First successful transplantation of a synthetic tissue engineered windpipe

For the first time in history, a patient has been given a new trachea made from a synthetic scaffold seeded with his own stem cells. The patient, a 36-year old man, is well on the way to full recovery from the recent operation in Sweden and is now being discharged from the hospital.

Scientists drag light by slowing it to speed of sound

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Glasgow have, for the first time, been able to drag light by slowing it down to the speed of sound and sending it through a rotating crystal.

First patients receive lab-grown blood vessels from donor cells

For the first time, blood vessels created in the lab from donor skin cells were successfully implanted in patients. Functioning blood vessels that aren

Tinyest fuel cell generates power from bacteria

A tiny biological fuel cell, the smallest of its kind (0.3 microliters), has been built by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), powered by

Progress using induced pluripotent stem cells to reverse blindness

Researchers have used cutting-edge stem cell technology to correct a genetic defect present in a rare blinding disorder, another step on a promising path that may one day lead to therapies to reverse blindness caused by common retinal diseases.

Using living cells as an 'invisibility cloak' to hide drugs

The quest for better ways of encapsulating medicine so that it can reach diseased parts of the body has led scientists to harness -- for the first time -- living human cells to produce natural capsules with channels for releasing drugs and diagnostic agents.

New cell type offers immunology hope

Scientists have discovered a new type of cell in the immune system. The new cell type, a kind of white blood cell, belongs to a family of T-cells that play a critical role in protection against infectious disease. Their findings could ultimately lead to the development of novel drugs that strengthen the immune response against particular types of infectious organisms.

Under pressure, sodium, hydrogen could undergo a metamorphosis, emerging as superconductor

In the search for superconductors, finding ways to compress hydrogen into a metal has been a point of focus ever since scientists predicted many years ago that electricity would flow, uninhibited, through such a material.

In very narrow spaces, liquids behave more like gels

Three molecules thick, or two, or one: how does an extremely thin layer of trapped liquid behave when we make it even thinner? Measurements made using the atomic force microscope show that the forces of friction increase with each step. Liquids begin to behave more like a gel, according to new research.

Pioneering stem cell bandage receives approval in UK for clinical trial

Millions of people with knee injuries could benefit from a new type of stem cell bandage treatment if clinical trials are successful. The world

Research breakthrough allows paraplegic man to stand on his own

In a significant medical prothesis breakthrough, Rob Summers, 25, a pitcher for Oregon State University who was completely paralyzed below the chest five

Full 3-d invisibility cloak in visible light

Watching things disappear is an amazing experience. But making items vanish is not the reason scientists work to create invisibility cloaks. Rather, the magic-like tricks are attractive demonstrations of the fantastic capabilities that new optical theories and nanotechnology construction methods now enable.

Bacteria can grow under extreme gravity: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that bacteria is capable of growing under gravity more than 400,000 times that of Earth and gives evidence that the theory of panspermia could be possible.

Chemists fabricate 'impossible' material

(PhysOrg.com) -- When atoms combine to form compounds, they must follow certain bonding and valence rules. For this reason, many compounds simply cannot exist. But there are some compounds that, although they follow the bonding and valence rules, still are thought to not exist because they have unstable structures. Scientists call these compounds "impossible compounds." Nevertheless, some of these impossible compounds have actually been fabricated (for example, single sheets of graphene were once considered impossible compounds). In a new study, scientists have synthesized another one of these impossible compounds -- periodic mesoporous hydridosilica -- which can transform into a photoluminescent material at high temperatures.

Antihelium-4: physicists nab new record for heaviest antimatter

(PhysOrg.com) -- Members of the international STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider -- a particle accelerator used to recreate and study conditions of the early universe at the U.S. Department of Energy