Plus: Swine Flu Superpowers, Glass that Beats Steel, the Supernova Light Show and Malaria Invading a Cell.

Swine Flu Survivors May Have Super Immune Systems
Fictional superpowers can arise from a wide range of events, including exposure to radioactive creatures and science experiments gone wrong. In real life, sometimes they come just from getting sick, as new research indicates that people who contracted and recovered from the 2009 H1N1 “swine flu” virus may have developed an extraordinary natural immunity to other flu strains.

Researchers in the United States recently studied nine patients who had come down with the swine flu last year and found that they now possess antibodies capable of protecting against lethal doses of at least three other strains of flu. According to the research team’s findings, published this month in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, these “broadly cross-reactive” antibodies could yield a breakthrough in combating flu viruses around the world.

“The result is something like the Holy Grail for flu-vaccine research,” study author Patrick Wilson, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, told Agence France-Presse. “It demonstrates how to make a single vaccine that could potentially provide immunity to all influenza. The surprise was that such a very different influenza strain, as opposed to the most common strains, could lead us to something so widely applicable.”

The research team was able to isolate five antibodies linked to every seasonal H1N1 flu strain from the last decade, as well as the devastating “Spanish flu” strain from 1918 and a pathogenic H5N1 avian flu. Mice injected with otherwise lethal doses of the three strains were able to survive when given some of the antibodies, even when the antibody was administered 60 hours after infection.

“This work gives us more confidence that it will be possible to generate a universal flu vaccine,” Sarah Gilbert, a virus expert at Oxford University working on her own prototype flu vaccine, told BBC News. However, “[i]t will take at least five years before anything like this could be widely available.”

Metallic Glass Beats Steel in Strength, Toughness
A new materials innovation has produced a new metal-infused type of glass that combines strength and toughness to a degree that exceeds that of steel. In fact, it is the most damage-tolerant material ever made.

California researchers developed the glass, known as DH3, through a combination of palladium, silver and a mixture of other metalloids. The palladium counteracts the fracture properties of traditional glass, while silver enables the material to solidify into an amorphous structure while cooling during production, giving it even greater damage resistance. The result, according a research study published this month in Nature Materials, is a combination of toughness and strength “beyond the benchmark ranges established by the toughest and strongest materials known…”

“In other words, some tougher materials exist, but they are less strong; there are stronger materials, but they’re not as tough,” Popular Science explains. “To grasp this, you have to define the difference between strength and toughness. Strength refers to how much force a material can take before it deforms. Toughness explains the energy required to fracture or break something; it describes an object’s ability to absorb energy. Most of the time, these qualities are mutually exclusive.”

DH3 is groundbreaking in its ability to both retain its shape under high energy and to absorb stresses like bending through the use of “shear bands,” in which glass and metal inside the material slide over each other to absorb stress energy before cracks begin to form. Despite its utility, though, the material may not become widely available in the short-term future due to expensive production requirements.

Caught on Tape: Malaria Invading a Cell
Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia recently managed to record the moment when a malaria parasite infiltrates a human red blood cell, the first time this event has been caught in high-resolution.

According to New Scientist, the researchers used transmission electron microscopy, immuno-fluorescence and 3-D super-resolution microscopy to capture thousands of high-res invasion images.

Here’s a look at malaria on candid camera:

Most Overused Business Profile Buzzwords of 2010
Business buzzwords and jargon never seem to die out. In fact, they proliferate and grow stronger every year — and 2010 was no exception. With the spread of social media in the business world, professionals and job seekers have more opportunities than ever before to express themselves in the most generic ways possible. This is most evident in their online corporate profiles.

Professional networking site LinkedIn recently analyzed its listings to discover the most overused words and phrases in people’s online profiles. Their findings on the top 10 buzzwords of 2010 were not that surprising to anyone in the business world:

1. Extensive experience;
2. Innovative;
3. Motivated;
4. Results-oriented;
5. Dynamic;
6. Proven track record;
7. Team player;
8. Fast-paced;
9. Problem solver; and
10. Entrepreneurial.

Interestingly, the top buzzwords varied from region to region, reflecting differences not only in language but in overall business culture as well.

“While members from the USA, Canada and Australia tend to emphasize their ‘extensive experience’, Brazilians, Indians and Spaniards identify themselves as ‘dynamic’ professionals,” LinkedIn explains. “Members in the UK call themselves more ‘motivated’ and the French, the Germans, the Italians and the Dutch see themselves as ‘innovative.’”

Exploding Star Will Appear Like a Second Sun
The red giant Betelgeuse is on the verge of dying, as the star’s extreme size and luminosity suggest it will likely go supernova relatively soon. In astronomical terms, that means it could explode anytime between one and 1 million years from now. But whenever the big event actually happens, it will be impossible to miss.

According to science and sci-fi blog io9, the star’s explosion will be so bright it will appear as if our planet has two suns for several weeks.

“For a few weeks, the supernova will be so bright that there will appear to be two stars in the sky, and night will be indistinguishable from day for much of that time,” io9 explains. “So don’t count on getting a lot of sleep when Betelgeuse explodes, because the only sensible thing for the world to do will be to throw a weeks-long global supernova party.”

Located in the Orion constellation, Betelgeuse is approximately 640 light-years from Earth and is one of the largest and brightest stars in our section of the galaxy. Despite its size, the star is far enough away that the explosion will have virtually no damaging effects on our planet — it’ll strictly be fireworks.

Have a great weekend, folks.