Scientists have found a potential cure for Ebola

Working in a secretive quarantined lab, scientists in the US have discovered a small molecule that saves monkeys and rodents from one of the world's most terrifying viruses.

Image: Giovanni Cancemi/Shutterstock

Ebola and related viruses cause hemorrhagic fever and death through organ failure, and can have a mortality rate of up to 90%, among the highest of any known human disease.

But researchers working in a high-contaminant biological laboratory maintained by USAMRIID at Fort Detrick in Maryland, US, may have found a potential cure, they've reported in Nature.

The scientists have discovered a molecule, named BCX4430, which looks a lot like the "A" that makes up DNA: adenosine. Adenosine is one of four base pairs in DNA, and is also used in the genomes of RNA-based viruses, such as Ebola.

But because BCX4430 looks so much like Adenosine, the scientists found that members of the Filoviridae virus family, such as Ebola, can accidentally use it as a building block when trying to grow inside our cells.

This is a deadly mistake, writes RealClearScience, as BCX4430 blocks virus growth and reproduction and stops the virus in its tracks.

In the study, the team gave Macaque monkeys effected with the deadly Marburg virus (a close relative to Ebola) two doses for BCX4430 a day for 14 days.

The monkeys who weren't given any of the treatment were dead by day 12, whereas all but one monkey who was given BCX4430 survived, even if they only received treatment 48 hours after they were infected.

Luckily, only virus cells appear to be tricked into using BCX4430, and human and monkey cells do just fine with the molecule around.

In vitro experiments also suggest that BCX4430 could potentially be used against a wide range of viruses, including SARS, influenza, measles and dengue.

It's too early to get excited just yet, with no human trials yet conducted. But the newly discovered molecule holds the greatest potential we've ever seen for curing these terrifying diseases.

Source: RealClearScience

Solar-panel windows are now possible

Researchers have created transparent solar cells using quantum dots.

Image: Nemeziya/Shutterstock

Windows that double as solar panels could soon be a reality after a breakthrough in quantum dot research.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Milano-Bicocca in the US have created a new generation of quantum dots - nano crystals made of semiconductor materials - that are able to be embedded in a transparent polymer.

These quantum dots are able to capture sunlight and transport it through the plastic matrix to a solar cell on its edge, the International Business Times reports.

The findings are published in Nature Photonics, and the scientists are calling this set-up a large-area luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs).

"The LSC serves as a light-harvesting antenna which concentrates solar radiation collected from a large area onto a much smaller solar cell, and this increases its power output," said Victor Klimov, lead researcher at the Centre of Advanced Solar Photophysics at Los Alamos.

The breakthrough could lead to house windows that soak up the Sun's energy. We can't wait.

Meet Kepler-186f, the first Earth like-planet in the habitable zone

NASA’s Kepler Telescope spotted another world, but this one is close to Earth and has the potential to hold liquid water.

Image: NASA

The rocky planet Kepler-186f is a little bit bigger than our planet, is part of a five-planet system and orbits around a cool dwarf star.

The new world could hold liquid water because its orbiting star is not too close to boil the liquid nor too far out that it would freeze, explained researchers to BBC.

According to Professor Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist, the planet is the most similar to Earth found to date both in terms of size and the amount of energy it receives from its star. "If you could stand on the surface of Kepler-186f, the brightness of its star at high noon would appear as bright as our sun is about an hour before sunset on Earth," announced NASA in a statement.

Although Kepler-186f has water, an essential ingredient for life, so far there is no indication of life forms on the planet. It is believed that given the erratic behaviour of small stars, such as the one this world orbits, any potential organisms could be bombarded with solar flares.

But located a mere 500 light-years away from Earth, this rocky planet could still surprise us.

Source: BBC, NASA

Scientists generate solar power in the dark

SCIENCEALERT STAFF

THURSDAY, 17 APRIL 2014

Share on emailShare on print Molecules known as photoswitches can absorb energy from the sun, store it and release it on demand, and researchers have devised a way to use them in domestic environments. Image: NASA When exposed to the sun, photoswitches absorb energy that is stable for long periods. To liberate the energy, all you have to do is expose the molecules to a very small amount of light, heat or electricity, explained Todd Woody at The Atlantic. The challenge, however, is to use photoswitches to make technology that releases energy on demand and can be easily installed in houses or offices.  Researchers used a chemical compound known as azobenzene and carbon nanotubes to generate solar power from photoswitches, and they succeeded in producing molecular solar storage technology that can be used at night to produce electricity. Commercialisation is now the big question.  Timothy Kurcharski, lead author of the study published in Nature Chemistry, told The Atlantic that the technology could be used in developing nations and will most likely be stored in liquid form, as it would be easy to transport. The users will need to store the liquid in a tank that is near a window to make sure the molecules receive energy from the sun, and then the charged liquid would need to be transported to a storage tank, where it will remain until needed.  “For solar cooking, one would leave the device out in the sun during the day,” Kucharski explained. “One design we have for such an application is purely gravity driven – the material flows from one tank to another. The flow rate is restricted so that it's exposed to the sun long enough that it gets fully charged. Then, when it's time to cook dinner, after the sun is down, the flow direction is reversed, again driven by gravity, and the opposite side of the setup is used as the cooking surface… As the material flows back to the first tank, it passes by an immobilized catalyst which triggers the energy-releasing process, heating the cooking surface up.” So yes, solar power in the dark is now a reality. Thank you, science! Source: The Atlantic

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Company develops device that charges your phone in 30 seconds

Tech startup teases us with a charger that promises to take your smartphone from 0 to 100% in under a minute.

Image: StoreDot

Israeli tech startup, StoreDot, claims to have created a new battery pack that can fully charge your phone in a mere 30 seconds. 

This life-changing power is thanks to microscopic magnets called nano dots, the inventors explained as they introduced the device on Monday at a Microsoft Think Next event in Tel Aviv.

Much to the disappointment of pretty much everyone reading this on a smartphone, the device won't be available to the public anytime soon. So far there's only a prototype for Samsung's Galaxy 4, and production won't commence until 2016, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The current price is predicted to be about double that of a regular phone charger.

Here's a video of the super-charger in action, just to make you more depressed about your dwindling battery power.

New technology could turn astronaut urine into fuel

Not satisfied with simply turning pee into drinking water, scientists have managed to also convert the waste products into an energy source.

Image: NASA

If you thought we were excited yesterday when naval scientists announced they'd converted seawater into jet fuel, you should have seen us when we read astronauts were doing the same with their urine - and producing drinkable water at the same time.

Scientists on board the International Space Station are constantly struggling with ways to get rid of waste, including bodily fluids. Instead of simply ejecting it into space, researchers from the University of Puerto Rico working with the NASA Ames Research Centre came up with a better plan - why not turn it into drinking water and do something useful with the waste products?

Using a process called forward osmosis, the researchers filtered the contaminants from the water and urea that make up urine. And then their Urea Bioreactor Electrochemical system efficiently converted the urea byproduct into ammonia. 

With an existing fuel cell, they proved they could turn the ammonia into energy. The system was able to remove more than 80 percent of organic carbons from the wastewater, and convert an impressive 86 percent of the urea to ammonia, the researchers reported in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

It's a great breakthrough for astronauts who have limited resources and storage room in space, but the system could also be used in any wastewater treatment systems containing urea and/or ammonia, the researchers concluded.

So that's pretty much any toilet, right? As far as sustainable (and accessible) energy components go, pee definitely seems much more practical than seawater.

Source: Discovery News, ACS