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Of Rice and Hen: Fashions from the Farm Link In the future, it might be perfectly normal to wear suits and dresses made of chicken feathers or rice straw. But don’t worry: These clothes won’t resemble fluffy plumage or hairy door mats. Scientists at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln plan to develop these agricultural waste products into conventional-looking fabrics as a way to reduce the use of petroleum-based synthetic fabrics. With millions of tons of chicken feathers and rice straw available worldwide each year, these agricultural wastes represent an abundant, cheap and renewable alternative to petroleum-based synthetic fibers, Yang says. And unlike petroleum-based fibers, these agro-fibers are biodegradable. Chicken feathers and rice straw also could become “green” fabrics used in carpets, automobiles, building materials and a host of other everyday applications — all at potentially less cost and with novel and sometimes superior properties than their synthetic counterparts. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Physicists Trap, Map Tiny Magnetic Vortex Link Physicists at Rice University have decoded the three-dimensional structure of a tornado-like magnetic vortex no larger than a red blood cell. This development could also allow breakthroughs in the design of nanostructures for ultra-high-density hard disk media, non-volatile magnetic random access memory and novel magnetic logic gates that could replace volatile semiconductor logic. The advantages over present technologies being that the magnetic devices would be faster, smaller, use less power, create less heat and they wouldn't lose information when power was turned off. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Gene Therapy Rids Men of Cancer Link Two men have been cleared of deadly skin cancer using genetically modified versions of their own immune cells. Immune cells can now be modified to attack breast, liver and lung cancers. Tests showed the genetically modified T cells used in the new treatment became specialised tumour fighters. Although only two of the 17 people with advanced melanoma who received the treatment were completely free of cancer 18 months later, experts say the results are proof that this new therapy can work. This breakthrough certainly falls in line with Aubrey de Grey's theories of life extension. These center upon Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) and are aimed at preventing age-related physical and cognitive decline. More... [ permanent link to this entry ]
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