• USDA announces fourth Mad Cow case

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced it had identified a cow suffering from mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE); this is the fourth case of mad cow disease found in the United States since 2003, and the first since 2006

  • Better cybersecurity for the healthcare industry

    Healthcare organizations face ever more threatening cyber attacks. In response, the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) has established the HITRUST Cybersecurity Incident Response and Coordination Center to provide support for the healthcare industry

  • Early detection of malaria saves lives

    The timely diagnosis of malaria maximizes the likelihood of successful, life-saving treatment; it also minimizes the chances that inappropriate therapy will be given, which would help combat the growing problem of drug resistant malaria

  • Using mathematics to feed the world

    In the race to breed better crops to feed the increasing world population, scientists at the University of Nottingham are using mathematics to find out how a vital plant hormone affects growth

  • Insider: H5N1 studies publication vote biased, unbalanced

    In late March, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) reversed its earlier recommendation, made in December 2011, against full publication of two studies describing lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility in mammals; the recommendation was based on fears that the findings would help terrorist design effective bioweapons; a NSABB board member says that the March reversal of the December recommendation was the result of a bias toward finding a solution that was more about getting the government out of the current dilemma than about a careful risk-benefit analysis

  • Diet change required to curb most potent greenhouse gas

    N2O is the third highest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), but it poses a greater challenge to mitigate as nitrogen is an essential element for food production; it is also the most potent of these three greenhouse gases as it is a much better absorber of infrared radiation

  • Bacteria found in caves could offer key to new antibiotics

    Resistance to antibiotics among bacteria is a growing concern for human health; antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in one of the deepest, most isolated caves in the world could help scientists in the battle against superbugs

  • FDA considers placing anthrax kits in American households

    The FDA is examining distributing anthrax med kits to 114 million American households; the agency is concerned about the possible misuse of the kits, and about whether their distribution would lead people to believe an anthrax attack was imminent, causing panic

  • E-beam technology to keep food supply safe

    More than two million people a year, most of them children, die from food-borne or water-borne illness; more than one-third, or 1.3 billion tons, of the food produced for human consumption every year is wasted or lost because of spoilage; the UN nuclear weapons watch dog, the IAEA, says that irradiating food is a more effective solution for preventing death, illness, and food spoilage than techniques currently in use: heating, refrigerating, freezing, or chemical treatment

  • New technology sheds light on viruses

    Scientists develop diagnostic tests that rapidly detect disease-causing viruses in animals and humans; the scientists using a new technology called surface-enhanced Raman scattering, or SERS

  • New food fraud database launched

    DHS defines food fraud as the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients, or food packaging, or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain; a new database compiles thousands of food fraud reports; the most fraud-prone foods: olive oil, milk, and honey

  • Handheld plasma flashlight rids skin of pathogens

    Scientists develop a handheld, battery-powered plasma-producing device that can rid skin of bacteria in an instant; the device could be used in ambulance emergency calls, natural disaster sites, military combat operations, and many other instances where treatment is required in remote locations

  • Inovio Pharmaceuticals gets DoD continuation grant for synthetic DNA vaccine delivery device

    The U.S. Department of Defense has given a Small Business Innovation Research grant to Inovio Pharmaceuticals to continue developing a  low-cost, non-invasive surface electroporation (EP) delivery device; the testing of the device in conjunction with Inovio’s  synthetic DNA vaccines against viruses with bioterrorism potential, including hanta, puumala, arenavirus and pandemic influenza

  • Compound that halts growth of malaria parasite created

    Malaria sickens more than 200 million people and kills more than a million people annually; the disease is caused by fives species of parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes

  • Beef Industry Safety Summit notes successes, challenges

    The U.S. beef industry says that beef is increasingly safe and that consumers have more confidence in beef safety, but challenges remain