McGill University Health Centre (MUHC)

Discovery by researchers from Concordia and Berkeley could lead to the synthetic manufacturing of painkillers and other drugs Moonshiners and home-brewers have long used yeast to convert sugar into alcohol. New research shows that those methods could also be adapted for something with more significant ramifications: the production of drugs including opiates, antibiotics, and anti-cancer

Robonaut is evolving. NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries. Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a

One way to stop the ever-growing pile of plastic water bottles in landfills? Make a bottle people can eat. Inspired by techniques from molecular gastronomy, three London-based industrial design students created Ooho, a blob-like water container that they say is easy and cheap to make, strong, hygienic, biodegradable, and edible. The container holds water in

Animals wearing new tagging and tracking devices give a real-time look at their behavior and at the environmental health of the planet, say research associates at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the June 12 issue of Science magazine. “We suggest that a golden age of animal tracking science has begun,” they predict. “The upcoming

The Scania system offers the most benefits on undulating terrain   Automakers around the world are currently working overtime to make their vehicles more efficient and cleaner through smaller engines, electric systems and lower weights. As this Active Prediction system from Volkswagen subsidiary Scania shows, secondary technological components can also play a role. The system

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) this week launched a study that could lead to breakthroughs in creating the next-generation of avatars, robots and other human surrogates for military training. The study is being carried out at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where a human surrogate will greet and interact with people passing through the

The possibilities for personalised vaccines in all types of cancer are revealed today in a lecture from Dr Harpreet Singh at the ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. “One of the biggest hurdles in cancer immunotherapy is the discovery of appropriate cancer targets that can be recognised by T-cells,” said Singh, who is

It can be used to cool or heat the air in a room or to cool or heat liquids. And it looks like something that Q – the tech specialist and gadgeteer in the James Bond films – might have come up with. The prototype device, which has been developed by a research team led

Dye-sensitized solar cell absorbs a broad range of visible and infrared wavelengths Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) rely on dyes that absorb light to mobilize a current of electrons and are a promising source of clean energy. Jishan Wu at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and colleagues in Singapore have now developed zinc porphyrin dyes