Nine Months

Radio Waves 'See' Through Walls

Engineers have shown that a wireless network of radio transmitters can track people moving behind solid walls. The system could help police, firefighters and others nab intruders, and rescue hostages, fire victims and elderly people who fall in their homes. It also might help retail marketing and border control.

Ironing Out Genetic Cause Of Hemoglobin Problems

A gene with a significant effect on regulating hemoglobin in the body has been identified as part of a genome-wide association study, which looked at the link between genes and hemoglobin level in 16,000 people. The research shows a strong association between a gene known as TMPRSS6 and the regulation of hemoglobin.

Opportunity To Usurp Reproductive Power Of Royal Throne Keeps Worker Termites Home

Termite offspring may stay in their birth colony to help their queen and king parents rather than leave to try and start their own family because their chance of inheriting the 'reproductive throne' is higher than their chance of successfully dispersing, finding a mate, and surviving to produce fertile offspring on their own.

Inhibitors Of Important Tuberculosis Survival Mechanism Identified

Attempts to eradicate tuberculosis are stymied by the fact that the disease-causing bacteria have a sophisticated mechanism for surviving dormant in infected cells. Now, a team of scientists has identified compounds that inhibit that mechanism -- without damaging human cells -- which could lead to the design of new anti-TB drugs.

New Lab-on-a-chip Technique Developed

Scientists have developed a new "lab-on-a-chip" technique that analyzes tiny samples of blood and breast tissue to identify women at risk of breast cancer much more quickly than ever before.

Stranger Homicide By People With Schizophrenia Is Rare -- And Unpredictable

Homicide of strangers by people with schizophrenia is so rare that is impossible to predict who might offend or when it might happen, say researchers. More than half of offenders in the study had never been treated for schizophrenia -- earlier treatment for the first episode of psychosis and good quality care could prevent some homicides, the study concludes.

Physicists Measure Elusive 'Persistent Current' That Flows Forever

Physicists have made the first definitive measurements of "persistent current," a small but perpetual electric current that flows naturally through tiny rings of metal wire even without an external power source.

Blood Counts Are Clues To Human Disease

New research examines that most important and diverse of tissues -- blood -- for genetic markers important in health. Scientists have found 15 new genetic variants associated with diseases including anemia, infection and blood cancers. Among these, they show that one variant associated with heart disease arose and spread in European peoples only 3,400 years ago. Further characterization of the regions uncovered could improve our understanding of how blood cell development is linked with human diseases.

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