Chaos=Order: Physicists make baffling discovery

“Da police are not here to create disorder; dere here to preserve disorder.” — Richard J. Daley, Chicago mayor, explaining to the media the role of the police during the riotous 1968 Democratic National Convention. Police keep order. That’s why, for example, they issue tickets for “disturbing the peace.” Thus the only logical conclusion to Mayor Daley’s famous quote above — other than dismissing it as the result of a tangled tongue — is sometimes disorder spawns order. Sounds impossible, right? Wrong.

Company says it makes stem cells from testes

In an potential advance for stem cell research and cellular replacement therapies, a U.S. biotech firm says its researchers have successfully developed the first human adult therapeutic germ stem cell. Derived from adult stem cells but with the genetic characteristics of embryonic stem cells, the cells have successfully been transformed into human heart, brain, bone and cartilage cells: cardio, neuro, osteo and chondrocytes.

Stem cells can repair torn tendons and ligaments

Weekend athletes who overexert themselves running or playing basketball may one day reap the benefits of research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that shows that adult stem cells can be used to make new tendon or ligament tissue. Tendon and ligament injuries present a major clinical challenge to orthopedic medicine. In the United States, at least 200,000 patients undergo tendon or ligament repair each year.

Bionic man becoming a reality

In the mid-1970s, when scientists in a popular TV series rebuilt a wounded, barely-living test pilot into the world’s first bionic man, making him “better, stronger, faster,” the field of medical bionics was the stuff of science fiction. No longer. This week, at Experimental Biology 2006, some of the leading scientists in the rapidly expanding field of bionics explain how much of what was once fiction is today at least partial reality — including electronically-powered legs, arms, and eyes like those given TV’s Six Million Dollar Man 30-plus years ago.

Teens turn to pot after parental bust-ups

Splitting parents who shack up with new partners can unwittingly push their children towards cannabis use. University of Queensland research has shown a link between cannabis use and marital changes after studying 3008 mothers and their children up to age 21, between 2001 and 2004 in Brisbane.

Flying tip of bees: Leave your legs dangling

Unlike airplanes, leaving their landing gear down makes bees fly faster. When orchid bees extend their hind-legs they pitch forward to achieve maximal speed, and the legs produce lift forces to either side that help prevent the bee from rolling. “The hind-legs resemble airplane wings, which probably explains why they also generate lift”, says Dr. Stacey Combes from the University of California, Berkeley.

Single-molecule diode may change Moore’s ‘law’ of microchip memory

Using the power of modern computing combined with innovative theoretical tools, an international team of researchers has determined how a one-way electrical valve, or diode, made of only a single molecule does its job. Diodes are critical components within computer, audio equipment and countless other electronic devices. If designers can swap existing diodes with the single-molecule one, the products could be shrunk to incredibly small sizes.