Tiny magnets made by bacteria could be used to kill tumors, say researchers.

A team at the University of Edinburgh has developed a method of making the nanomagnets stronger, opening the way for their use in cancer treatment.

The bacteria-produced magnets are better than man-made versions because of their uniform size and shape, the Nature Nanotechnology study reported.

It is hoped one day the magnets could be guided to tumour sites and then activated to destroy cancerous cells.

The bacteria take up iron from their surroundings and turn it into a string of magnetic particles.

They use the chains of particles like a needle of a compass to orientate themselves and search for oxygen-rich environments.

Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers presumably shatter wine glasses.

New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death.

"The capsid of a virus is something like the shell of a turtle," said physicist Otto Sankey of Arizona State University. "If the shell can be compromised [by mechanical vibrations], the virus can be inactivated."

Monday , March 03, 2008

Ironically, this political unanimity is occurring as global temperatures have been cooling dramatically over the last decade.