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A new plastic material, inspired by the clotting action of human blood, has been created by engineers at the University of Illinois.

The plastic contains a network of "capillaries" that mimic the action of blood vessels in the human body, delivering chemicals to "heal" and repair damaged plastic "tissue."

The designers of the new polymer envisage that it could be utilised to restore cracked phone screens or electronic chips in laptops, but the possibilities could be applied to an unlimited array of plastic items. Water pipes, sports equipment, homewares and appliances, car parts, even satellites could repair themselves in space.
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 Brain and other nervous system cancers are expected to claim 14,320 lives in the United States this year, but a recent study has brought hope to this field of oncology.

Much like using dimmer switches to brighten or darken rooms, biochemists have identified a protein that can be used to slow down or speed up the growth of brain tumors in mice.

The results of the preclinical study “CFIm25 links Alternative Polyadenylation to Glioblastoma Tumour Suppression” led by Eric J. Wagner, Ph.D., and Ann-Bin Shyu, Ph.D., of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Wei Li, Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine appear in the Advance Online Publication of the journal Nature.
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In the wake of the National Climate Assessment released last week in the United States, global warming is, to pardon the pun, one of the hottest topics in the news at the moment, and with extremely good reason.
This phenomenon is now considered to be the most important threat facing mankind, and its effects could be catastrophic within a very short space of time.
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The pyramids of Egypt are some of the most fascinating and enigmatic structures on the planet; to date the secret of their unique construction has yet to be determined.

The pyramids were built using massive blocks of stone, and one of the most unfathomable mysteries is how the early Egyptians managed to transport the blocks across the desert and lift them into place.

New theories are constantly being mooted by experts around the world, ranging from the complex to the fantastic, but a recent study conducted by the University of Amsterdam claims to have discovered a very simple and rather mundane method whereby the ancient people were able to achieve this amazing feat.
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