Two-hour TB test
Tuberculosis infections can now be identified within hours thanks to a test which relies on the amplification of DNA unique to the bacteria that cause the disease. Tests on sputum samples from 1730 people with TB correctly identified 98 per cent of established cases (New England Journal of Medicine, DOI: 10.1056/nejmoa0907847).
Seahorses hit by oil spill
One of the world’s smallest seahorses could disappear as a consequence of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, warns the London Zoological Society. The floating mats of seagrass that the dwarf seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae, hides in have been burned…
