Scanning corpses reveals killer's fingerprints

sea-maid submitted, created time 6 months 1 week (technology.newscientist.com)

Because of a new technique that can capture even faint fingerprints left on a body, the corpses of murder victims could betray the identities of their killers. The method makes use of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). This involves firing a laser beam at a material, allowing its composition to be identified from the wavelengths of light scattered. SERS can also be used to image the distribution of a substance in a material.

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First direct observations of protein-synthesis mechanism

jane2007 submitted, created time 7 months 2 weeks (www.ucsc.edu)

An UCSC scientist and his collaborators have made the first direct observations of the mechanism for protein synthesis in living cells.

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Scientists Develop Breathalyzer for Disease

Sue Wu submitted, created time 9 months 2 days (www.efluxmedia.com)

It may one day be possible to walk into your doctor's office and breathe into a small device that will tell you if you are in the earliest stage of a wide range of diseases from lung cancer to asthma to kidney failure.

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Fine-tuning lasers to destroy blood-borne diseases like AIDS

kitty submitted, created time 1 year 3 weeks (www.eurekalert.org)

Physicists in Arizona State University have designed a revolutionary laser technique which can destroy viruses and bacteria such as AIDS without damaging human cells and may also help reduce the spread of hospital infections such as MRSA.

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TAU Researchers Discover Correlation Between Birth Month and Short-Sightedness

guohong submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.tauac.org)

A new research claimed that they thought if a child is born in the winter or fall, it will have better long-range eyesight throughout its lifetime. The scientists took data on Israeli youth aged 16-23 and retroactively correlated the incidence of myopia (short-sightedness) with their month of birth. The results showed that babies born in June and July had a 24% greater chance of becoming severely myopic than those born in December and January the group with the least number of severely myopic individuals

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Lasers Can Target And Destroy Nanocomposite Labeled Cancer Cells

Cindy submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (www.medicalnewstoday.com)

A nanocomposite particle can be constructed so that it has a mix of properties that would not otherwise happen in nature. By combining an organic matrix with metallic clusters that can absorb light, it is possible to incorporate such particles into cells and then destroy those targeted cells with a laser.

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