Student leads race for instant DNA detection

PhD candidate Evelyn Linardy is working on a portable DNA testing device that will allow doctors, researchers and border security to identify samples within 10 minutes.

Study suggests ways to improve common furniture fire test

The bench-scale test widely used to evaluate whether a burning cigarette will ignite upholstered furniture may underestimate the tendency of component materials to smolder when these materials are used in sofas and chairs ...

Device speeds concentration step in food-pathogen detection

(Phys.org) —Researchers have developed a system that concentrates foodborne salmonella and other pathogens faster than conventional methods by using hollow thread-like fibers that filter out the cells, representing a potential ...

New microchip sorts white blood cells from whole blood

Early in 2012, MIT scientists reported on the development of a postage stamp-sized microchip capable of sorting cells through a technique, known as cell rolling, that mimics a natural mechanism in the body. The device successfully ...

Toxic radiation 'in groundwater' at Fukushima

Toxic radioactive substances have once again been detected in groundwater at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, its Japanese operator said on Sunday, the latest in a series of incidents at the tsunami-battered complex.

Even with defects, graphene is strongest material in the world

In a new study, published in Science May 31, 2013, Columbia Engineering researchers demonstrate that graphene, even if stitched together from many small crystalline grains, is almost as strong as graphene in its perfect crystalline ...

Space-age domes offer a window on ocean acidification

(Phys.org) —A row of space-age domes off the Washington coast may provide a peek at the future. Not the future of space travel, but of climate change and the effects of increasingly acidic oceans.

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