They can make fabric resistant to stains, improve the taste of food and help drug research, but nanoparticles could also pose a danger to human health, experts warned Wednesday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - In determining the safety of improbably small materials known as nanoparticles, special properties associated with some of the very smallest particles may be the key, scientists said on Sunday.

Hybrids may fuel metal deficit

LONDON (Reuters) - A sensor made with gold nanoparticles can detect lung cancer in a patient's breath and may offer a diagnosis before tumors show up on an x-ray, Israeli scientists said on Sunday.

Scientists in Israel have devised a portable breath tester that detects lung cancer with 86 percent accuracy, according to a study released Sunday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Seven young Chinese women suffered permanent lung damage and two of them died after working for months without proper protection in a paint factory using nanoparticles, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Seven young Chinese women suffered permanent lung damage and two of them died after working for months without proper protection in a paint factory using nanoparticles, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday.

IBM said it was looking to DNA "origami" for a powerful new generation of ultra-tiny microchips.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp is looking to the building blocks of our bodies -- DNA -- to be the structure of next-generation microchips.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp is looking to the building blocks of our bodies -- DNA -- to be the structure of next-generation microchips.

Bridges passed up by stimulus

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tiny synthetic particles carrying a payload of toxin worked as well as chemotherapy at killing ovarian cancer cells in mice, without the bad side effects, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Downturn becomes an opportunity as AMD supplier starts $4.2B chip plant in upstate NY. Work on a $4.2 billion chip plant supplying Advanced Micro Devices Inc. starts Friday in a woodsy patch of upstate New York ? across the Atlantic from AMD's sister factories and in the middle of a recession.

LISBON (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Friday hailed the opening of a joint scientific research center with Portugal as the dawning of a new age of discovery for the two countries.

Researchers find biological marker that could aid in treatment, prevention . Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of blindness in adults, a growing problem as the population ages. Now a team of researchers at the University of Kentucky has raised hope for early detection and preventive treatment.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Researchers in China appear to have uncovered how nanoparticles which are used in medicine for diagnosis and delivering drugs may cause lung damage.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Researchers in China appear to have uncovered how nanoparticles which are used in medicine for diagnosis and delivering drugs may cause lung damage.

Gregory Rutledge keeps a scrap of fabric in his office that might go a long way in fighting diseases like swine flu.

Designer Leah Heiss doesn't just want to make you look good. She wants you to feel good at the same time.

Cancer-fighter has golden touch