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Biotech

Injecting Liquid Metal Into Blood Vessels Could Help Kill Tumors 111

KentuckyFC (1144503) writes One of the most interesting emerging treatments for certain types of cancer aims to starve the tumor to death. The strategy involves destroying or blocking the blood vessels that supply a tumor with oxygen and nutrients. Without its lifeblood, the unwanted growth shrivels up and dies. This can be done by physically blocking the vessels with blood clots, gels, balloons, glue, nanoparticles and so on. However, these techniques have never been entirely successful because the blockages can be washed away by the blood flow and the materials do not always fill blood vessels entirely, allowing blood to flow round them. Now Chinese researchers say they've solved the problem by filling blood vessels with an indium-gallium alloy that is liquid at body temperature. They've tested the idea in the lab on mice and rabbits. Their experiments show that the alloy is relatively benign but really does fill the vessels, blocks the blood flow entirely and starves the surrounding tissue of oxygen and nutrients. The team has also identified some problems such as the possibility of blobs of metal being washed into the heart and lungs. Nevertheless, they say their approach is a promising injectable tumor treatment.

Comment Re:There have been attempts before (Score 2) 40

Back then the short cut they took probably saved them weeks in rendering time, and as you say, came out looking realistic.

Why is that? There's no reason that I can think of why one couldn't just decide how the creatures would flock using simple stick figures then add the rest of the models later.

In any case, we're in no position to judge how accurately a film recreated the behaviours of creatures that haven't been found in the wild for millions of years. Certainly we can infer a lot based on what we can observe in their distant descendants but it's still one of those things that takes some dramatic license (just like Lego genetics and the noise that a roaring T-Rex makes).

Comment "Emergency" laws. (Score 5, Insightful) 147

Everyone knows the best laws are the ones rushed through the commons and passed on the nod in the other place.

From TFA:

Mr Cameron said: "We face real and credible threats to our security from serious and organised crime, from the activity of paedophiles, from the collapse of Syria, the growth of Isis in Iraq and al Shabab in East Africa."

Paedophiles are a threat to national security now? Organised crime? Maybe, but for heaven's sake how stupid does this government think we are, that we would swallow yet another use of pedophiles as the bogeymen du jour? That was a rhetorical question, it's not a question of stupidity as much as it is voter apathy coming back to bite us in our collective backside. Again.

Google

Researchers Develop New Way To Steal Passwords Using Google Glass 116

mpicpp writes with a story about researchers who have developed a way to steal passwords using video-capturing devices.Cyber forensics experts at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell have developed a way to steal passwords entered on a smartphone or tablet using video from Google's face-mounted gadget and other video-capturing devices. The thief can be nearly ten feet away and doesn't even need to be able to read the screen — meaning glare is not an antidote. The security researchers created software that maps the shadows from fingertips typing on a tablet or smartphone. Their algorithm then converts those touch points into the actual keys they were touching, enabling the researchers to crack the passcode. They tested the algorithm on passwords entered on an Apple iPad, Google's Nexus 7 tablet, and an iPhone 5.

Submission + - Take Your Home Internet With You

Nighttime writes: How do you use the Internet when you're in an area with no 3G or wi-fi signal. Well, a start-up on Indiegogo appears to have the answer, the WiFiEx. It's a USB device you plug into your home computer and charge it up with Internet. When you're out and about you can then use the Internet charge stored on the device; the more you've charged it, the longer you get. So far they've raised over US$2000 and the project has 9 days left to part fools from their money.

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