Wistar Institute

A new interdisciplinary breakthrough could see cancer being diagnosed through a quick finger-prick test. After five years of research, the team of biologists, clinical oncologists, pathologists and information scientists from ETH Zurich, University Hospital Zurich and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen have determined a biomarker for prostate cancer – a particular pattern of proteins in the blood

Royal Holloway, University of London has joined an international team of researchers to develop a new way of conducting psychological and social research. Instead of bringing people into laboratories the team has launched an iPhone/iPad app that people can download for free in English, French and Dutch. The app, called the “Science XL: Test your

A new type of treatment for osteoarthritis, currently in canine clinical trials, shows promise for eventual use in humans. The treatment, developed by Cornell biomedical engineers, is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring joint lubricant that binds to the surface of cartilage in joints and acts as a cushion during high-impact activities, such as

IT’S not easy being gray. For the first time ever, getting out of a car is no picnic. My back is hunched. And I’m holding on to handrails as I lurch upstairs. I’m 45. But I feel decades older because I’m wearing an Age Gain Now Empathy System, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute

“There is enough energy in high altitude winds to power civilization 100 times over; and sooner or later, we’re going to learn to tap into the power of winds and use it to run civilization.” Says Ken Caldeira, Professor of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science. (Discovery Channel, Project Earth, Infinite Winds episode)

Image via Wikipedia So-called rare earths are not rare, but with no current domestic source the essential trace elements can be harder to come by than U.S. makers of wind turbines, hybrid cars, weapon systems and other technology would prefer. A massive wind turbine—capable of turning the breeze into two million watts of power—has 40-meter-long

Image via Wikipedia His talk was going just fine until some members of the audience became noticeably restless. A ripple of impatience passed through the several dozen seated listeners, and a few seemed suddenly annoyed; then two men started to talk to each other, ignoring him altogether. “When I saw that, I slowed down and

From the kitchen to the metro, new robotic systems designed to assist the elderly, people with disabilities Many new robots look less like the metal humanoids of pop culture and more like high-tech extensions of ourselves and our capabilities. In the same way eyeglasses, wheelchairs, pacemakers and other items enable people to see and move

Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. That’s certainly true for nitrogen fertilizers. Without enough nitrogen, crops don’t grow well. Yields are reduced significantly. Applying too much nitrogen fertilizer, on the other hand, can hurt the environment. Nitrogen can enter the watershed, polluting aquatic ecosystems. Microbes can also convert the excess