An international team have used cutting edge genomic methods to uncover key biological insights that help explain the protective effects of the world's most advanced malaria vaccine candidate, RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S). 

RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine candidate to complete phase 3 trials. Originally designed by scientists at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 1987, development of the vaccine is now being advanced by a public-private partnership between GSK and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

Applying highly sensitive sequencing technology to more patient samples than previously tested, the team was able to determine that genetic variation in the protein targeted by RTS,S influences the vaccine's ability to ward off malaria in young children. 

A new crime scene identification technique for fingerprint detection and analysis adds a drop of liquid containing crystals to surfaces, which means investigators using a UV light are able to see invisible fingerprints "glow" in about 30 seconds.

The strong luminescent effect creates greater contrast between the latent print and surface enabling higher resolution images to be taken for easier and more precise analyses.

Sepsis is an inflammatory response to infection that's known to develop in hospital settings and can turn deadly when it's not discovered early on.

In a new study, a hospital surveillance program focusing on reducing the risks of sepsis, known as the two-stage Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system, was found to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes, such as death and hospice discharge for sepsis patients, by 30% over the course of one year. 

Researchers say they have added to evidence that a shell-shaped region in the center of the mammalian brain, known as the thalamic reticular nucleus or TRN, is likely responsible for the ability to routinely and seamlessly multitask. 

The process, they suggest, is done by individual TRN neurons that act like a "switchboard," continuously filtering sensory information and shifting more or less attention onto one sense -- like sight -- while relatively blocking out distracting information from other senses, including sound.

The Death Star of the movie Star Wars may be fictional, but planetary destruction is real. Astronomers announced today that they have spotted a large, rocky object disintegrating in its death spiral around a distant white dwarf star. The discovery also confirms a long-standing theory behind the source of white dwarf "pollution" by metals.

"This is something no human has seen before," says lead author Andrew Vanderburg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "We're watching a solar system get destroyed."

When a star comes too close to a black hole, the intense gravity of the black hole results in tidal forces that can rip the star apart. In these events, called tidal disruptions, some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speeds, while the rest falls toward the black hole. This causes a distinct X-ray flare that can last for years.

A team of astronomers has observed a tidal disruption event in a galaxy that lies about 290 million light years from Earth, the closest tidal disruption discovered in about a decade.