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New research led by Oregon Health & Science University reveals a promising approach to developing a universal influenza vaccine—a so-called "one and done" vaccine that confers lifetime immunity against an evolving virus. The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, tested an OHSU-developed vaccine platform against the virus considered most likely to trigger the next pandemic. Researchers reported the vaccine generated a robust immune response in nonhuman primates that were exposed to the avian H5N1 influenza virus. But the vaccine wasn't based on the contemporary H5N1 virus; instead, the primates were inoculated against the influenza virus of 1918 that...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The U.S. military is developing miniature electronic sensors disguised as rocks. The disguised sensors can be dropped from an aircraft and used to help detect the sound of approaching enemy combatants, the London Financial Times has reported. The devices, which would be no larger than a golf ball, could be ready for use in about 18 months, the paper said. They use tiny silicon chips and radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology that is so sensitive that it can detect the sound of a human footfall at 20 feet to 30 feet. RFID technology...