*** Official Science Thread *** (1 Viewer)

Excerpt Graphene light bulb set for shopsA light bulb made with graphene - said by its UK developers to be the first commercially viable consumer product using the super-strong carbon - is to go on sale later this year.

The dimmable bulb contains a filament-shaped LED coated in graphene. It was designed at Manchester University, where the material was discovered.

It is said to cut energy use by 10% and last longer owing to its conductivity.

The light bulb was developed by a Canadian-financed company called Graphene Lighting - one of whose directors is Prof Colin Bailey, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Manchester.

It is expected to be priced lower than some LED bulbs, which can cost about £15 each.

Based on traditional light bulb design, the use of graphene allows it to conduct electricity and heat more effectively.

Prof Bailey told the BBC: "The graphene light bulb will use less energy. We expect it to last longer. The manufacturing costs are lower and it uses more and more sustainable components."

Planes and carsThe discovery of graphene in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two Russian-born scientists at the University of Manchester, earned the pair the Nobel Prize for Physics and knighthoods.

A micro-thin layer of graphene is stronger than steel and it has been dubbed a "wonder material" because of its potential uses.

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'Cat litter mix' closed US nuclear waste repository

A mixture that included organic cat litter forced the closure of the only underground nuclear waste repository in the US, a team of government experts has determined.

The investigation was launched after low-level radioactive material was released in February 2014.

It found an incompatible combination of nitrate salts and cat litter caused a breach in a container of waste.

The cat litter was used to absorb moisture in the waste.

More than 20 workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico were contaminated and the release forced the repository to close indefinitely.

Investigators believe that a thermal reaction inside the container forced the lid to pop.

Federal officials have said it could take years and more than $0.5bn to fully reopen the plant.

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Engineers have created unpowered exoskeleton "boots" that use a spring and a ratchet to make human walking 7% more efficient.The boots mirror the action of the walker's calf muscle and Achilles tendon, saving energy and showing that there is room for improvement in our already very well-tuned gait.

Previous research had produced similar gains but only by using powered, pneumatic "muscles".

The new device is reported in Nature.

Senior author of the study, Dr Gregory Sawicki, from the joint biomedical engineering department of the University of North Carolina and NC State University, said the unpowered exoskeleton acted "like a catapult".

"It has a spring that mimics the action of your Achilles tendon, and works in parallel with your calf muscles to reduce the load placed upon them," Dr Sawicki said.

Tension and releaseKey to the boots' success is a mechanical clutch, which puts tension on the spring when the foot is touching the ground but leaves it slack when the foot lifts and swings forward through the air.

This clutch is made from a ratchet that engages with each footfall and takes up the slack on the spring; it then locks while the foot is on the ground - allowing the spring to off-load some of the strain on the walker's muscles and tendons - and releases again at the back of the stride.

"The clutch is essential to engage the spring only while the foot is on the ground, allowing it to store and then release elastic energy," explained Dr Sawicki.

Nine participants tested the gadgets, walking on a treadmill under very close monitoring, both with and without the exoskeletons.

The energy saving was small but important, Dr Sawicki said: "A 7% reduction in energy cost is like taking off a 10-pound (4.5kg) backpack, which is significant.

"Though it's surprising that we were able to achieve this advantage over a system strongly shaped by evolution, this study shows that there's still a lot to learn about human biomechanics and a seemingly simple behaviour like walking."

Co-author Dr Steven Collins, from Carnegie Mellon University, said that with some more development, the invention had the potential to help people who have difficulty walking.

"Someday soon we may have simple, lightweight and relatively inexpensive exoskeletons to help us get around, especially if we've been slowed down by injury or aging," Dr Collins said.

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[SIZE=24pt]Personal cancer vaccine research 'exciting' say experts[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Tailor-made cancer vaccines that target unique genetic errors in a patient's tumour have been developed in the US. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Safety tests on three people, published in the journal Science, showed the immune system could be trained to fight skin cancers. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The American team say the early results mark a "significant step" towards personalised cancer vaccines.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The charity Cancer Research UK called the tests an "exciting but very early-stage trial".[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]UV light can transform healthy skin cells into deadly melanomas by damaging the DNA. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The tumours are a genetic mess, containing hundreds of random mutations that are different in every patient. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]Neoantigens[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The mutations can change the proteins that stick out from the surface of cells and act like identifying flags. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The team, mainly based in St Louis and Oklahoma City, analysed the genetic mutations to predict the new and unique flags that would be flown by the cancer cells.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]A computer algorithm then analysed the new flags, known as neoantigens, to decide which would be the best targets for a vaccine.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Melanomas can be removed surgically if caught early enough [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Personalised vaccines were given to three patients with advanced tumours in 2013. All had already been treated with another therapy - ipilimumab. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]One was in remission and has stayed cancer-free; another still has stable tumours; and the third patient's tumour shrank in the months after the vaccine before returning to its original size and remaining stable.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The team are, at this stage, testing just the safety of the vaccine and whether it provokes an immune response.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They say it was successful on both counts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]Hurdles[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]One of the researchers, Dr Gerald Linette, said: "Our team is very encouraged by the quality of the immune response directed against the melanoma neoantigens in all three patients.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"Our results are preliminary, but we think the vaccines have therapeutic potential."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]His colleague, Dr Beatriz Carreno, added: "These findings represent a significant step toward more personalised immunotherapies."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The personalised vaccine approach has a number of hurdles to clear.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]For a start, proper clinical trials are needed to prove that the immune boost actually makes a difference to controlling the tumour.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]There are also questions about cost and the time it takes - currently three months - to develop each person's vaccine. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]However, if the approach proves successful it could be useful in other highly mutated cancers such as those found in the lung.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]'Promising'[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They may also have a role in breast and ovarian cancers in women with BRCA mutations, such as the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, which also tend to be very mutated. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Dr Alan Worsley, of Cancer Research UK, said: "This exciting but very early-stage trial shows that it may be possible to create vaccines that are tailored to the specific genetic mistakes in a patient's cancer. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"At the moment it's not clear how effective this immunotherapy would be at killing cancer cells in the body and improving survival, but this promising study sets the stage for creating vaccines that are designed to target each patient's individual tumour in the future."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Prof Caroline Springer, who works on new drugs for melanoma at the Institute for Cancer Research, told the BBC News website: "I think it's very interesting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"It's a very positive results and it's good that it's safe, but it's quite early days. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"Ipilimumab can have long-lasting effects on its own. The vaccine has mounted an immune response but it is difficult to tell if that amounts to an anti-tumour response if it is already responding to ipilimumab."[/SIZE]

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msommer said:

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32162799

[SIZE=24pt]Personal cancer vaccine research 'exciting' say experts[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Tailor-made cancer vaccines that target unique genetic errors in a patient's tumour have been developed in the US. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Safety tests on three people, published in the journal Science, showed the immune system could be trained to fight skin cancers. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The American team say the early results mark a "significant step" towards personalised cancer vaccines.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The charity Cancer Research UK called the tests an "exciting but very early-stage trial".[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]UV light can transform healthy skin cells into deadly melanomas by damaging the DNA. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The tumours are a genetic mess, containing hundreds of random mutations that are different in every patient. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]Neoantigens[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The mutations can change the proteins that stick out from the surface of cells and act like identifying flags. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The team, mainly based in St Louis and Oklahoma City, analysed the genetic mutations to predict the new and unique flags that would be flown by the cancer cells.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]A computer algorithm then analysed the new flags, known as neoantigens, to decide which would be the best targets for a vaccine.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Melanomas can be removed surgically if caught early enough [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Personalised vaccines were given to three patients with advanced tumours in 2013. All had already been treated with another therapy - ipilimumab. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]One was in remission and has stayed cancer-free; another still has stable tumours; and the third patient's tumour shrank in the months after the vaccine before returning to its original size and remaining stable.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The team are, at this stage, testing just the safety of the vaccine and whether it provokes an immune response.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They say it was successful on both counts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]Hurdles[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]One of the researchers, Dr Gerald Linette, said: "Our team is very encouraged by the quality of the immune response directed against the melanoma neoantigens in all three patients.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"Our results are preliminary, but we think the vaccines have therapeutic potential."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]His colleague, Dr Beatriz Carreno, added: "These findings represent a significant step toward more personalised immunotherapies."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The personalised vaccine approach has a number of hurdles to clear.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]For a start, proper clinical trials are needed to prove that the immune boost actually makes a difference to controlling the tumour.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]There are also questions about cost and the time it takes - currently three months - to develop each person's vaccine. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]However, if the approach proves successful it could be useful in other highly mutated cancers such as those found in the lung.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=18pt]'Promising'[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]They may also have a role in breast and ovarian cancers in women with BRCA mutations, such as the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, which also tend to be very mutated. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Dr Alan Worsley, of Cancer Research UK, said: "This exciting but very early-stage trial shows that it may be possible to create vaccines that are tailored to the specific genetic mistakes in a patient's cancer. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"At the moment it's not clear how effective this immunotherapy would be at killing cancer cells in the body and improving survival, but this promising study sets the stage for creating vaccines that are designed to target each patient's individual tumour in the future."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Prof Caroline Springer, who works on new drugs for melanoma at the Institute for Cancer Research, told the BBC News website: "I think it's very interesting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"It's a very positive results and it's good that it's safe, but it's quite early days. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]"Ipilimumab can have long-lasting effects on its own. The vaccine has mounted an immune response but it is difficult to tell if that amounts to an anti-tumour response if it is already responding to ipilimumab."[/SIZE]

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Bendy battery promises safe, speedy chargingScientists have built a flexible aluminium battery which they say could be a cheap, fast-charging and safe alternative to current designs.

The protoype consists of a soft pouch, containing aluminium for one electrode and a graphite foam for the other - all surrounded by a special liquid salt.

It can recharge in less than a minute and is very safe and durable compared to lithium-ion batteries, but currently only delivers about half the voltage.

The work appears in the journal Nature.

The researchers say it has advantages over lithium-ion batteries, common in electronic devices like smartphones, as well as traditional alkaline batteries.

"We have developed a rechargeable aluminium battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames," said senior author Prof Hongjie Dai from Stanford University in California.

"Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it."

In fact, a video made by the research team shows that the battery even continues to work for a short period after being punished in this way.

We may not expect batteries to withstand such treatment routinely - but this demonstration certainly sets the new design apart from lithium-ion batteries, which have faced safety concerns including recent bans on air transport.

Because it is lightweight and inexpensive, aluminium has attracted interest from battery engineers for many years, but it has never yielded a viable product.

Key to the new discovery was the choice of material for the other, positive electrode (the cathode) to go with aluminium for the negative electrode (or anode). Graphite - a form of carbon in which the atoms form thin, flat sheets - turned out to deliver very good performance, while also being similarly lightweight, cheap and widely available.

To connect the two electrodes, the pouch is filled with liquid.

"The electrolyte is basically a salt that's liquid at room temperature, so it's very safe," said PhD student Ming Gong, another of the study's authors. This contrasts with the flammable electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries.

'Early days'The battery performed particularly well when the team made the graphite cathode into a foam: a sponge-like pattern of tiny whiskers of the stuff, surrounding many empty pockets. This allows ions in the electrolyte solution very easy access to the graphite, helping the battery to work faster.

When the battery discharges, aluminium dissolves at the anode, while aluminium-containing ions slide into the spaces between atomic graphite layers at the cathode. When it charges again, the reverse occurs, depositing metallic aluminium metal back on the anode.

Crucially, this can take place through more than 7,500 complete cycles without the battery losing any capacity - several times more than most lithium-ion batteries, and hundreds of times better than any previous experimental designs that used aluminium.

Similarly, the device's two-volt output is the best seen from an aluminium battery. It is also better than common 1.5-volt alkaline batteries, but lags behind the output of the lithium-ion batteries we use in smartphones and laptops.

"Our battery produces about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery," Prof Dai said. "But improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density."

Nonetheless, his team has high hopes for their design. Already, just by strapping two of the pouch batteries together and plugging them into an adaptor, they managed to charge up a smartphone in a minute.

They also suggest it could be very useful in flexible displays, one of the proposals for the next generation of electronics.

Prof Dai clearly believes its voltage is the battery's single main limitation: "Our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life.

"I see this as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting."

The prototype is probably still several years away from commercial development.

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