Google continues its growing tradition of celebrating scientific and cultural pioneers who might not be household names, but whose work is part of our daily lives. While today's citrus-filled doodle on the search engine front page first appears to indicate that Google has sold out to Tropicana, it's actually a tribute to Albert Szent-Györgyi's 118th birthday.

What, you weren't already taking the day off to celebrate? In case you're not in the know, Albert, whose full name is Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápol, is the person credited with discovering Vitamin C and the citric acid cycle. That work earned him a Nobel Prize in 1937. He was also one of the first to look into connections between free radicals and cancer, and according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, "his discoveries about the biochemical nature of muscular contraction revolutionized the field of muscle research."… Read more

There's a place where Wi-Fi and cell phones are non-existent. It's not in the middle of the rain forest or from a time long, long ago. It's in Green Bank, W.Va.

Green Bank may sound like geek hell, but it's heaven for people who believe electromagnetic radiation makes them sick. The BBC chatted with a couple of these refugees from technology and they described symptoms ranging from physical pain to fatigue.

"When I'm exposed to the cell phones, it hurts to think," Green Bank resident Diane Schou told the BBC. She describes herself as a "technological leper" who has found relief since moving from Iowa to West Virginia.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity has been the subject of some controversy. The symptoms may feel very real, but a 2007 study led by Elaine Fox of the U.K.'s University of Essex showed that short-term exposure to a typical GSM base station-like signal did not affect well-being or physiological functions in sensitive or control individuals. … Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--It's a stretch to say the Lumoback app made the audience at Demo sit up and take notice, but it was one of the most unusual pitches here at the conference.

Lumoback monitors your posture. All you have to do is stick a little flat sensor on your lower back (stay with me, here), and install the companion app on your mobile, and it will gently nudge you when your posture slacks.

There are additional game and social mechanics that go along with this data. Because we all want to join a social network of people who have giant pains in their necks.

Now, to be fair, back pain and back-related injuries do cost the U.S. $50 billion a year, according to CEO Monisha Perkash. And minor adjustments in posture can make a big difference in keeping us out of the medicine cabinet--or worse, the doctor's office.

And, as one of the VC judges said after this presentation, this kind of thing could sell really well on TV shopping channels. Not to mention through prescription channels. And it is pretty cool that a cheap wireless sensor and a free app can keep people healthy. If they use it. Which most won't, of course.

Still, gutsy play. … Read more

Today, if a woman is considered to be at high risk for ovarian cancer, surgeons tend to want to preemptively remove her ovaries.

That may sound harsh, but of all the gynecological cancers, ovarian has the lowest survival rate--mainly because, without reliable symptoms, it is difficult to detect early on.

Now, researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Connecticut have combined three imaging tools to spot tissue irregularities that signal ovarian cancer at earlier stages of its development.

Describing their hybrid device in the September issue of the Optical Society's Biomedical Optics Express journal, the researchers say they have combined photoacoustic imaging for contrast, optical coherence tomography for hi-res subsurface imaging (called OCT, this is the top image at the right), and pulse-echo ultrasound for deep-tissue imaging (second image) to identify malignant tumors.

The superimposed images (at the bottom of the images) enabled the team to spot malignant tissue (indicated with yellow diamond arrows).

They performed their initial tests on surgically removed pig and human ovarian tissue--but with the device measuring just 5 millimeters across, it could potentially be inserted through a tiny slit to image tissue without having to biopsy it.

The researchers were able to confirm that they'd correctly identified malignant cells by staining the tissue and examining it by microscope. Next step: test the device on live patients using minimally invasive surgery.… Read more

Benjamin Franklin once advised a friend to take older women to bed because, figuratively speaking, "in the dark all cats are gray." Well, not these kittehs.

Researchers in the U.S. and Japan have developed green-glowing kittens with resistance to the feline version of AIDS, which may help work on AIDS research in humans.

In a study published in Nature Methods, researchers from the Mayo Clinic and Yamaguchi University took a genome approach to producing cats that are apparently resistant to feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a deadly condition that attacks infection-fighting T-cells as AIDS does.

The researchers including Mayo Clinic molecular biologist Eric Poeschla inserted genes into feline eggs before sperm fertilization. They added a gene for a rhesus macaque protein, known as a "restriction factor," that can prevent infection by FIV, and a jellyfish gene for tracking the cells that also makes the kitties glow a spooky green.

When cells were taken from the cats and exposed to FIV, they were found to be resistant; the animals themselves will also be exposed to the virus in the future. … Read more

If you're like me, a jog without music just drags. Visions of the proverbial gerbil on the exercise wheel penetrate the brain, and the miles go by achingly slowly. Add the right song, at the right volume, and suddenly the run becomes something akin to enjoyable.

Recognizing the value of a good workout station, Pandora today announced a new workout genre with 12 stations. And the winners are:… Read more

We've written about mirrors that tell us more than whether we have a piece of spinach stuck between our teeth. A year ago, a Harvard-MIT student showed off a mirror that's able to read certain vital signs.

Now The New York Times Research & Development Lab is taking things a step further--bringing body tracking, shopping, news, and of course advertising to one's most intimate of places: the bathroom.

The group's "magic mirror" uses LCD and Kinect technology (it's really more of a computer with a reflective surface) that lets users browse the Web while brushing their teeth.

How is this better than using a smartphone in the bathroom? For one, it's hands-free. In fact, in the group's demo, one of the designers simply places a box of meds on the mirror's small ledge; it uses RFID tagging to recognize the type of meds and pull up information about dosages and where to buy more.… Read more

Let's all be thankful that the pictured woman enjoying her Shoulderflex isn't wearing a necklace or much in the way of clothing, and also that her hair is tied neatly atop her head. It turns out that necklaces, clothing, and hair have the potential to turn that peaceful look on her face into something else entirely.

No, seriously. One person was strangled to death after her necklace became caught in the personal massager's rotating component, while another was almost killed when a piece of clothing was caught. Still more have been injured when their hair became entangled in the device.

In light of the death and injuries, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning last week that the device posed serious health risks, and yesterday the manufacturer, King International, voluntarily recalled nearly all of its 12,000 Shoulderflex massagers in the U.S. sold between 2003 and 2011.

To be fair, the promotional demonstration of the massager advises users to keep hair and jewelry away from the rotating bar--an obvious caution reminiscent of the floor being slippery when wet.

The video did not, however, warn that failure to do so could result in death by strangulation. (The video appears to have been deleted from a variety of sources as the Beaverton, Ore.-based firm tries to extricate itself from the unraveling imbroglio. Calls to the company for comment, meanwhile, went straight to voice mail.)

If you've got a Shoulderflex on hand, the FDA implores you to throw it away.… Read more

Radiation therapy requires oxygen to be effective, which makes cancers that tend to be hypoxic (meaning they are deprived of oxygen)--such as pancreatic and cervical cancers--harder to treat. (Tumors can become hypoxic for a few reasons, e.g. they grow so quickly they actually outgrow blood supply, or cells proliferate so many times that the density taxes the available oxygen.)

So researchers at Purdue have been building and testing tiny devices that can be implanted in tumors and then generate oxygen, thereby making the area far more susceptible to radiation and chemotherapy.… Read more