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With new ‘elegant chemo,’ Israeli scientists edit genome to destroy cancer DNATel Aviv University team uses ‘microscopic scissors’ to pinpoint and eliminate cancerous cells; results of animal tests just published, trial in humans expected within 2 years Illustrative: Cancer cells inside the body (wildpixel; iStock by Getty Images)Israeli scientists say they have destroyed cancerous cells in mice with a method so pinpointed it’s as if “tiny scissors” were being used to target only affected cells, while leaving everything around them intact. “This is the first study in the world to prove that the CRISPR genome editing system, which works by...

How long can tiny gears and other microscopic moving parts last before they wear out? What are the warning signs that these components are about to fail, which can happen in just a few tenths of a second? [R]esearchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a method for more quickly tracking microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as they work and, just as importantly, as they stop working. [U]sing this method for microscopic failure analysis, researchers and manufacturers could improve the reliability of the MEMS components that they are developing, ranging from miniature robots and drones to tiny...

Summary: When did humans really begin to control fire and use it for their daily needs? Scientists discovered in the Qesem Cave, an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha'ayin, the earliest evidence -- dating to around 300,000 years ago -- of unequivocal repeated fire building over a continuous period. These findings help answer the question and hint that those prehistoric humans already had a highly advanced social structure and intellectual capacity.

The debate over full body security scans just got a lot more graphic, thanks to Democratic political strategist and frequent flyer James Carville. Speaking on The Tony Kornheiser Show Friday, Carville laid out, or unzipped, his vision for airport security. But the consummate talker couldn't help sharing too much information. "Let me buy a [security] pass ... so that they can scan me and and search me and measure my penis, then let me get on the plane," he said.

RICHARDSON, Texas - Imagine singing "Oh, say, can you see" to a flag you can't see. That's what graduate students at the University of Texas at Dallas had in mind when they created the likeness of an American flag so small it would take more than 10 to span the width of a human hair. While the work of electrical engineering students Jang-Bae Jeon and Carlo Foresca has so far been rejected by the Guinness Book of World Records, they hope the process will lead to advances in nanotechnology, a world of creations viewed only through microscopes. "Most of this...

This is huge. It means that Scott's boat was NEVER LAUNCHED.

The old lignite skull ANOTHER MYSTERY SKULL... THIS TIME AN ANCIENT EUROPEAN WHICH, SAY FRANCOIS DE SARRE AND MICHEL GRANGER, COULD CHALLENGE THE OFFICIAL VIEW OF HUMAN ORIGINS. 0fficially, the origin of the first true Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) dates back 2.5 million years. Before this time lived other hominids whose bones cannot be confused with those of Homo's lineage. Against this background, we have the 2oo-year old enigma of an 'impossibly' ancient humanoid skull from the mining town of Freiberg, in Saxony, Germany, which, if verified, could be more than 10 million years old - far older than...

> Red tide, a pesky phenomenon that is rare for Floridas eastern shore, has rolled into the Treasure Coast like a rude Thanksgiving guest, giving beachgoers in four counties tickly throats, itchy noses and eyes and killing fish in some coastal waters. We were sitting around the pool yesterday and everybody was coughing, said Becky Cowin, an Indiana resident visiting relatives on Hutchinson Island. We kept asking is this anthrax or what? Nobody had ever heard of red tide. Red tide is caused by microscopic plant-like organisms that bloom and release a toxin into the water. Depending on how concentrated...