ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Researchers test holographic technique for restoring vision
• Eating well could help spread disease, water flea study suggests
• Clever battery completes stretchable electronics package: Can stretch, twist and bend -- and return to normal shape
• Blood vessels 'sniff' gut microbes to regulate blood pressure
• Infrared digital holography allows firefighters to see through flames, image moving people
• Blueprint for an artificial brain: Scientists experiment with memristors that imitate natural nerves
• Newly observed properties of vacuums: Light particles illuminate the vacuum
• Protecting fish from antidepressants by using new wastewater treatment technique
• Pain can be a relief
• 'NanoVelcro' device to grab single cancer cells from blood: Improvement enables 'liquid biopsies' for metastatic melanoma

Researchers test holographic technique for restoring vision Posted: 26 Feb 2013 10:42 AM PST Researchers are testing the power of holography to artificially stimulate cells in the eye, with hopes of developing a new strategy for bionic vision restoration. Computer-generated holography, they say, could be used in conjunction with a technique called optogenetics, which uses gene therapy to deliver light-sensitive proteins to damaged retinal nerve cells. In conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), these light-sensing cells degenerate and lead to blindness.

Eating well could help spread disease, water flea study suggests Posted: 26 Feb 2013 09:05 AM PST Plentiful food can accelerate the spread of infections, scientists have shown in a study of water fleas. Scientists studying bacterial infections in tiny water fleas have discovered that increasing their supply of food can speed up the spread of infection.

Clever battery completes stretchable electronics package: Can stretch, twist and bend -- and return to normal shape Posted: 26 Feb 2013 08:38 AM PST Researchers have demonstrated a stretchable lithium-ion battery -- a flexible device capable of powering their innovative stretchable electronics. The battery can stretch up to 300 percent of its original size and still function -- even when stretched, folded, twisted and mounted on a human elbow. The battery enables true integration of electronics and power into a small, stretchable package that is wirelessly rechargeable.

Blood vessels 'sniff' gut microbes to regulate blood pressure Posted: 26 Feb 2013 08:34 AM PST Researchers have discovered that a specialized receptor, normally found in the nose, is also in blood vessels throughout the body, sensing small molecules created by microbes that line mammalian intestines, and responding to these molecules by increasing blood pressure.

Infrared digital holography allows firefighters to see through flames, image moving people Posted: 26 Feb 2013 07:14 AM PST Firefighters now have a new tool that could help save lives. A team of researchers have developed a new technique using digital holography that can "see" people through intense flames -- the first time a holographic recording of a live person has been achieved while the body is moving. The new technique allows imaging through both.

Blueprint for an artificial brain: Scientists experiment with memristors that imitate natural nerves Posted: 26 Feb 2013 07:14 AM PST Scientists have long been dreaming about building a computer that would work like a brain. This is because a brain is far more energy-saving than a computer, it can learn by itself, and it doesn't need any programming. Scientists are experimenting with memristors -- electronic microcomponents that imitate natural nerves.

Newly observed properties of vacuums: Light particles illuminate the vacuum Posted: 26 Feb 2013 06:21 AM PST Researchers have succeeded in showing experimentally that vacuums have properties not previously observed. According to the laws of quantum mechanics, it is a state with abundant potentials. Vacuums contain momentarily appearing and disappearing virtual pairs, which can be converted into detectable light particles.

Protecting fish from antidepressants by using new wastewater treatment technique Posted: 26 Feb 2013 05:11 AM PST Researchers have developed a new technique to prevent pharmaceutical residues from entering waterways and harming wildlife.

Pain can be a relief Posted: 26 Feb 2013 05:10 AM PST When something causes less pain than expected it is even possible for it to feel pleasant, a new study reveals. These findings may one day play a key role in treating pain and substance abuse.

'NanoVelcro' device to grab single cancer cells from blood: Improvement enables 'liquid biopsies' for metastatic melanoma Posted: 25 Feb 2013 06:22 AM PST Researchers have refined a method they previously developed for capturing and analyzing cancer cells that break away from patients' tumors and circulate in the blood. With the improvements to their device, which uses a Velcro-like nanoscale technology, they can now detect and isolate single cancer cells from patient blood samples for analysis.

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