A smokeless cannabis-vaporizing device delivers the same level of active therapeutic chemical and produces the same biological effect as smoking cannabis, but without the harmful toxins, according to UCSF researchers.

"We showed in a recent paper in the journal ‘Neurology’ that smoked cannabis can alleviate the chronic pain caused by HIV-related neuropathy, but a concern was expressed that smoking cannabis was not safe. This study demonstrates an alternative method that gives patients the same effects and allows controlled dosing but without inhalation of the toxic products in smoke," said study lead author Donald I. Abrams, MD, UCSF professor of clinical medicine.

It's a cooker, a fridge and a generator in one, it uses thermoacoustics to convert biofuels to energy — and it could have a huge impact on the lives of people in the world's poorest communities, where access to electricity is extremely limited.

The SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) project brings together experts from across the world to develop a wood-powered generator capable of both cooking and cooling food.

Astronomers have long suspected the existence of the invisible substance of dark matter as the source of additional gravity that holds together galaxy clusters. Otherwise, astronomers say, the clusters would fly apart if they relied only on the gravity from their visible stars. Although astronomers don't know what dark matter is made of, they hypothesize that it is a type of elementary particle that pervades the Universe.

In a result just published, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope report the discovery of a ring of dark matter in the cluster ZwCl0024+1652.

Hormones in children's saliva may be a biological indicator of the trauma kids undergo when they are chronically bullied by peers, according to researchers who say biological markers can aid in the early recognition and intervention of long-term psychological effects on youth.

"Bullying is mainly self-reported either by students or observed by teachers," said JoLynn V. Carney, associate professor of counselor education at Penn State.

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 was a loud wake-up call for researchers studying infectious diseases. SARS infected over 8,000 people, killed 10 percent of those infected, and weakened most with pneumonia.

"The SARS outbreak was a strong reminder that new viruses can emerge, and whether new or old, pathogens can cause not only significant disease and death, but they can also have a global socioeconomic impact," said Brenda Hogue, an associate professor in the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and School of Life Sciences. Hogue has been involved in a big push to uncover some of the key clues behind coronavirus illness.

Molecular studies recently revealed new genetic information concerning the long-disputed origin of the “European potato.” Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of La Laguna, and the International Potato Center used genetic markers to prove that the remnants of the earliest known landraces of the European potato are of Andean and Chilean origin.

“European potatoes,” the cultivated potatoes first appearing in Europe and later spreading worldwide, were first recorded outside of the Americas in 1567 on the Canary Islands Archipelago. Today, scientists believe that the remnant landraces of these early potatoes still grow in on the Canary Islands.

Antipsychotic drugs do most of their work in the brain, but they also leave behind in the bloodstream a trail of hundreds of chemicals that may be used in the future to direct better treatment for schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions, say Duke University Medical Center researchers.

The study is among the first to use metabolomics -- the measurement of thousands of chemical byproducts of the body's cellular processes -- to look at a psychiatric disease and its response to therapy, according to the researchers.

Keeping at arm's length won't protect you from catching an infectious disease, according to new research by Queensland University of Technology which reveals airborne viruses can spread far and wide.

Professor Lidia Morawska, director of QUT's International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, said the study dispelled the myth that viruses emitted from humans only travel a metre in the air.

Close on the heels of a large-scale clinical trial just underway to confirm that the female hormone estriol combats the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) in women, a just completed pilot study at UCLA now shows promise for the use of testosterone to combat its effects in men.

Swedish researchers have found a way to increase the weight of people with Alzheimer's, by improving communication and patient involvement, altering meal routines and providing a more homely eating environment. Patients who gained weight also displayed improved intellectual abilities.

During the three-month study, published in the May issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing, 13 of the 18 patients in the intervention group put on weight, compared with just two of the 15 patients in the control group.