The first tissue-engineered trachea (windpipe), utilizing the patient's own stem cells, has been successfully transplanted into a young woman with a failing airway. The bioengineered trachea immediately provided the patient with a normally functioning airway, thereby saving her life. 

These remarkable results provide crucial new evidence that adult stem cells, combined with biologically compatible materials, can offer genuine solutions to other serious illnesses.

Global land use patterns and increasing pressures on water resources demand creative urban stormwater management. Traditional stormwater management focuses on regulating the flow of runoff to waterways, but generally does little to restore the hydrologic cycle disrupted by extensive pavement and compacted urban soils with low permeability. The lack of infiltration opportunities affects groundwater recharge and has negative repercussions on water quality downstream.

One of the biggest threats to today's farmlands is the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil organic matter (SOM) from poor land-management practices. The presence of these materials is essential as they do everything from providing plants with proper nutrients to filtering harmful chemical compounds to the prevention of soil erosion. Sustainable management practices for crop residues are critical for maintaining soil productivity, but being able to measure a loss in the quality of soil can be difficult.

In contrast to recent findings, two of the most common medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not appear to cause genetic damage in children who take them as prescribed, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Duke University Medical Center.

ADHD is a disorder characterized by attention problems, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. About 3 percent of children in the United States have been diagnosed with the disorder, although some studies suggest 7 to 12 percent of children may be affected.

We don't have ten years, as Al Gore predicted in 2006, dangerous levels of carbon dioxide are already here, say 10 scientists, and the level of globe-warming carbon dioxide in the air has probably already reached a point where world climate will change disastrously unless the level can be reduced in coming decades. 

Their new study is markedly different from consensus projections that carbon dioxide levels would become critical later this century.   They publish their new estimates in the current edition of the Open Atmospheric Science Journal.

A new study by researchers at the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center suggests that the incidence of heterosexual anal sex is increasing among teens and young adults – particularly those who have recently had unprotected vaginal sex. These findings mirror recent data that show anal sex rates among adults doubled between the years 1995 and 2004.

The study, published online by the American Journal of Public Health, is among the first to report on the little-known factors associated with heterosexual anal intercourse among adolescents and young adults.

by Diane Banegas, National Science Foundation

Researchers at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities are studying a remarkable species of bacteria, Geobacter sulfurreducens, that produces electric current when attached to a graphite electrode or other conductive surface.

Geobacter's current capability already has been harnessed in so-called "microbial fuel cells" that use bacteria to convert wastewater organic compounds into electricity. Daniel Bond, a microbiologist at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and his team have demonstrated the same phenomenon can be harnessed for use in batteries and biosensors. 

MACAU, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, and Huawei, a leading provider of next-generation end-to-end telecommunications solutions, have joined forces to help the mobile industry realise the huge potential market for consumer and industrial goods that can connect to 3G mobile networks. Huawei has joined the GSMA's Mobile Broadband Embedded initiative, which will initially focus on bringing the benefits of continuous mobile connectivity to the consumer electronics, clean energy, healthcare, transport and utilities sectors.

EDMONTON, Canada, November 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Syncrude Partners Agree to Pay CDN$975 Million in Additional Royalties

The Government of Alberta and the Syncrude joint venture owners have reached an agreement that will see the owners pay CDN$975 million in additional royalties beginning in 2010 through 2015. This provides for full implementation of the New Royalty Framework by 2009 and meets the government's objectives for negotiated revisions to Crown agreements.

Imagine a future for ice cubes that burn, it may sounds impossible but gas hydrates are an alternate energy source said to put every other fossil fuel to shame.

Gas Hydrates are an ice-like solid composed from the bonding of water and natural gas molecules. The lattice-structure traps gas particles (mostly methane) within the ice. Hydrates form under the low temperatures and high pressures of the ocean floor, usually at depths greater than 500 meters and are primarily found to occur within sedimentary deposits along continental shelves and also beneath Arctic permafrost. The exact amount and whereabouts of the world's hydrate supply is unknown, but technological advances are pushing science closer to these answers.