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Two new drug candidates for treating radiation poisoning are uncovered in a study this week. Hartmut Geiger and colleagues use a genetic screen to identify new regulators of radiation sensitivity in mice and discover that a pathway that controls blood clotting and inflammation unexpectedly provides protection against radiation damage.

An efficient method of producing the biofuel ethanol from oil palm waste is published in the Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science. Researchers first separated glucose from cellulose in the plant matter, and then used it as a substrate for ethanol production.

Silver nanostructures exhibit a resonance feature that is useful for a multitude of sensing applications.

New design reduces the areal footprint of nanowire transistors by a factor of two. Xiang Li at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics and co-workers have now integrated two transistors onto a single vertical silicon nanowire, pushing the areal density limit of nanowire transistors even further.

A Perspective article in this week’s Nature discusses concerns that were raised about making the data from two H5N1-related papers available and emphasizes the importance of ongoing research to advance our understanding of infectious diseases.

Ottawa, Canada, June 20, 2011 - CA$16.5 million for six new international research projects announced.

Kor & Teoh, researchers at Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia have developed an Integrative Literature Review Software to help academics and students to write the literature reviews of their research. The template also helps students analyze and synthesize the literature.

A growing proportion of the public in Western democracies deny anthropogenic climate change, and experts assume that climate deniers need to be ‘converted’ to get them acting in support of mitigation policy. A study in Nature Climate Change this week questions such common assumptions.

A pioneering study by researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has shed light on the prevention of heat stroke for outdoor workers in a scientific manner. One of the major recommendations is to link up the Very Hot Weather Signal issued by the Hong Kong Observatory with additional breaks for outdoor workers on stuffy work days.

This fertilizer has improved the income of the hard core poor in rural areas.

A large-scale resource for investigating microbial communities throughout the human body and an analysis of these data is reported in two studies in this week’s Nature. Microbial communities that live on and in the human body, collectively known as the ‘microbiome’, are thought to have a critical role in human health and disease.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Canada has underscored its 35 years of strong and sustained partnership in the 9th ASEAN-Canada Dialogue held on June 7 to 8 in Bangkok, Thailand.

This month’s article is “A Road Toward Sustainable Recovery”, looking at the proposal to establish a large-scale biobank in North East Japan.

With over 10 years of history in educating children with learning disabilities, parents can now turn to Manulife Centre for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities developed by PolyU's Department of Applied Social Sciences for effective early intervention.

In a number of recent Hollywood hit films, robots do all kinds of spectacular things, from battling it out in boxing rings to saving the world from alien invaders. Seagate Technology is helping university students in Thailand bring those futuristic visions a little closer to reality.

A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) announces a collaboration with Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, for the research and development of advanced power electronics devices.

Clues to how a rare group of patients can resist infection by HIV are reported in a paper this week in Nature Immunology. So-called ‘elite controllers’ are able to retain normal immune function and undetectable levels of HIV infection despite regular exposure to the virus.

An innovative computer program brings color to grayscale images

Imaging nanoporous metals with beams of electrons provides deep insights into the unusual optical properties of these materials

New patterning technique produces a faithful reproduction of grayscale images down to the micrometer level

A*STAR’s Snap2Tell image recognition technology is at the forefront of new media applications for mobile phone and iPad users.

A comprehensive analysis of endangered species threat records and of international trade patterns shows how consumers in developed countries drive biodiversity threats in developing countries. The study reveals that, excluding invasive species, 30% of global species threats are due to international trade.

Opening a way to a new hybrid composite, Mohd Iqbal Misnon and collaborators of UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia tested hybrid composites made of rubberwood, coconut shell and textile fabrics (woven cotton and polyester fabrics).

Singapore, 6 June 2012 - The 2nd phase will build on the work accomplished in Phase I to develop 3 product-oriented (PO) devices, namely, the Oscillator, Magnetometer and Energy Harvester, which are among the fastest growing MEMS devices in the next five years.

The resulting technology will substantially enhance performance, lower costs and shrink the size of multi-megapixel image sensors found in mobile applications such as smart phones, digital cameras and tablet personal computers.

Singapore, 4 June 2012 - The temperature sensor will be part of a tyre pressure monitoring system which maintains the correct tyre pressure for comfortable driving, fuel efficiency, longer tyre-life and higher safety for the driver.

A rapid rise in radiocarbon around AD 775 measured in tree rings is attributed to an increase of cosmic-ray intensity. The specific cause of this cosmic-ray event remains to be determined, but this study suggests that neither a solar flare nor a local supernova is likely to have been responsible.

From fish collagen for cosmetics and medical applications to multi-petaflop supercomputing, and environmentally responsive organic materials—the Tokyo Institute of Technology Bulletin contains the latest information about cutting edge research projects and related activities at Tokyo Tech.

Tokyo Tech’s Toshiyuki Ikoma and Junzo Tanaka have developed technology for producing artificial bones from fish scales and apatite. Ikoma describes the potential of fish collagen for cosmetics, artificial bones, and other medical applications in a video interview in the latest issue of Tokyo Tech’s online newsletter the Tokyo Tech Bulletin.

Singapore, 31 May 2012 - Singapore today announced the establishment of the Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology Centre (ARTC), the first centre in Asia to look into research and development (R&D) to develop technologies for remanufacturing that can be readily adopted by industry.