End of Cling film.....Silk wrap invented

                Scientists have invented a cling film-like food wrap made from silk that can preserve fruit for more than week. It’s a natural, biodegradable alternative to plastic. International concern has been growing about plastic waste, particularly the amount that washes into the sea. One estimate is that by 2050 there will more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans. Now a team of biomedical engineers at Tufts University in the US have developed a technique that enables food to be coated with an almost invisible layer of fibroin, a protein found in silk, which helps make it one of nature’s toughest materials, according to report in The Independent. The lead researchers, Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto, said the world should probably move “towards processes that are more efficient and more naturally derived” and developed materials that “are closer to things that surround us, rather than having more man-made, processed materials for the general well being of our planet”.

Lab-Grown human embryo lives for 14 days

                Scientists reported on 4 may that they had grown human embryos in the lab for nearly two weeks, an unprecedented feat that promises advances in assisted reproduction, stem-cell therapies and the basic understanding of how human being form. Besides opening a window onto the first steps in the creation of an individual, the findings in parallel studies may help explain early miscarriages and why in vitro fertilization has such a high failure rate. The research also showed for the first time that newly-forming human embryos can mature beyond a few days outside a mother’s womb, something that was previously thought to be impossible.

                But the widely hailed results also set science on a collision course with national laws and ethical guidelines, experts cautioned. Up to now, a so-called “14-day rule” –o which says that human embryos cannot be cultured in the lab for more than two weeks – has never been seriously challenged simply because no one had succeeded in keeping them alive that long. In this case, the scientists destroyed the embryos to avoid breaching that limit.

                Next to nothing is known about how the small, hollow bundle of cells called a blastocyst – emerging from a fertilized egg – attach to the uterus, allowing an embryo to begin to take shape. This portion of human development – called implantation – was a completer black box. Building on previous work with mice, researchers concocted a chemical soup and scaffolding to duplicate this process “in vitro”, or in a petri dish. “We were able to create a system that properly recapitulates what happens during human implantation,” said researchers.

UAE to build 'Mountain' to increase rainfall

                The United Arab Emirates is planning to build a man-made mountain to increase rainfall. The desert nation is hoping the major project will recreate the effect of mountain ranges and force air to rise, creating clouds that will allow cloud-seeding. Cloud-seeding is a type of weather modification which aims to alter the amount and type of precipitation produced by clouds. Scientists from National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) run by the US-based University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) are currently in “detailed modeling study” phase. They are deciding on the most effective locations in the Emirates states to built it, while also pondering how wide and tall it should be. The UAE already has a permanent weather modification department which spent $385,400 on cloud-seeding last year alone.

Test your lung function over a call

                Scientists, including those of Indian origin, have developed a new health sensing tool that can accurately measure lung function over a simple call made using any phone. Most people in the developing world who have asthma, cystic fibrosis or other chronic lung diseases have no way to measure how well their lungs are functioning. With SpiroCall, you can call a 1-800 number, blow into the phone and use the telephone network to test your lung function. SpiroCall transmits the collected audio using a standard phone channel – as opposed to a sound file that is transferred by a smartphone app over the Internet. The team combined multiple regression algorithms to provide reliable lung function estimates despite degraded audio quality. The team also developed a 3D printed whistle that can be used in conjunction with SpiroCall that changes pitch when the patient exhales.