leal-Ayala, PhD student at this group, tested toner-print removal from paper by employing a variety of lasers.

The results showed that toner-print can be removed effectively without causing significant paper damage, allowing the paper to be reused, without being discarded, shredded or sent to a recycling plant.

Coupled with advances in low-energy laser scanning technology, copiers and printers, the research means that toner-removing devices may be a common sight in offices around the country in the future.

Dr. Julian M. Allwood said: “What we need to do now is find someone to build a prototype. Thanks to low-energy laser scanners and laser-jet printers, the feasibility for reusing paper in the office is there.”

The implications of the study also extend beyond the workplace and into the forest. Reducing the use of trees from the paper lifecycle is a real possibility. Along with saving forests from being used for new paper, reusing paper could save an additional 50-80% in carbon emissions over recycling.

The study poses the question of what would happen if paper was unprinted and reused instead of recycled. The action of removing toner with a laser would remove four steps from the paper production cycle: forestry, pulping, paper making and disposal by incineration or landfill.

Dr. Allwood added: “Material recovery through reusing eliminates the forestry step from the life cycle of paper and eradicates emissions arising from paper incineration or decomposition in landfill.”

With the aid of The Bavarian Laser Centre, a total of 10 laser setups spanning a range of strength and pulse durations were tested in the study. The lasers also spanned the ultraviolet, visible and infrared spectrum. The paper used in the experiments was standard Canon copy paper with HP Laserjet black toner, common in offices around the world. Once the paper was exposed to the laser, the samples were then analysed under a scanning electron microscope and subjected to colour, mechanical and chemical analyses.

The study predicts that the emissions produced by the pulp and paper recycling industry could be at least halved as a result of paper reuse. “This could represent a significant contribution towards the cause of reducing climate change emissions from paper manufacturing” Allwood said.

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The cap that measures fatigue

No doubt the technology is going by leaps and bounds, an example of this is the SmartCap, created by Dr. Daniel Bongers.

 The SmartCap is a baseball cap with the ability to measure the fatigue of drivers of vehicles or heavy equipment operators in real time.

 This cap contains sophisticated brain monitoring sensors that can determine if the user is falling asleep.

 All information is transmitted via Bluetooth to the monitor on the SmartCap, allowing the user to know their level of fatigue. If the user is found with a sign of fatigue, an alarm will sound in the cab of the truck that advises the driver to stop and rest.

 This cap will be available soon on the market.

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The world's most powerful X-ray laser creates matter at 2 million degrees

U.S. and European researchers have directed powerful laser pulses to a small piece of aluminum foil to get what is known as "hot dense matter," a solid plasma wich reached a temperature of about 2 million degrees. The whole process took place in just a trillionth of a second, as published this week in Nature.

The experiments were carried out with a super X-ray laser pulses which are ultrafast billion times brighter than those achieved by any other of this type so far. It's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) installed at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a center operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy.

"The LCLS is a truly remarkable machine," says Sam Vinko, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford (UK) and author of the paper. "Making hot dense matter is extremely important from a scientific point of view if in the long run helps us understand the conditions that exist inside the stars and in the center of the giant planets, both in our own solar system as beyond . "

"Until now scientists have succeeded in creating the plasma from gases and studying it with common lasers," said another author, Bob Nagler, SLAC, "but there was no tool that would allow to do the same with solid densities can not be penetrated by conventional lasers."

"The LCLS, with its wavelength X-ray is the first tool that can penetrate a dense solid and create a 'patch' uniform plasma -in this case a cube of a thousandth of a centimeter- and try the same time, "says Nagler.

Outcome measures will be incorporated into the theories and computer simulations dealing with explaining the behavior of hot dense matter. This could help researchers to analyze and recreate the nuclear fusion process that starts stars like the Sun

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A a new technology allows to create "self-repairing chips."

When a tiny circuit, integrated on a chip, breaks or fails, the entire chip, and even the entire device containing the chip is ruined. What if the circuit could be fixed alone, so fast that not even notice it's broken?

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois, United States, has applied its expertise in "self-healing polymers' to electrical systems, to develop a technology that could extend the life of electronic devices and batteries.

Specifically, engineers have developed a self-healing system that restores the electrical conductivity of a broken circuit in less time than blink of an eye.

Directed by the aerospace engineer Scott White, and the engineer specializing in materials science, Nancy Sottos, researchers have published details of its development in the Advanced Materials journal.

Simplifying systems

According to statements by Jaffrey Moore, another author of the progress, collected in a statement from the University of Illinois, this new technology will simplify electronic systems.

Thanks to it, instead of having to manufacture in excess to substitutions or having to manufacture diagnostic sensors for controlling the operation of the circuits, these problems can be repaired by themselves, said Moore.

As electronic devices evolve to perform increasingly sophisticated tasks, the density of the chips is increasing.

This higher density leads to many reliability problems, and failures as those caused by fluctuating temperatures derived from the operation itself or fatigue of the devices. Any problem at any point of the circuits can kill the whole set.

According Sottos the solutions in these cases are very limited, "there is little chance of manual reparation. Sometimes you can not access the inside (of systems). In a multilayer integrated circuit, for example, there are no openings. Normally, to repair it only remains to replace the entire chip. The same goes for batteries: it would destroy them to find the source of failure. "

As a result, most electronic devices need to be replaced fairly frequently, resulting in too many electronic waste.

How it works

To develop self-healing technology, the Illinois researchers first created a system of self-healing polymeric materials, which were subsequently adapted to conveyor systems.

Specifically, scientists spread small microcapsules with a diameter of only 10 microns (one micron equals 0.001 mm) on a gold bead functioning as circuit.

When in this cord a crack occurred, the microcapsules burst and released a liquid metal contained therein. This metal is introduced into the crack of the circuit, repairing and allowing it to be resumed electrical flow.

With this method, it was possible to restore the 99% of the conductivity. This success rate was repeated in 90% of cases tested, even using a small amount of microcapsules.

Scientists explain that these microcapsules are only open when intercepted by a crack, so that repair occurs only in the place that is broken, and not the entire surface of the conductor.

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