Coming up with creative ideas is easy; selling them to strangers is hard. Entrepreneurs, sales executives, and marketing managers often go to great lengths to demonstrate how their new concepts are practical and profitable--only to be rejected by corporate decision makers who don't seem to understand the value of the ideas. Why does this happen? Having studied Hollywood executives who assess sc...

BACKGROUND Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders with no effective therapy currently available. Accumulating evidence has implicated over-activation of P2X7 ionotropic purinergic receptor (P2X7R) in the progression of neuronal loss in several neurodegenerative diseases. This has led to the speculation that simultaneous blockade of this receptor and prion replication can be an eff...

Proper scientific training has long been rooted in organized course work and structured laboratory practice. However, a considerable amount of education occurs beyond the classroom and work bench. In his short memoir, John G. Nicholls regales his readers with stories dating from his undergraduate studies in London to his experiences working abroad with international scientists. Nicholls’ vignet...

Surprisingly colourful views are possible from sparkling white snow. It is well known that similarly colourful features can exist in the sky whenever appropriate ice crystals are around. However, the transition of light reflection and refraction from ice crystals in the air to reflection and refraction from those in snow on the ground is not trivial. Photographs and videos from brilliant colour...

Nanoprecipitation of miglyol into droplets surrounded by a functional glycopolymer generates nanocapsules of biointerest. Fluorophores are trapped in situ or post-grafted onto the crosslinked polymer shell for efficient imaging. The resulting colloids induce aggregation of bacteria through strong specific interactions and promote their facile removal.

We report intensely staining epiretinal membrane (ERM) with Brilliant Blue G (BBG) under air for two minutes. ERM peeling was performed in 21 cases. After removal of posterior hyaloid, 0.2 mL BBG was first applied on the macula, to stain ERM under air conditions for 2 minutes. Internal limiting membrane (ILM) was intensely stained and peeled in all cases following ERM removal. In 4 cases, the E...

In experiments similar to those of Humphries (1944), in which we used brilliant green to obtain smooth and rough phase variants from mucoid strains of Friedlander's bacillus, it was found that in nearly all of the field strains a correlation existed between resistance to the dye and ability to ferment lactose. It was found also that this correlation extended to growth rate and to growth in extr...