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The world's smallest ear doesn't belong to any animal. Instead, it's a tiny piece of gold suspended in a laser beam. It can hear sounds a million times fainter than any human ear can, making it a powerful acoustic microscope. More »
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Our most powerful antibiotics can kill many different kinds of bacterial infections at once, but we're still searching for a single all-purpose drug that kills viruses. We may have just discovered it. More »
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For hundreds of years, immunization has been one of society's most elegant and dependable methods of disease prevention. Vaccines have been developed for infections ranging from measles to HPV. Many of us get vaccinated to protect ourselves against seasonal illness, or before traveling internationally. Vaccination is safe. It is dependable. It works. More »
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People who still rely on public laundromats live in terror of bleach. If one person spills their bleach over a counter, or overloads the machine, an entire wardrobe is wiped out. But someday clothing could be entirely bleach-resistant. It won't be dyed with pigments. It will be dyed with viruses. More »
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Last week it came to our attention that the phrase "blast off" was coined—not in a purely scientific context, but a science fictional one—by E. E. Smith, an early science fiction author often referred to as "the father of space opera." The term appeared in Smith's 1937 story Galactic Patrol, when one character inquires of another, "How long do you figure it'll be before it's safe for us to blast off?" More »
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Scientists have known for some time that dogfish sharks, like the one pictured up top, naturally produce a broad-spectrum antibiotic called squalamine in their livers. Now, new research into the cellular function of squalamine reveals how it also confers a broad-spectrum antiviral benefit for the shark — one we humans could benefit from, as well. More »
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Viruses never act realistic on television or in the movies — usually, they just kill their hosts way too quickly, probably with a brief fever and some well-spritzed movie sweats. But sometimes, fake viruses get way more insane. More »
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High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is one of the leading risk factors behind strokes, heart failure, aneurysms, and other deadly serious medical conditions. But here's the weird thing about hypertension: we don't actually know what causes it. More »
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Well, yes of course we should destroy all smallpox. But recently the disease was spared the chop, due to US pressure on the World Health Organization. Why would we want keep this killer alive? More »
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Want to trick your brain into making you feel less hungry? Now a new study shows how scientists could use a virus to alter your brain so you don't get as hungry. More »
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In 2009, swine flu created a minor pandemic, only killing about 15,000 people but infecting millions more. The avian flu H9N2 is ravaging bird populations throughout Asia. They're bad enough on their own...but what if they joined forces? More »
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New images from the virus film Contagion, which people are calling Crash meets Outbreak, show Jude Law (who plays an angry damn-the-man blogger) handing out leaflets to the ruined masses, warning that the CDC is FULL OF LIES. Methinks Jude needs to be a bit more concerned about his ridiculous suit than the CDC. But the rest of the snaps look fantastic. More »
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Learning there's no cure to the common cold is many people's first introduction to the frustrating limits of medical science. A new breakthrough could prove that old saying wrong. More »
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As humans implant mechanical devices into their bodies - starting with relatively simple devices like pacemakers - computer viruses become just as dangerous as their biological equivalent. One man made himself a guinea pig to test this potential threat. More »
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It doesn't matter how many times you got the cootie shot on the playground; when you kiss another person, you're going mouth-to-mouth with their germs. And according to researchers, those kissing germs are extremely important to human reproduction. More »
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Scientists have discovered an unexpected fact about bird flu: It might be a sexually-transmitted disease, at least in ducks. And, just as unexpectedly, the key to transmission may be all about penis size and vagina "complexity." More »
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We're taught to think about viruses in certain ways. "Beautiful" isn't one of them, but British artist Luke Jerram - who created these sculptures with virologists and glassblowers - is looking to challenge our preconceptions with his new work. [Guardian.co.uk] More »
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Fox may have dropped the ball on bringing Guillermo del Toro's The Strain to life as a television series, but plans are afoot to bring the gonzo vampire tale to the small screen, with a showrunner intimately familiar with bloodsuckers. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5326133&view=rss&microfeed=true Officials at a Denver hospital admitted over the weekend that they treated a case of deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever last year. Marburg is related to the Ebola virus, made infamous in bestselling book The Hot Zone, and kills 80 percent of those who contract it within days after exposure. The man who was treated in Denver caught it while visiting a python cave in Uganda, and made a full recovery. Another tourist who visited the same cave died after returning home, and the cave has since been closed. More »
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Virus gets a bum rap, but its special effects are incredible. No film, before or since, has depicted cyborgs as so improvised, so ramshackle, so... crappy. And, maybe as a result, so terrifying. More »
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By all rights, vampires should make terrible subjects for science fiction. Your classic Bram Stoker-inspired nosferatu is a rather mystical affair – dead, cursed, and in spiritual exile from the Christian God, achieving immortality through a parody of a sacred sacrament. And yet, writers and filmmakers seem determined to wedge their favorite bloodsuckers into science fiction. But can a story be truly science fiction while remaining true to the spirit of the legends? We looked at the various ways artists try to cross the genres. More »
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We love a good science fiction story, but sometimes reality is just as strange. While we may have seen 2001 come and go without an actual space odyssey, the last eight years have been full of events that - had they not actually happened - could easily pass for science fiction. Here are five real life events that still seem like they've come straight from the set-up of a big budget summer blockbuster. More »
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New shaky handy-cam-style footage from the quarantined camera crew locked in an LA apartment building with bloodthirsty plague-ridden tenants shows what happens when the government steps in to control a vampire-ish epidemic. Watch the happy faced reporter get dragged kicking and screaming through a government quarantined apartment building infested with infected, blood thirsty tenants plus infected kids. When the dust settles, the reporter's video is the only evidence of what happened in the building. More »
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With a little genetic tweaking, homo sapiens could become naturally resistant to HIV. A gene that can disassemble the HIV virus inside its cell before it spreads to another cell lurks dormant in the body of every person infected with HIV. The problem is getting that gene to turn on and start stopping HIV in its tracks. Right now, a team of researchers at University of Alberta in Canada have been destroying HIV viruses by inserting the gene, called TRIM22, into cells. Once they figure out how to control TRIM22, the question is whether everyone should get the gene activated in their bodies at birth as a preventative measure. More »
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When people start shoving huge ponytail holder needles into their own necks, and dive-bombing themselves off skyscrapers, then it's probably safe to assume that something is "Happening." In this new trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's newest film The Happening, that's just what happens. People start committing mass suicide and dropping dead like flies, which causes Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off to remark, "There appears to be an event happening." This character is obviously gifted with keen powers of observation. More »
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At last, a trailer is out for Doomsday, the non-zombie film starring a world-ravaging virus that results in Scotland being walled off. It looks like 28 Days Later meets 28 Weeks Later plus a serving of Mad Max on the side with a couple of dashes from the I Am Legend shaker. In other words, it starts out with a ton of promise and promptly devolves into something that leaves you feeling like you might throw up. Plus it begins with the Sparta-sounding "THIS. IS. OUR. CITY!" Check it out. 'Doomsday' Trailer Finally Online [Bloody Disgusting] More »
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As we all learned from watching I Am Legend, scientists are now using virus shells (the hard and pointy outside of a virus that you see here) to deliver gene-tinkering drugs to your body as swiftly as possible. Virus shells are the perfect delivery system because the little bugs are designed to latch onto your cells and inject stuff into them. Bad viruses deliver genome-disturbing disease; good ones can deliver life-saving drugs. Now a rabies virus shell is being used to deliver tumor-destroying drugs to the brain. More »
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The original concept art for I Am Legend was much bleaker and more post-apocalyptic than the movie's final look. Production designer David Lazan talked to us about why he and director Francis Lawrence opted for a more gorgeous back-to-nature look. Our interview, plus a concept art gallery, after the jump. More »
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At one point during I Am Legend, hitting theaters this Friday, Robert Neville (Will Smith) recounts how many people were decimated by the evil virus. Based on the numbers he gave, we've made you a helpful pie chart to sort it all out. Click to enlarge. More »
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A trailer for the upcoming movie I Am Legend shows Will Smith and his canine buddy wandering an entirely empty New York City. But that's nothing new. Hollywood has always loved to show one of the most bustling cities on the planet smashed to hell and emptied of human life. More »
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One point that Battlestar Galactica keeps trying to hammer home is "All this has happened before, and will happen again." With yet another scifi remake on the horizon, they may be more right than they know. The Sci Fi channel announced back in 2004 that they would be making a miniseries version of Michael Crichton's novel The Andromeda Strain with Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, and Frank Darabont producing. It's not clear if the Scotts and Darabont are still involved, but the mini has shifted from Sci Fi to A&E, and will be airing in February. What is going to make this worth watching? More »
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