Many of the world's most devastating diseases such as hemophilia, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy are the result of a single gene defect, or mutation. If the Encyclopedia Britannica represented the human genome, such diseases would be analogous to one typographical error rendering the massive tome unreadable. The daunting task then is to find and fix the typo to make the encyclopedia readable again.
Charlie Gersbach is one of these genetic editors. ...
Duke University engineers have created a new generation of lens that could greatly improve the capabilities of telecommunications or radar systems to provide a wide field of view and greater detail.
But the lens they fashioned doesn't look anything like a lens. While traditional lenses are made of clear substances like glass or plastic with highly polished surfaces, the new lens looks more like a miniature set of tan Venetian blinds. Yet ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- The Egyptians supposedly used it to guide the construction the Pyramids. The architecture of ancient Athens is thought to have been based on it. Fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon tried to unravel its mysteries in the novel The Da Vinci Code.
"It" is the golden ratio, a geometric proportion that has been theorized to be the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye and has been the root of countless mysteries over the centuries. ...
For his work probing the environmental implications of the burgeoning field of nanotechnology, Mark Wiesner, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University, was elected as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) .
Because of their unique properties, nanoparticles which are a million times smaller than the head of pin -- are being used in a wide variety of industrial applications and consumer products. To date, the ...
Physicians use hi-tech scanners all the time to produce crisp and detailed images to help them diagnose illness. But they may not be getting the whole picture.
CT or MRI scanners are unable to provide potentially important clues about a tissue's health namely, how it feels. Duke University biomedical engineers believe information about the stiffness of particular tissue such as organs or arteries can add an important dimension to the ...
For centuries, the forces of weather and winds have sent more than 500 ships to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina's coast. Some were also brought down by another terrifying force -- German U-boat torpedoes during the Second World War.
Forty miles off the coast from Morehead City and in more that 120 feet of water lie two particular victims of U-boat attacks that are of interest to environmental chemist and scuba diver ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- Going smaller could bring better results, especially when it comes to cancer-fighting drugs.
Duke University bioengineers have developed a simple and inexpensive method for loading cancer drug payloads into nano-scale delivery vehicles and demonstrated in animal models that this new nanoformulation can eliminate tumors after a single treatment. After delivering the drug to the tumor, the delivery vehicle breaks down into harmless byproducts, markedly decreasing the toxicity for the recipient.
Nano-delivery systems have become ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- By taking advantage of the vagaries of the natural world, Duke University engineers have developed a novel approach that they believe can more efficiently harvest electricity from the motions of everyday life.
Energy harvesting is the process of converting one form of energy, such as motion, into another form of energy, in this case electricity. Strategies range from the development of massive wind farms to produce large amounts of electricity to using the ...
DURHAM, N.C. - An ancient Confucian philosopher once said, "I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained."
Now, almost one thousand years since Zhou Dunyi wrote these lines in China, scientists finally understand how the plant keeps itself clean and dry. It took an ultra high speed camera, a powerful microscope and an audio speaker to unlock a secret that has puzzled scientists for ages.
The process of solving this biological problem ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- As scientists work toward making genetically altered bacteria create living "circuits" to produce a myriad of useful proteins and chemicals, they have logically assumed that the single-celled organisms would always respond to an external command in the same way.
Alas, some bacteria apparently have an individualistic streak that makes them zig when the others zag.
A new set of experiments by Duke University bioengineers has uncovered the existence of "bistability," in which an individual ...
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, has awarded Duke University $19.5 million for an effort led by the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) to design a portable, easy-to-use diagnostic device that can reveal who is infected with an upper respiratory virus before the first cough or sneeze.
DARPA is interested in such a device because it could offer military commanders in the field ...
DURHAM, N.C. The same properties of nanoparticles that make them so appealing to manufacturers may also have negative effects on the environment and human health.
However, little is known which particles may be harmful. Part of the problem is determining exactly what a nanoparticle is.
A new analysis by an international team of researchers from the Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT), based at Duke University, argues for a new look at the ...
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