Dogs can sniff someone’s “olfactive signature” and somehow smell that you’re coming home even before you’ve entered the door. They can also determine when you’re ill and know how to “treat their human” in such situations. Vince Rotello and his research team at the University of Massachusetts has applied the same principle by devising a ‘nano-nose’ able to recognize some pathological conditions just by “sniffing” body fluids such as plasma or cerebrospinal liquid, for instance.

Just like a very sensitive nose, gold nanoparticles with six different types of coating are able to bind various proteins and establish a pattern that gives an assessment of the physiological state of the subject. Such electronic noses had previously been developed for small molecules and had been able to diagnose certain diseases – like cancer – but this is the first time that coated nanoparticles can identify larger molecules such as proteins.

This new diagnosis method will help faster determination of various pathological states, and therefore allow the treatment to be delivered more quickly.

A set of gold nanoparticles with various coatings can identify proteins by mimicking the way the human nose distinguishes scents. US researchers are using them to detect signs of illness in bodily fluids.

Source: New Scientist

A scientific technician at the University of Western Australia’s Institute of Agriculture has developed a new way to make seamless dresses by using the by-product of wine fermentations that went wrong. The project, called Micro’be’, is using the cellulose produced by bacteria that turned the wine into vinegar and is considered “a provocative art project.” Unfortunately, not only do these garments need to be constantly humidified to retain their supple properties, but they also generate a certain smell, which can produce the impression that the wearer has spent the previous night on the booze!

A biologist and artist make clothing out of the slimy films from wine contaminated with bacteria.

Source: The Scientist

Although in real life, Superman is merely fictional, it appears that one element from his world IS real.  Researchers have unearthed an element that bears an uncanny resemblance to the make up of the green rock from the movie Superman Returns.  Although the elemental makeup of the material is nearly identical, it unfortunately doesn’t give off the emerald green glow of the made up stuff.

“Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral’s chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

“The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.”

Source: BBC News

In the race to make solar energy both cheaper and more efficient, researchers at the Wake Forest University of North Carolina have found a new process to create plastic solar cells that capture more sunlight. Silicon-based solar cells had already been improved very recently with the use of ‘nano-towers’, but organic cells were so far known to be quite ineffective. Record efficiency of over 6% has now been achieved with polymers creating ‘nano-filaments’ branching like trees and able to capture more photons from the sun.

The production of plastic solar cells able to develop an efficiency of 10% or more – proper commercial use of such cells requires a minimum of 8% – is planned for next year. This technology is becoming cheaper and more effective, which is a good sign, as the need for alternative energy sources to fossil fuel is getting increasingly urgent.

The global search for a sustainable energy supply is making significant strides at Wake Forest University as researchers at the university’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have announced that they have pushed the efficiency of plastic solar cells to more than 6 percent.

Source: Wake Forest University

Planets form around a star from what is known as an accretion disk, made of gas and dust. These younger, cooler stars are however in danger of having their nascent planets boiled off if they happen to be too close – less than about 1.6 light-years – to an older, hotter star. These new findings from a team using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope will allow scientist to determine which stars are more likely to have a planetary system with rocky planets such as Earth and refine the search for extra-terrestrial life.

Astronomers have laid down the cosmic equivalent of yellow “caution” tape around super hot stars, marking the zones where cooler stars are in danger of having their developing planets blasted away.

Source: PhysOrg.com