http://www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/downloads/gpamcat.pdf

The art of fingerprinting has been around since the early 1900's. To this day we still use Francis Glaton's (one of the first to discover) methods of dusting, reading, and comparing. However a new type of fingerprint is being researched for forensic use. As you know we all have millions of bacteria covering our body at any one time. It turn out this bacteria is unique to our own bodies and can be used to match people and create class evidence. Full story
-K.B.-

Finally a major step in recovery after a major injury has been removed. A new method of biodegradable screws has been created in order to help with injury recovery. This new screw encourages bone growth, so that a hole is not left in the spot where the bone was and eliminates the need to have multiple surgeries in order to remove the screws once the ailment has healed.

The screws take two years to completely biodegrade and does not leave a hole in the bone, like previous biodegradable screws formed of polylactic acid. This is a great step in the right direction, now only if they could finally finish developing wooden bones.

For more information on this:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10461572-247.html%253Ftag%253DnewsEditorsPicksArea.0

-MF

I always saw this in cartoons as a kid, but always wanted to know if it was true. Here is the break down of what actually occurs, along with the thermal conductivities of everything going on. Just in case you do not want to actually look through the diagram, yes this can happen to you. So next time anyone tries to fool you with this cartoon trick, don't fall for it. You may be stuck there for a while.

-MF

The idea of a wooden bone may sound pointless, especially with all of the different metals and ceramic materials available for surgeries but its the future of medicine. Italian scientist have been devising this new method for some time now, where rather than using a metal bar to aid in the curing of a broken bone a artificial wooden bone is used instead. This would beneficial to all, just imagine a compound break for something like a collar bone and being able to have it as good as new within a week or two. The burden of having to remove excess metal plates would be removed completely and the cure time would be cut greatly, but for now this is only the future. Its only been tested on sheep as of now and it will be some time before you get this option from your local doctor.

For the full article :

http://news.discovery.com/tech/artificial-bone-made-wood.html

-MF

Scientist discover new ways of delivering injections to blood stream without needles.
Full story (popular science) http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/synthetic-skin-grafts-deliver-genes-therapies-straight-body-no-needles-necessary