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Researchers have come up with yet another candidate for a male contraceptive — this time in the form of a chemical found in certain traditional arthritis remedies.

The team identified molecules that stop sperm from reaching the necessary speed to charge into the egg cell, opening the way for both a new kind of emergency contraceptive and prophylactic that anybody could use.

The target of these molecules is a small gate found throughout the sperm’s tail called Catsper (a combination of cation channel and sperm), which was identified in 2001 by researchers studying male infertility.

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N” Mobile phone apps took center stage at Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday as the search giant announced new features for its digital assistant and its popular photo app while devoting little time to the Android mobile operating system.

Addressing an audience of thousands of developers in Mountain View, California, Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets.

In a sign of the ongoing strategic importance of Google Assistant, the company’s artificial intelligence-driven, voice-controlled digital assistant, Google announced it would make the product available on Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the smartphone market and challenging Apple’s Siri feature on its own devices.

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The Rand Corporations 1960’s plans for an underground hypersonic tube train transport system. The plan back then was from NYC to LA in about 20 minutes.


We now have an idea of just what Elon Musk’s Boring Company is going to be for. Yes, it’s to solve traffic, but it looks like it isn’t meant just to be your usual tunnel for cars. In a new update today, the company asserts that it’s actually building a tunnel that can also run the Hyperloop.

Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk is ready to conquer space, roads, roofs, and now even tunnels. What started out as a simple musing on Twitter has become a full-blown startup aptly named The Boring Company. Today, the company added an FAQ page to their website, which offers an abundance of new information about their specific goals.

The most notable announcement that was finally confirmed? The Hyperloop.

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  • Researchers have constructed a laboratory model for a unique neurological disorder by transforming patients’ own cells using stem cell technology.
  • This innovation could also benefit the research of other neurological disorders that may also have roots in a dysfunctional blood-brain barrier, like Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

The human body is a melding of different systems designed to function well together. In some cases, however, a mechanism that protects the body can also cause it harm, like with the specialized shield of endothelial cells — called the blood-brain barrier — that keeps toxins in the blood from entering the brain.

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New research carried out one of the biggest ever studies of ancient genomes…


A Bronze Age ‘beaker culture’ invaded Britain 4,000 years ago: Intruders forced out ancient farmers that built famous relics such as Stonehenge.

  • New research carried out one of the biggest ever studies of ancient genomes
  • It found that beaker people forced prehistoric Neolithic farmers out of Britain
  • DNA analyses found that Britain underwent a 90 per cent shift in its genetic make-up when the beaker folk arrived

By Harry Pettit For Mailonline

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(Tech Xplore)—Researchers at the University of Bristol have figured out how you can whisper to someone up to 30 feet away. Their approach managed to translate facial expression into ultrasonic words.

David Lumb in Engadget said the researchers built a wearable ; its components are a worn on the forehead or chest and electrodes placed on the lips and jaw.

The only “snag,” as New Scientist called it, is fairly substantial. How could one be a stellar secret message-passing agent in a crowd when staring people would find it odd that person is wearing a speaker on his head and walking around with electrodes around his mouth.

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End of donations? Scientists are ‘tantalisingly close’ to creating human blood using a patient’s own SKIN…


Ground-breaking research could pave the way for blood cells to be generated from a patient’s own skin, spelling the end for blood donations.

Scientists have for the first time used embryonic stem cells — capable of creating every kind of tissue in the body to manufacture a broad range of human blood cells.

Using mice as living cell factories, they produced blood stem cells able to produce four blood cell types.

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