Research News

Scientists have managed to prolong the lifespan of flies by up to 60 per cent after activating a gene which destroys unhealthy cells, an advance which may help develop new anti-ageing treatments for humans.

A new mobile app developed by an Indian-origin scientist allows your smartphone to help conduct research on breast cancer and Alzheimer’s while the device is at rest and charging. The Folding@home mobile app is an extension of the Folding@home distributed computing project launched by Vijay Pande, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, in collaboration with Japanese corporate giant Sony in 2007.

Researchers are developing an electric retainer that could allow the hearing-impaired to ‘listen’ through their tongues. The retainer will eliminate the need for expensive cochlear implants for those with hearing loss, researchers said.

Worldwide spending on cancer has reached levels equivalent to the GDP of Hong Kong which is the 35^th largest economy in the world, a new report to be presented at a global health summit in Qatar later this month has claimed.

Need for high investment, lack of necessary facilities and the complex nature of the virus make the finding of a vaccine for Ebola a difficult challenge, a noted French microbiologist said here today. "Developing a vaccine is not a trivial issue. It requires huge investments by pharmaceutical companies. So far, Ebola has had limited outbreaks. So there was no need for the community to be convinced that there has to be a vaccine.

India is an important place to study microbilogoy due to the presence of infectious diseases found in third world countries along with infections that exist in technologically developed countries, a senior French microbiologist today said.

Adolescents who get poor or insufficient sleep may be at higher risk of developing alcohol and drug problems, scientists say. Researchers have found that sleep difficulties and hours of sleep can predict a number of specific problems, including binge drinking, driving under the influence of alcohol, and risky sexual behaviour.

A new app helps you ‘lend’ your eyes to a visually impaired person and answer their questions over video chat to help them navigate or read a sign.

Google is set to discontinue the sale of its smart eyewear Google Glass, but the tech giant plans to release new, consumer-friendly versions of the device in the future. Google has announced that it will no longer sell its experimental first version of Glass which went on sale in the UK last year priced at 1,000 pounds.

Elderly women who are satisfied with their lives have a higher bone density and suffer from osteoporosis less frequently than their unsatisfied peers, according to a new study. Bone density gets lower as people age; however, for women, the menopause constitutes a significant risk factor.