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A new device, developed by UTS researchers, can detect cancer cells without invasive and expensive surgery. The mould of a new device to detect cancer. The Static Droplet Microfluidic device is able to rapidly detect circulating tumour cells that have broken away from a primary tumour and entered the bloodstream. Photo by Dr Majid Warkiani. Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney have developed a new device that can detect and analyse cancer cells from blood samples, enabling doctors to avoid invasive biopsy surgeries, and to monitor treatment progress. Cancer is a leading cause of illness and death in Australia,...

Formica fusca ants can be trained to detect cancerous cells. Paul Devienne, Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée at 'Université Sorbonne Paris Nord ****************************************************************** You've probably heard about dogs that have been trained to smell cancer in humans. But what about ants doing the same job? A team of scientists has found that ants can use their keen sense of smell to detect cancerous cells. The team used Formica fusca ants, also known as silky ants, and trained them through a reward system. "After a few minutes of training, these insects, which use smell for daily tasks, were able to differentiate...

Alongside a familiar looking greyscale scan there is a new, far sharper colour image produced by the new technique. The scanning technology itself is not new. The innovation has come in physics, statistics - and bubbles. Clinicians have long used microbubbles to increase the contrast of ultrasound images. These are typically tiny capsules of hydrocarbon gas in a lipid shell, each bubble a fraction of a millimetre across. Clouds of them are injected into a patient's bloodstream to diagnose liver and other diseases. The team first used physics to observe how individual microbubbles behaved. "They're very small, about the size...

Instead of vibrating crystals, Butterfly IQ uses "capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers", or CMUTs, tiny ultrasonic emitters layered on a semiconductor chip a little larger than a postage stamp. "The device gives you the ability to do everything at the bedside: you can pull it out of your pocket and scan the whole body," Martin said. The company now plans to combine the instrument with artificial-intelligence software that could help a novice position the probe, collect the right images, and interpret them. By 2018, its software will let users automatically calculate how much blood a heart is pumping, or detect problems...

A blood test which not only detects cancer but identifies where it is in the body, has been developed by scientists. The breakthrough could allow doctors to diagnose specific cancers much earlier, even before signs such as a lump, begin to show.

The thing about cancer is that you need to catch it early. Once it spreads, it becomes harder and harder to treat. But part of the problem is making yourself go to the doctor in the first place; a lot of people would rather avoid finding out really depressing news, in some cases via invasive poking. But what if you could detect cancerous cells and various other diseases in 60 minutes using your phone? A new start-up named Miroculus has made a device, "Miriam," that hopes to allow you to do just that. In hugely simplified terms, cancer happens when a cell...