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Medicine

Researchers Developing Cancer-Fighting Beer 283

Posted by samzenpus from the drink-your-way-to-a-better-you dept.
CWmike writes "Ever picked up a cold, frosty beer on a hot summer's day and thought that it simply couldn't get any better? Well, think again. A team of researchers at Rice University in Houston is working on helping Joe Six Pack fight aging and cancer with every swill of beer." Thank you science! Now we just need cigarettes that cure baldness.
Robotics

Robotic Surgery On a Beating Heart 54

Posted by kdawson from the got-a-good-beat-you-can-dance-to-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Serious heart surgery usually involves stopping the organ and keeping the patient alive with a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. But this risks brain damage and requires a long recuperation. Scientists at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston have now developed a device that lets surgeons operate on a beating heart with a steady hand. The 'robotic' device uses 3-D ultrasound images to predict and compensate for the motion of the heart so that the surgeon can work on a faulty valve as it moves. The approach should improve recovery times and give a surgeon instant feedback on the success of the procedure, the researchers say. Here's a (slightly gory) video of the device in action."
Medicine

Submission + - Fat cells used to create beating heart cells (bobim.org)

Submitted by Amenacier
Amenacier writes: Melbourne scientists recently made the discovery that stem cells isolated from adult fat cells could be made to turn into beating heart muscle cells when cultured with rat heart cells. This discovery may lead to the usage of fat stem cells in the reparation of cardiac damage, or to fix such cardiac problems as holes in the heart.

It is proposed that culturing the stem cells with rat heart cells allows them to differentiate into heart muscle cells through the action of signals from the heart cells. In the future it may be possible to inject/transplant the stem cells into the damaged area and have them naturally differentiate into the type of cell required, with only the natural stimuli provided by surrounding cells required to effect the process, without any danger of rejection by the body.

The original article can be found at the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery website: http://bobim.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=37

I for one welcome our rat-fat-heart cell overlords, what about you?
Science

CERN Releases Analysis of LHC Incident 149

Posted by timothy from the training-exercise-was-too-trite dept.
sash writes "From the fresh press release: 'Investigations at CERN following a large helium leak into sector 3-4 of the Large Hadron Collider tunnel have confirmed that cause of the incident was a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's magnets. This resulted in mechanical damage and release of helium from the magnet cold mass into the tunnel. Proper safety procedures were in force, the safety systems performed as expected, and no one was put at risk. Sufficient spare components are in hand to ensure that the LHC is able to restart in 2009, and measures to prevent a similar incident in the future are being put in place.'"
Security

UK Court Rejects Encryption Key Disclosure Defense 708

Posted by samzenpus from the do-not-pass-go dept.
truthsearch writes "Defendants can't deny police an encryption key because of fears the data it unlocks will incriminate them, a British appeals court has ruled. The case marked an interesting challenge to the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which in part compels someone served under the act to divulge an encryption key used to scramble data on a PC's hard drive. The appeals court heard a case in which two suspects refused to give up encryption keys, arguing that disclosure was incompatible with the privilege against self incrimination. In its ruling, the appeals court said an encryption key is no different than a physical key and exists separately from a person's will."

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