Mail & Guardian reporter A virus thousands of times narrower than a human hair has been shown to have an armoured coat organised like the chain mail of medieval knights. It probably protects the DNA of bacteriophage hk97, a virus that affects only bacteria, just as chain mail deflected arrows while allowing movement. Researchers report in Science that electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography have shown the virus’s DNA-containing head is made of 72 interlocking protein rings, linked in a manner similar to the five-ring Olympic symbol. In the booming nanotechnology business such a structure may provide a novel way to create a container that is very thin yet stable. A wee snapper clapper The snapper shrimp is the bane of sonar. The racket it makes with its boxing-glove claw, like that of burning dry twigs, was enough to impede detection of hostile submarines during World War II. But the noise, Dutch and German scientists report in the most recent issue of Science, is due to collapsing bubbles and not to the claw snapping shut. As the claw closes, bubbles form along with a water jet and are shot away. The snap heard as the bubbles collapse enables shrimps to communicate and the shock waves can stun small prey. Clever little capsule A smart pill, an implant that releases only the required amount of medicine, has been designed by scientists from Ohio. Tiny holes in the inch-long capsule are guarded by rings of artificial muscle made of a soft gel-like plastic.
The implant is still in the early stages but the eventual aim is to place the capsule beneath the skin. Sensors on the capsule will detect the amount of a particular chemical in the patient’s bloodstream.
When medication is required, the artificial muscles will shrink to release the medicine into the blood, but swell again to plug the hole once the correct dose has been administered.