Most people think of breathalyzers as a tool to combat drunk driving, but a new type of breathalyzer could soon help doctors detect cancer, kidney failure, and other diseases impacting the lungs while they’re still in the early stages. Researchers at JILA, an institution jointly operated by the University of Colorado at Boulder and the [...]

The list of items consumers can buy over the internet just got longer thanks to a new web portal called Carol. Carol’s innovative site, dubbed The Care Marketplace™, offers patients the opportunity to shop, compare prices, and schedule medical services online in the same way they would purchase clothing or any other retail good. Rather [...]

Scientists from the Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center (MBIC) at Carnegie Mellon University have developed new fluorescent proteins that could help cancer researchers get a better look at the biological activities happening inside living cells. Carnegie Mellon’s novel proteins, known as fluorogen activating proteins or FAPs, are unusual because they’re specially designed to emit light [...]

World Health Organization statistics released this week project one billion people will die as a result of tobacco use during this century if smoking rates are not significantly reduced. Cancer and other health risks associated with tobacco use are widely publicized so why do so many people continue to pick up the habit? A study [...]

Hong Liang, of Texas A&M University (TAMU), describes the process as “simple”, yet it could one day help scientists create tiny computers and detect cancers deep inside the body. Using DNA, the metal cadmium and low-intensity UV light, TAMU researchers have been constructing metal-coated nanowires which are small enough to be injected into the human [...]

The process of conducting cancer research is getting faster for a group of University of Minnesota scientists. Representatives from the Hormel Institute announced they’ve purchased an IBM (NYSE: IBM) Blue Gene supercomputer capable of processing 5-6 trillion operations a second – a speed that’ll allow Hormel to triple the number of research projects it undertakes. [...]

Weighing the risks and benefits of birth control pills? Here’s a snapshot of some of the new research relating to oral contraceptives and their impact on cancer risk. Birth Control Pill Use Cuts Ovarian Cancer Risk from American Cancer Society News and Features Cancer Risk Among Users of Oral Contraceptives from BMJ Cervical cancer risk [...]

A team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has successfully installed the world’s most powerful transmission electron microscope. TEAM 0.5, as the device is known, produces high contrast images with half-angstrom, or half a 10-billionth of a meter, resolution. The state-of-the-art microscope continuously adjusts and corrects spherical aberrations so scientists can study detailed 3D images [...]

Researchers from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University have developed a new technique for separating DNA which helps make the DNA sequencing process faster and less expensive. McCormick’s innovative method brings scientists one step closer to a long sought-after goal — an affordable test that quickly determines an individual’s predisposition to cancer and [...]

For the first time, 10 organizations belonging to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) are collaborating to offer board certification in one area: hospice and palliative medicine. Core requirements and board examinations for the new ABMS hospice and palliative care certificate are currently being co-developed by 10 separate ABMS member boards specializing in anesthesiology, [...]