In the rapid and fast-growing world of nanotechnology, researchers are continually on the lookout for new building blocks to push innovation and discovery to scales much smaller than the tiniest speck of dust.

In the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, researchers are using DNA to make intricate nano-sized objects. Working at this scale holds great potential for advancing medical and electronic applications. DNA, often thought of as the molecule of life, is an ideal building block for nanotechnology because they self-assemble, snapping together into shapes based on natural chemical rules of attraction. This is a major advantage for Biodesign researchers like Hao Yan, who rely on the unique chemical and physical properties of DNA to make their complex nanostructures.

A breakthrough barrier technology from Singapore A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) protects sensitive devices like organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and solar cells from moisture 1000 times more effectively than any other technology available in the market, opening up new opportunities for the up-and-coming plastic electronics sector.

A team of scientists from Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) has developed a new patented film that has the highest reported water vapour barrier performance to date, as tested by the UK Centre for Process Innovation.

The tests have shown that the new film is 1,000 times more impervious to moisture than existing technologies. This means a longer lifetime for plastic electronic devices such as solar cells and flexible displays that use these high-end films but whose sensitive organic materials are easily degraded by water vapour and oxygen.

DUBLIN, Ireland and WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- 16 .mobi premium names to be made available at Moniker's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East Auction on May 23, 2008

As part of its ongoing series of unique methods of allocating Internet domain names, dotMobi -- the company behind the .mobi web address for mobile phones -- is bringing 16 "premium names" to market at Moniker's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East Auction on May 23, 2008.

Nanotubes are the big hope for the first decade of the 21st century. They offer promise to produce a new class of composite materials that are stronger than conventional composites for use in aircraft and vehicles. Now researchers at Purdue University say they can precisely measure the forces required to peel tiny nanotubes off of other materials, opening up the possibility of creating standards for nano-manufacturing and harnessing a gecko's ability to walk up walls.

So-called "peel tests" are used extensively in manufacturing. Knowing how much force is needed to pull a material off of another material is essential for manufacturing, but no tests exist for nanoscale structures, said Arvind Raman, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue.

Patients in therapy to overcome addictions have a new arena to test their coping skills — the virtual world. A new study by University of Houston Associate Professor Patrick Bordnick says that a virtual reality (VR) environment can provide the climate necessary to spark an alcohol craving so that patients can practice how to say “no” in a realistic and safe setting.

Bordnick, of the UH Graduate College of Social Work, investigates VR as a tool for assessing and treating addictions. He studied 40 alcohol-dependent people who were not receiving treatment (32 men and eight women). Wearing a VR helmet, each was guided through 18 minutes of virtual social environments that included drinking. The participant’s drink of choice was included in each scene.

Gestational age has long been the factor most commonly used to predict whether an extremely low-birth-weight infant survives and thrives, but four additional factors that can help predict a preemie’s outcome have been identified by the National Institutes of Health Neonatal Research Network.

Birth weight, gender, whether the baby is a twin and whether the mother was given antenatal steroid mediation to aid the baby’s lung development are all factors that affect survivability and risk of disability, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine by a consortium of researchers in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Neonatal Research Network. The 19-center network includes Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Maturity, in some respects, brings diminished possibilities. As a fertilized egg cell repeatedly divides to grow into a mature animal, most of the resulting cells become ever more specialized.

But a small number of cells, known as stem cells, remain uncommitted even as they spawn more specialized progeny. The most versatile stem cells, taken from days-old embryos, are able to form any cell type — but studying them in people is controversial.

Even in adults, however, other types of stem cells persist that have a more limited repertoire. Some replace specific cells as they wear out; others help to rebuild damaged tissues. Still other stem cells are suspected by some scientists of starting or maintaining cancers.

Now team of researchers led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have for the first time identified stem cells that allow the pituitary glands of mice to grow even after birth.

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

RGIS announced today the Acquisition of PDSRS, a leading company in retail space planning software. PDSRS based in the UK is the developer of StorPlanner, a state of the art store optimization software application. StorPlanner, combined with RGIS's R-Map and Visual Retail applications, will provide a unique tool for every retailer to optimize the use of their store-space. With the addition of the PDSRS tools RGIS is now in a position to offer an unparalleled turn-key solution for store mapping services and an interface between the RGIS store mapping output to all commonly used analytical software applications.

DUBLIN, Ireland and WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Information on more than 5,000 devices soon to be available in comprehensive database of global mobile handset information

dotMobi, the company behind .mobi -- the first and only Internet address designed specifically for mobile phones -- today unveiled forthcoming updates to the recently launched DeviceAtlas, which is the definitive global source of mobile handset information for mobile content developers.

LEUVEN, Belgium, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Terumo Europe N.V., an affiliate of Terumo Corporation, Japan - a global medical technology company, announced today the opening of a branch office in Switzerland. Located in Wettingen, the new office's focus will be the promotion of the company's large range of innovative technologies including vascular interventional systems, blood transfusion systems and perfusion systems for cardiac surgery.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061027/DEF004LOGO )