Researchers have developed smart antibiotics that target specific bacteria and sever their DNA, thereby eliminating multi-drug resistant bacteria.
The new approach, published online in the journal mBio, uses the bacterial immune system, called the CRISPR-Cas system. This immune system protects the bacteria by creating strands of RNA called CRISPR RNAs, which match the DNA of the invader and then unleash proteins to cut the invader's DNA.
Researchers devised a way to make these CRISPR RNAs target the DNA sequences of the bacteria, causing bacterial suicide when the Cas proteins begin to attack the bacteria's DNA.
Antibiotic 'smart bomb' can target bad bacteria
Former N.J. prosecutor wants open records on quashed indictment of Christie ally
A former New Jersey county prosecutor says he was fired by the Christie administration for fighting efforts to quash the indictment of an ally of the governor.
Bennett A. Barlyn has filed a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal, the (Newark) Star-Ledger reported Wednesday. He was dismissed as Hunterdon County prosecutor in 2010 and now teaches in Pennsylvania.
My Fox News Nightmare: How I Tortured Myself with The Propaganda of Ignorance
One October evening, in the midst of the 2013 government shutdown, I watched Bill O’Reilly work himself into something of a state. He sat at his desk, his hands palms upward, fingers slightly curved, as if cupping something in them. “I want Hagel.” he said, staring into the camera. “I want Hagel. I want him.”
A casual observer might interpret this moment as O’Reilly expressing his fierce but tender desire for Chuck Hagel, the Secretary of Defense. More experienced O’Reilly viewers, however, will recognize it as a signal that the unfortunate Hagel had plummeted downward in O’Reilly’s estimation from pinhead to evildoer. (There are only three kinds of people in Bill O’Reilly’s world: good hardworking Americans, pinheads—people who are not actually malevolent but who are too stupid to understand the way the world really works—and evildoers.)
Researchers turn adult cells back into stem cells
In a step that has implications for stem cell research, human biology and the treatment of disease, researchers in Japan and at Harvard University have managed to turn adult cells back into flexible stem cells without changing their DNA.
The researchers discovered that they could put cells in various challenging circumstances – including in acidic solutions and under physical pressure – and turn mature blood cells into cells that were capable of turning into virtually any cell in the body.
State of the Union 2014: Obama to raise minimum wage for federal workers
President Barack Obama will act to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors from $7.25 to $10.10, fulfilling a big wish for liberals, the White House announced.
The executive order to be announced at Tuesday’s State of the Union address would cover only the fraction of 2 million federal contractors making the minimum wage.
The president will also renew his call for Congress to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 via a bill from Democrats Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. George Miller of California that would then tie it to the rate of inflation.
Ten-minute online test can help estimate Alzheimer's risk
Many risk factors for Alzheimer's disease are linked to lifestyle or environment and the risk can be decreased at all ages, researchers in Australia say.
Lead researcher Professor Kaarin Anstey of the Australian National University in Canberra said a free 10-minute online test developed by ANU researchers is helping people assess their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Marlboro ad man Eric Lawson dies of chronic lung disease
Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.
Lawson died on 10 January at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Susan Lawson, said on Sunday.
Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as Baretta and The Streets of San Francisco when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and Baywatch. His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a western film ended his career in 1997.
Alex Baer: Pop Goes Another Resolution
A case might be made that January is named after the various American demigods of tax calculation computer programs, weight-loss schemes, resolution daydreams, and instant makeovers of home, family, friends, wardrobes, exercise equipment, cars, relationships -- you name it.
All it takes is a little champagne and the turn of a calendar page: Presto, there goes another resolution. One year gone, here comes another. Up one minute, out the next. Now you see it, now you don't. It's the ultimate in on-demand convenience, good intentions, and the sort of regretful, pawing, nagging lapsed morality we've perfected hereabouts -- a real natural for Life in These Here Benighted, You-nited States.
Israeli military whistleblower freed
Israel's prison service says a former soldier who passed hundreds of classified documents to a newspaper reporter has been freed after more than two years in jail.
Spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Anat Kamm walked free Sunday morning.
Kamm began serving a prison term at the end of 2011 after being convicted of passing military information to a Haaretz reporter.
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