The most valuable stamp in the world is a red smudge , but the coolest postal payments just might be these itty bitty stickies from 1970s Bhutan. They’d legally get your letter where it needed to go, and play the country’s national anthem (yes, really!). Read more…
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These Bhutanese Postal Stamps Play Like Real Vinyl Records
sciencehabit (1205606) writes “Pregnant women who smoke don’t just harm the health of their baby—they may actually impair their child’s DNA, according to new research. A genetic analysis shows that the children of mothers who smoke harbor far more chemical modifications of their genome — known as epigenetic changes — than kids of non-smoking mothers. Many of these are on genes tied to addiction and fetal development. The finding may explain why the children of smokers continue to suffer health complications later in life. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Early detection is the best tool to fight cancer, but biopsies can be painful and inconclusive. New research shows a simple blood test can detect cancers by blasting white blood cells with UV and seeing how they respond. Painless, universal cancer detection could be a drop of blood away. Read more…
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UV-Powered Blood Test Could Make Universal Cancer Detection Possible
Nate the greatest (2261802) writes with news made public Friday that Apple has acquired a little known ebook company called Booklamp, a small Idaho-based ebook startup which is best known for the Book Genome Project. First shown off to the world in 2008, this project was conceived by Booklamp founder and CEO Aaron Stanton as a way of analyzing a book’s pacing, dialog, perspective, genre, and other details in order to identify a book’s unique DNA. Booklamp has been using the tech to sell various services to publishers, tech companies, and the like, but Booklamps’s existing contracts were apparently cancelled earlier this year. According to one industry insider the deal happened in April, but Apple managed to keep the news under wraps until just last night. No one knows for sure how Apple will use booklamp but there is speculation that Apple could launch an ebook subscription service similar to the week-old Kindle Unlimited, or they could just use Booklamp to drive ebook recommendations in what some are speculating is the world’s second largest ebookstore. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Apple Acquires "Pandora For Books" Booklamp For $15 Million
When we think of medicine, we usually think of the treatment: drugs, surgery, therapy. But before all that comes the diagnosis—a tricky proposition when symptoms are confusing and information scant. Now for the first time ever, doctors were able to use rapid DNA sequencing to identify an obscure bacterium in time to save a boy’s life. Read more…
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A New Rapid DNA Test Helped Save a Kid From an Obscure Infection
You may think this looks like the surface of the Death Star, but actually it’s a microscopic device that delivers DNA into the nucleus of a single cell. Read more…
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This Mechanical Nano-Lance Is One Hundredth the Size of a Human Hair
“Oh look a king, let’s break out the thermocycler,” writes osteoarchaeologist Alison Atkin in a piece on the not exactly essential DNA analysis of the remains of Richard III.
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Why should you care about a dead king’s DNA?
The question of just how an ancient civilization—without the help of modern technology—moved the 2.5 ton stones that made up their famed pyramids has long plagued Egyptologists and mechanical engineers alike. But now, a team from the University of Amsterdam believes they’ve figured it out, even though the solution was staring them in the face all along. Read more…
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Scientists Discovered the Egyptian Secret to Moving Huge Pyramid Stones
Despite the warm wood and cheery red accents, Smitten Ice Cream can feel a bit like a mad scientist’s shop. There’s the industrial-sized tank of liquid nitrogen that greets you inside the entrance of its new flagship location in Oakland. And there’s the billowing clouds of nitrogen when the stainless steel ice cream machines churn out personalized scoops to order. Read more…
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The Futuristic Liquid Nitrogen Machine That Makes Ice Cream To Order
Criminals who inadvertently leave traces of their DNA at the crime scene now have something more to worry about. By isolating 24 genetic variants, researchers have developed a computer program that can construct surprisingly accurate 3D models of facial features. Read more…
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Now Police Can Reconstruct Your Face From DNA Evidence