Space balloons and Salty men

[dracodraconis]

New Scientist Tech - Aviation

Nuclear rockets could cut cost of Moon base - Nuclear-powered rockets could save NASA billions of dollars in launch costs for its planned return to the Moon, a top nuclear scientist says. He argues that the higher efficiency of nuclear propulsion would reduce the number of launches needed to build a lunar base.

Second inflatable spacecraft launched - The firm Bigelow Aerospace has launched its second inflatable space module, Genesis 2, taking another step towards its goal of building crewed, inflatable space stations that could be leased to paying customers.

National Geographic News

Ancient "Salt Cured" Man Found in Iranian Mine - The mummy of a salt mine worker, naturally preserved in the mineral for 1,800 years, surfaced recently in Iran—but scientists might just leave it be.

Technology Review Feed - Biotech Top Stories

Listening for a Strange Brew - Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have devised a way to quickly measure and track the quality of fermenting liquids, such as beer, without having to draw samples from a batch. Sampling fermenting liquids is necessary to ensure quality, but it can be time-consuming and potentially contaminating. By using ultrasonic backscattering, a method of reading sound signals as they bounce off targets and back to a sensor, the PNNL team's system avoids these drawbacks and gives the brewer greater control over the fermenting process.

Physics Org

Simple Magnet Can Control Color of Liquid - University of California, Riverside nanotechnologists have succeeded in controlling the color of very small particles of iron oxide suspended in water simply by applying an external magnetic field to the solution. The discovery has potential to greatly improve the quality and size of electronic display screens and to enable the manufacture of products such as erasable and rewritable electronic paper and ink that can change color electromagnetically.

BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition

Good vibes power tiny generator - A tiny generator powered by natural vibrations could soon be helping keep heart pacemakers working.

Hopes for better vCJD diagnosis - Scientists are perfecting a test which they hope will confirm mad cow disease (vCJD) in humans.

Artificial skin 'cuts scarring' - A prototype artificial skin used to heal wounds has been developed by British researchers. ICX-SKN is produced from fibrin gel, a blood clotting protein and fibroblast cells, found in human skin.

Girl could give birth to sibling - A Canadian mother has frozen her eggs for use by her seven-year-old daughter, who is likely to become infertile.

Cloned sperm created in the lab - Cloning sperm could enable men with very low sperm counts to become fathers, say US scientists. By injecting a single healthy mouse sperm into a mouse egg from which the genetic material had been removed, they were able to make new sperm. With some refining, the Cornell University team believes the technique could be used for infertile couples.