London, Jan 12 : Forensics experts would no longer have to visit the site of a crime again and again for their probe, thanks to Kiwi researchers who have developed a
3D scanner that can create a `virtual' model of any given area.

The team led by Robert Valkenburg of Industrial Research in Auckland, New Zealand, has developed a computerised 3D model that can be navigated as if investigators were at the crime scene.

The hand held device consists of a laser scanner combined with a digital camera, which can record a scene with millimetre accuracy.

The scanner creates a 3D model of the scene, onto which images from the camera are superimposed.

London, January 12: Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have announced the discovery of an enzyme that plays a very important role in controlling the breakdown of fat.
The researchers said that in a study conducted by them, mice that had this enzyme disabled remained lean despite eating a high-fat diet, and losing a hormone that suppresses appetite.

Hamburg, Germany  - Plastic was one of the great chemical inventions of the 20th century, but now liquid wood may be the plastic of the 21st century, according to a group of German scientists.

Plastics are non-biodegradable as well and in many cases harbour carcinogens and other toxic substances.

And apart from all that, most plastics are based on petroleum, a non-renewable resource.

Sydney  - Using tools used to be a distinguishing feature between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. Then monkeys were spotted cracking nuts with stones.

More recently, birds have been seen using sticks to trick termites out of their mounds. Dolphins are the latest to join the ranks of the tool users.

Janet Mann, a biologist at Georgetown University in the United States, has catalogued the antics of the bottle nosed dolphin colony at Shark Bay on Australia's west coast.

Washington, Jan 11: In a first of its kind study, toxicologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Korea's Seoul National University have explained how bed bugs develop resistance to drugs like pyrethroid neurotoxins, especially deltamethrin, that once kept them in check.

Led by senior researcher John Clark and colleagues, the study revealed that these nocturnal bloodsuckers have evolved to trick the latest generation of chemicals used to control them since DDT was banned.

The researchers summarized that diagnostic tools to detect the relevant mutation in bed bug populations have been "urgently needed for effective control and resistance management."

Washington, Jan 11 : Scientists at Cornell and DuPont have used a simple chemical process to develop a new method of preparing carbon nanotubes for suspension in a semiconducting "ink," paving the way for thinner, lighter transistors and solar cells.

The new method, invented by Graciela B. Blanchet, a research fellow at DuPont, and George Malliaras, Cornell associate professor of materials science and engineering, involves treating carbon nanotubes with fluorine-based molecules.