Texas scientists have added one more trick to the amazing repertoire of carbon nanotubes -- the ability to carry electrical signals to nerve cells.

By using an electronic ultra-high-speed camera, researchers have characterized the explosive discharge of stinging jellyfish nematocytes and show that this event represents one of the fastest cellular processes in nature. The research is reported by Thomas Holstein of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues in the May 9th issue of Current Biology.

Nearly 28,000 babies died before their first birthday, according to new infant mortality statistics for 2003 released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

A new type of cell that generates crucial cells of the immune system has been discovered at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. With this new knowledge, medical researchers can begin to consider the development of customized immune therapies using this new cell to target specific infections such as HIV, malaria and influenza;certain cancers; and even autoimmune diseases.

Researchers have a new understanding of the process cells use to ensure that sperm and eggs begin life with exactly one copy of each chromosome – a process that must be exquisitely regulated to prevent problems such as miscarriages and mental retardation. The new work reveals how gluelike protein complexes release pairs of chromosomes at precisely the moment of meiosis – the specialized cell division process that produces sperm and eggs – enabling them to separate properly.

A technical advance in laboratory techniques may provide biology researchers broader access to RNA interference, a process of blocking the activity of targeted genes. RNA interference has recently emerged as an important tool in studying how genes function in normal biological processes and in disease.

Researchers here have discovered a new mechanism used by cells – and manipulated by retroviruses – to control the making of certain essential proteins, including some involved in cancer.

New approaches to genetic disease, based on cells' own ability to correct themselves, will be outlined today (Monday 8 May 2006) at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Instead of replacing a faulty gene (commonly referred to as gene therapy) these new 'smart' approaches make use of the therapeutic potential that already exists in human biology.

Little larger than a thumbnail, the cubic insect-like robots or 'insbots' are technological marvels. Developed under the European Commission's Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) initiative of the IST programme as the project Leurre, the insbots are fitted with two motors, wheels, a rechargeable battery, several computer processors, a light-sensing camera and an array of infrared proximity sensors.