The war against antibiotic-resistant bacteria continues to produce interesting new knowledge. Antibiotic production by microbes has tended to be found in the fungus kingdom and amoungst soil bacteria which compete with each other. This group at University of Tubingen near Stuttgart report discovery of an antibiotic-producing Staphylococcus bacterium in human nasal passages, one of just […]
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Opinion and Comment on Intellectual Property, Business, Science & Technology and others issues which fascinate us
Helium exploration strategy developed on new reserves find to supply MRI scanners etc
Helium-free MRI scanners have been developed in the last few years. But He is still used in the earlier generation of these critically important pieces of medical equipment. It’s also used in semiconductor manufacture and other applications. Known reserves have been dwindling alarmingly – mostly due to lack of viable gas exploration strategies. This Oxford/Durham […]
Voting Rights for Robots
This may be a first: a pre-legislative formal parliamentary document (the article contains a link to the EU Parliament site) proposing rights and liabilities for robots and citing Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and Isaac Asimov (I, Robot) along the way. If Robots had had the right to vote last Thursday in Brexit, things might have turned […]
Research focusses attention on how climate change can effect the soil ecosystem
The sheer scale of microorganism species diversity even in small soil samples verges on the fantastic. This piece summarizes a complex original paper (http://tinyurl.com/gwhsozs) that illustrates how this area of microbiology is getting attention, and puts across how complex the soil ecosystem is. Through the example of how anticipated climate change may affect larger bacteria-grazing […]
Milestone in the search for a universal cancer vaccine
In a tough field, this work led from Johannes Gutenberg University might be a real milestone. RNA encoding cancer-specific antigen is carried by lipoprotein-complex nanoparticles and administered intravenously. An electrical charge targets them to immune system lymphoid dendritic cells to get immune defences going. What’s attracting attention is that almost any tumour antigen can be […]
Terrifically lateral idea for new mode of road transport
Very cool, very lateral, and with some interesting economics. Presumably, ordinary road travellers would get used to the idea of envelopment by a relatively-moving tunnel coming up from behind. Nice video and diagram if you wait for the ads to finish. Read Story Here
Important innovations in combatting MRSA and other biofilm-producing bacteria
The large public health impact of protective biofilms built by bacteria is not as well-known is it could be. NIH considers biofilms implicated in up to 80% of chronic infections, and Staph bacteria such as MRSA are major players in the biofilm arena. These realities underline the importance of the natural products chemistry reported here […]
Clever research work much needed to out-wit HIV-1
It’s hard to trip up a virus as smart as HIV-1, but this group reports a chink in its armour. Viruses commonly mask from immune surveillance critical components of the apparatus they use for cell entry. However, HIV-1 doesn’t quite succeed, leaving a small amino acid sequence exposed in a fusion peptide forming part of […]
So, how significant is it that patents have been applied for?
As this piece says, the idea of a contact lens with a built-in camera is pretty cool technology. And applying for patent protection is clear evidence of early forward planning for the possibility it’ll be a commercial proposition – applying after the cat’s out of the bag is legally too late in most places. But cool and applying for patents […]
iPhone Trade Mark Rights in China – Nobody can get it 100%
This dispute demonstrates well how, in a global market, phasing of trade mark protection programmes challenges even big companies. Chinese law grants trade mark rights to the first-applying applicant covering the relevant products, except if a later applicant’s trade mark is well-known in China even earlier. Here, that put Xintong Tiandi ahead, making Apple rely […]