Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have discovered how to transfer the optical properties of silicon crystal sensors to plastic, an achievement that could lead to the development of flexible, implantable devices capable of monitoring the delivery of drugs within the body, the strains on a weak joint or even the healing of a suture.

The discovery is detailed in the March 28 issue of Science by a UCSD team that pioneered the development of a number of novel optical sensor

Timing of childbirth cited as key factor

Europe’s population has aged to such a degree that it will likely continue to shrink, even if birthrates rebound to a one-for-one replacement level, a new study suggests. A major part of this trend is due to the fact that women have been postponing childbirth for increasing lengths of time, the authors have found. Their research appears in the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The manufacture of electronic devices such as the new generation of video mobile phones could be revolutionised thanks to assembly research being pioneered at the University of Greenwich.

This research will provide industry with the microsystems assembly technology to allow cheaper mass production of the next generation of intelligent products, such as mobiles, visual display equipment and medical devices. It could, for example, be used to develop minute ’invisible’ hearing aids.

A pulsed electric arc could provide an alternative to chlorination and other chemical methods of disinfecting water, according to researchers from the University of Poitiers, France, speaking to the Institute of Physics’ Congress on March 27 at Heriot-Watt University.

Water treatment is usually carried out using chlorine-containing disinfecting agents but these produce by-products that are coming under increasing scrutiny by the European Community. Chemical agents to destroy pollutants

How nature tries to compensate for the vulnerability of male babies
New research from Italy reveals that mother nature tries very hard to compensate for the fact that male foetuses and newborns are more fragile than females by allowing significantly more boys to be conceived at a time of year when conditions for pregnancy and birth are optimal.

Evidence that males are more fragile than females and that fewer males are conceived in sub-optimal conditions is not new. What is new in

In January 2002, a moderately dim star in the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, suddenly became 600 000 times more luminous than our Sun. This made it temporarily the brightest star in our Milky Way. The light from this eruption created a unique phenomenon known as a ’light echo’ when it reflected off dust shells around the star.

The brightness of V838 Monocerotis, as astronomers call the star, has long since returned to normal levels. Observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space