Some of the secrets of Santa's sleigh are revealed by Prof Larry Silverberg.

Without some new science, the facts in this article cause us to wonder if Santa exists.

Senior Scientist Christian Bahl and Development Engineer Dan Eriksen from Risø DTU have invented a three-way valve that controls the flow through a magnetic material which is attracted by an external magnet when the liquid reaches a certain temperature. The design is promising and the group is now looking for a partner in the industry who would like to join them in this work.

Extracting compounds from various samples using traditional methods involves some give and take.

Automated microscopy enables the acquisition of high-resolution images at rates of one image per second and total numbers in the millions. These high rates pose a new challenge in cell biology: how to analyse the vast amounts of resulting data in a reasonable time frame?

Selecting the correct valves for most fluid applications requires due consideration to the flow, pressure, temperature and fluid viscosity. In life sciences there are valve requirements that often extend the specification of the valves to consider ‘special’ and often expensive fluids and critical processes.

A team of University of Oregon biologists, using fruit flies, has created a way to isolate RNA from specific cells, opening a new window on how gene expression drives normal development and disease-causing breakdowns.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are proving that a camera phone can capture far more than photos of people or pets at play. They have now developed a mobile phone microscope, or CellScope, that not only takes colour images of malaria parasites, but of tuberculosis bacteria labelled with fluorescent markers.

The masterpieces that spring from the talents of Rembrandt, Van Gogh and other artists often begin with the creation of a gradient of colours on a palette. In a similar manner, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created an innovative device called the ‘microfluidic palette’, which can be used to produce multiple, steady-state chemical gradients.

Promising results from two new blood tests will make gastrointestinal (GI) cancer detection simpler, cost effective and more acceptable to patients than current methods, researchers say.

For decades, liquid chromatography has been the primary tool used to purify synthesised compounds in drug discovery. A target compound’s successful progression from hit to lead status depends not only on its structure-based biological activity, but also on compound purity.

Chemists and engineers at the University of Warwick have found that exposing particular mixtures of polymer particles and other materials to sudden freeze-drying can create a high-tech armoured foam that could be used for a number of purposes, including a new range of room-temperature, low-power gas sensors.

Space is not a fun place to get a stomach bug. To ensure drinking water is adequately disinfected, University of Utah chemists have developed a two-minute water quality monitoring method that just started six months of tests aboard the International Space Station.

The prevailing wisdom among many scientists and scientific organisations is that, as a rule, scientists are press shy, and those who aren’t are mavericks.

Most cancers are rare in people with Down syndrome, whose overall cancer mortality is below 10% of that in the general population. Since they have an extra copy of chromosome 21, it’s been proposed that people with Down syndrome may be getting an extra dose of one or more cancer-protective genes.