Researchers reverse heart failure in Marfan mice
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIN experiments with mice that have a rodent form of Marfan syndrome, Johns Hopkins researchers report that even modestly increasing stress on the animals’ hearts — at levels well-tolerated in normal mice — can initiate heart failure. The findings, described August 4 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, revealed a novel cellular pathway in […]
How does fabric softener work?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMANUFACTURERS market liquid or dry crystal fabric softeners for washing machines. Fabric softeners and dryer sheets coat our clothes with a subtle layer of slimy chemicals – in fact, that’s why they feel a little softer. The most common softening chemicals are called “quats”, which are in many cleaning products, including most antibacterial wipes. Alarmingly, […]
What is cloud computing?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCLOUD computing is the delivery of computing services—servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics and moreover the Internet (“the cloud”). Companies offering these computing services are called cloud providers and typically charge for cloud computing services based on usage, similar to how you are billed for water or electricity at home. There are many things that […]
Large-scale international project to map the world’s microbes
Reading Time: 3 minutesTHE first reference database of the microbes colonising the planet was constructed by more than 500 scientists. They contributed over 27,000 samples of microbiomes from diverse environments around the globe. The Earth Microbiome Project is a massive global research collaboration that resulted in ‘recapturing’ half of all known bacterial sequences. “We’re finding out on an […]
Who invented the X-ray?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteHAVE you ever had undergone an X-ray procedure? X-rays are used to analyse problems with bones, teeth and organs in the human body, to detect cracks in metal in industry, and even at airports for luggage inspection. Did you know that the invention of the X-ray wasn’t intentional? The scientific and medical community will forever […]
The armour of the future
Reading Time: 2 minutesBY ARUNA GANESAN GOWNS and saris made out of silk are all-time women’s favourite choice of clothes. Just a few years back a rare golden silk gown went on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. What made it to be placed on a display is not the ‘gold’ aspect, […]
Cool microscope technology revolutionises biochemistry
Reading Time: 2 minutesWE may soon have detailed images of life’s complex machineries in atomic resolution. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 is awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for the development of cryo-electron microscopy, which both simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules. This method has moved biochemistry into a new era. A picture […]
Bio Bay to spearhead Selangor’s biotech wave
Reading Time: 2 minutesPULAU INDAH: The Selangor Bio Bay (SBB) was recently launched in the state by its Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali. The project developed by Central Spectrum (M) Sdn Bhd (CSSB) will host bioscience pursuits that include research institutes, laboratories, and biotech-related companies. Spanning 10,12 acres of land in Pulau Indah, SBB is to […]
Swimming microbots remove pathogenic bacteria from water
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe lack of clean water in many areas around the world is a persistent, major public health problem. One day, tiny robots could help address this issue by zooming around contaminated water and cleaning up disease-causing bacteria. Scientists report a new development toward this goal in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Drinking water […]
AgTech and FinTech
Reading Time: 4 minutesNew drivers to boost millenial agriculture Many digital tools are fast being developed to aid farmers, and there is also an explosion of knowledge on how to best use such tools for specific situations.New media is now becoming available to convey such knowledge to farmers. Agricultural technology (agtech) through its portfolio of new technologies and new […]