London, Apr 27 : Taking a major leap in AIDS research, scientists have claimed that they have found a cure for the HIV virus by using a long established cancer treatment to help destroy the killer disease-bone marrow transplants.

Doctors have successfully treated one patient using the method and are confident the process will work for other sufferers.

In their opinion, using of bone marrow transplants to cure HIV could become common in just five years.

The procedure involves using bone marrow stem cells already used to help beat blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma.

Washington, April 27 : Scientists in The Netherlands are reporting development of a new plastic with a "self-healing polymer" that has potential for use in the first easy-to-recycle computer circuit boards, electrical insulation, and other electronics products that now wind up on society's growing heaps of electronic waste.

Antonius Broekhuis and colleagues note in the new study that so-called thermoset plastics are widely used in consumer electronics due to their hardness and heat resistance.

Washington, April 27 : In a new research, scientists have challenged the theory that a meteor impact 65 million years back killed off the dinosaurs in a mass extinction event.

The crater, caused by the meteor, was discovered in 1978 in northern Yucutan and measured about 180 kilometers (112 miles) in diameter, proof of a massive extra-terrestrial impact.

London, April 27 : A team of scientists has proposed the possibility of hypothetical particles called "hidden photons" being used to send secret emails through the Earth.

According to a report in New Scientist, the theory has been put forward by Andreas Ringwald at the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, and colleagues.

Hidden photons are a class of particles predicted by so-called supersymmetric extensions to the standard model of particle physics.

London, April 27 : In a new research that involved the use of computer simulations, scientists have shown that raindrops actually splash just a few microseconds before hitting the ground.

A liquid drop hitting a surface often flattens into a thin sheet that then bounces to form a crown shape.

Previous experiments have suggested the surrounding air plays a role: a droplet doesn't splash so easily when the air pressure is low, instead spreading out into a thin pancake.

London, Apr 27 : In a new study on stem cells, scientists at Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have discovered a combination of genes, which can play a vital role in repairing damaged heart.

The research team led by Dr Benoit Bruneau has found that the combination of three genes can turn nonmuscle cells into beating heart cells.

"The heart has very little regenerative capacity after it has been damaged," said Nature magazine quoted Bruneau as saying.