Sweaty cure

IT IS a losing battle for conventional antibiotic drugs. Many of them can no longer effectively control or kill their target microbes. The threat of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria has necessitated development of new antimicrobials, called the next-generation antibiotics.

Fabric filter

ACCESS to safe drinking water is one of the biggest health concerns in the developing world. The humble cotton sari and a little bit of sunshine might provide a simple solution, shows a study.

Science and Technology - Briefs

ECOLOGY Heat is on

Science and Technology - Briefs

Material Sciences Live wire Here is a wire you can stretch, bend or cut and it would still work. Scientists have created the self-healing, elastic wire using liquid metal and a polymer. Small tunnels are bored in polymer sheath and are filled with a liquid alloy of indium and gallium, forming a liquid metal wire inside the stretchable sheath.

Science and Technology - Briefs

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Finned polluter

The inside story

EMERGENCE of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis bacteria has rendered most TB drugs useless. Scientists are now scrambling to find new antibiotics to treat the disease. A study on how a popular TB drug works has come as the first step towards developing better strategies to fight the bacterium that kills millions every year.

Science and Technology - Briefs

PHYSICS Fishy behaviour Survival of silvery fishes like sardines depend on their ability to reflect maximum light and remain nearly invisible to predators. But it is well known that reflective surfaces polarise light, a process which should have made the fish visible. The fish owe their survival to the presence of two types of crystals in their skin.

Make way for Indian probiotics

Science and Technology - Briefs

HEALTH SCIENCES The villain gets nastier The toxin bisphenol A (BPA) is found in plastics, dental sealants and grocery receipts. It is a known hormone disrupter. But its impact on the hormones produced by the thyroid gland remain unknown. These hormones are essential for cognitive development of children.

When supervisors cheat

The book under review is about a sordid chapter in the history of medical invention. In the 1940s, US president Roosevelt launched an initiative to develop antibiotics to treat animals and humans, and to deal with the potential threat of biological warfare. Among the graduate students in the department was Albert Schatz, who was analysing soil samples to find an antibiotic that would cure tuberculosis.