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Physical barriers, such as regular handwashing and wearing masks, gloves and gowns may be more effective than drugs to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses like influenza and SARS, concludes a new study. The findings come as the UK government announced it is doubling its stockpile of antiviral medicines in preparation for any future flu pandemic. But the researchers believe that these simple, low cost physical measures should be given higher priority in national pandemic preparation.

Human embryonic stem cells can be genetically manipulated to help select out desirable cell types, according to a new study. This advance could help scientists develop better ways of deriving useful cell populations for therapeutic and research purposes. Although human embryonic stem cells can theoretically become any kind of cell in the body, directing this differentiation and selecting for a particular cell type is challenging.

Women die and get infections more often than men after heart surgery because they tend to receive more blood transfusions, which boost the risks of bad outcomes, according to a new study.

Scientists are working on intelligent software that will take them a step closer to building the perfect robotic hand. Using artificial intelligence, they are creating software which will learn and copy human hand movements. They hope to replicate this in a robotic device which will be able to perform the dexterous actions only capable today by the human hand.