Hand-held tasting device displays highly discriminating palate.

A new hand-held electronic tongue promises to give accurate and reliable taste measurements for companies currently relying on human tasters for their quality control of wine, tea, coffee, mineral water and other foods.

Human tasters are still irreplaceable for subtile products such as fine wines and whiskies. But their sense of taste saturates after a while, losing its discriminating edge. The device made by An

Aquatic organisms often hitch a ride in the ballast tanks of ocean-crossing ships, ending up in ports far from their native habitats. Upon arrival, these alien species can wreak havoc in their new environs, forcing out native species and incurring huge economic costs. Now a new report published in the journal Biological Conservation suggests that a certain anti-corrosion technique could help prevent such invasions while saving the shipping industry hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

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A virus that causes a fatal brain disease in horses and sheep may be linked to certain mental disorders in man, medical experts heard today (Wednesday 09 January 2002) during a joint meeting of the European Societies of Clinical and Veterinary Virology and the Society for General Microbiology at the Royal College of Physicians, London.

“Recent investigations have again stimulated highly controversial discussions as to whether Borna disease virus can infect humans and lead to psychiatric diso

Results for New Oxazolidinone Demonstrate Potency Against Gram-Positive Pathogens, including Superbugs

Unique compound AZD2563 shows promise for once-daily dosing

Chicago, IL World-wide data presented at the 41st Interscience Congress on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) show that AstraZeneca`s new oxazolidinone (AZD2563) is active against Gram-positive bacteria, including multi-drug resistant strains, and may have the added convenience of potential once-daily administra

The discovery of small spikes lining the mouths of primitive fossil fish reveal surprising new details about how early animals fed. New research published today in a Royal Society paper sheds light on how teeth evolved.

Primitive fish did not have jaws or fins but were covered in rigid bony scales and resembled small armour-plated submarines. Dr Mark Purnell, a palaeontologist at the University of Leicester, has discovered that heterostracans, one of the most important groups of these early

Researchers at the University of Bristol have found that pregnant women who frequently use cannabis during their pregnancy may affect the growth of their unborn child. With the recent change in status of cannabis from a class A to class B drug, it is important to assess whether it is entirely safe for use during pregnancy. A marker which often indicates an effect on the unborn child is the baby`s weight at birth.

The findings were announced by Kate Northstone, from the Children of the 90s p