• Developing a new test for safer milk

    Brucellosis is the most common animal-to-human infection worldwide, with more than 500,000 new cases reported each year; it rarely causes death, but it can result in prolonged health problems; researchers received a 3-year grant of $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a new technology that can rapidly test milk and other dairy products for harmful pathogens

  • New sensors detect contaminants in water

    Many organic contaminants in the air and in drinking water need to be detected at very low-level concentrations; researchers have investigated the use of graphene oxide films in which the semiconductor titanium dioxide (TiO2) and metal nanoparticles are deposited on opposite sides of the graphene surface

  • Tasers do not cause cardiac complications: study

    Tasers are commonly used by law enforcement personnel worldwide as an intermediate-force option to subdue and apprehend potentially dangerous or combative suspects; tasers function by delivering a series of very brief high-voltage, low-current electric pulses that result in pain, muscle contraction and inhibition of voluntary movement; taser shots to the chest are no more dangerous than those delivered to other body locations, according to a new study

  • USDA releases requests for applications for the AFRI food safety challenge

    The Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture says that this year’s grants under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative will focus on promoting and enhancing the scientific discipline of food safety, with an overall aim of protecting consumers from microbial, chemical, and physical hazards that may occur during all stages of the food chain, from production to consumption

  • Loo turns poo into power

    Researchers have invented a new toilet system that will turn human waste into electricity and fertilizers and also reduce the amount of water needed for flushing by up to 90 percent compared to current toilet systems

  • Paper-printed rapid disease detection test

    Complex laboratory investigations do produce reliable results, but they are not useful for point-of-care diagnostics; researchers have come up with a clever idea: biosensors based on paper; the test is printed on one side of a chromatography paper, the paper is folded up origami-style, laminated, and the test is ready; test evaluation requires only a voltmeter

  • Do nano-pesticides hold promise or pose threat to greener agriculture?

    Nanotechnology has developed significantly in the past decade and was able to create many new materials with a vast range of potential applications; the risk that nano-particles may pose to human and environment health, however, is not yet fully understood; a precautionary principle suggests keeping environmental release of nano-particles minimal until their fate and toxicity is better understood

  • The true cost of cybercrime

    The first systematic study of the cost of cybercrime recommends that society should spend less on antivirus software and more on policing the Internet

  • Researchers achieve world record cryptanalysis of next-generation cryptography

    Researchers broke a world cryptography record with the successful cryptanalysis of a 278-digit (923-bit)-long pairing-based cryptography, which is becoming the next generation cryptography standard

  • Novel antitoxin strategy may target other pathogens

    A low-cost, easy-to-replicate tool – based on a “beads on a string” approach — has demonstrated applications against several different toxins, from those found in contaminated food to those used in bioterrorism, and may also prove effective in targeting other types of pathogens

  • New salmonella species food safety test kit

    Salmonella is a genus of bacteria that are a major cause of foodborne illnesses throughout the world. The bacteria are generally transmitted to humans through the consumption of contaminated food; new salmonella test kit unveiled

  • Report: Updated DHS risk assessment of Kansas lab still “technically inadequate”

    Congress was unsatisfied with a 2010 DHS risk-assessment study of the proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas, and asked for a new study of the risks, and an evaluation of the new study by the National Research Council; the evaluation says that some of the risk reduction noted in the new DHS risk assessment may be explained by improvements to the latest design plans for the facility, but that despite these improvements, the updated DHS assessment underestimates the risk of an accidental pathogen release and inadequately characterizes the uncertainties in those risks

  • New Red Cross first aid app brings safety tips to smart phones

    The American Red Cross today (Wednesday) launched its official first aid app, putting free lifesaving information in the hands of smart phone users. The Red Cross says this app is the first in a series to be created by the organization

  • Researchers create mosquitoes incapable of transmitting malaria

    More than 40 percent of the world’s population lives in areas where there is a risk of contracting malaria; 300 million to 500 million cases of malaria occur each year, and nearly one million people die of the disease annually — largely infants, young children, and pregnant women, most of them in Africa; scientists breed mosquitoes to be unable to infect people with the malaria parasite, providing genetic options for controlling spread of deadly disease

  • Better tracking of influenza

    Brown University researchers have created a reliable and fast flu-detection test that can be carried in a first-aid kit; the prototype device isolates influenza RNA using a combination of magnetics and microfluidics, then amplifies and detects probes bound to the RNA; the technology could lead to real-time tracking of influenza