You've probably heard of peanut or shellfish allergies . But a meat allergy? Not as common. Even weirder is what might be causing it—tick bites, according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. A few years back, folks started showing up in emergency rooms in the southeast U.S. with hives, swelling or worse—anaphylaxis—after eating red meat.For this study,researchers looked at three of those cases. And they found that tick bites, specifically those of the Lone Star tick, seem to be the cause. The bitten victim's immune system appears to become sensitized to a substance called alpha-gal. And whereas all the major food allergies are triggered by proteins, the culprit here—alpha-gal—is a carbohydrate. Alpha-gal is found in the meat and fat of hooved mammals, like cows, sheep or pigs. So eating a burger can expose you to alpha-gal, which activates antibodies and leads to the release of histamines. Researchers say something similar to alpha-gal in the tick saliva may set off the immune system— which then goes after the alpha-gal in meat. And leaves a steak lover ticked off.

You've probably noticed you're more likely to catch a cold if you pull a lot of all-nighters. But lack of sleep can also compromise your immune system's response to vaccines. And in some cases, make the shots useless. So says a study in the journal Sleep. Researchers gave 125 healthy, middle-aged men and women the Hepatitis B vaccine—a three-part vaccine given at one, two and six months. And during that time, volunteers tracked their sleep habits. Six months after the final booster, researchers took blood samples to see if the patients had rallied sufficient numbers of antibodies against Hep-B. Eighteen patients had not—the vaccine had failed. Turns out the vaccine was almost 12 times as likely to fail in volunteers who regularly slept fewer than six hours a night compared to those who snoozed more than seven. Makes sense, because previous studies have shown that sleep deprivation cuts numbers of B and T cells— which coordinate the immune system's attack on bad guys. So remember, vaccines aren't magic. You still need a good night's sleep to give 'em a fair shot.

Vaccines are desperately needed in the developing world. Even when they're available and inexpensive , there's still a major problem: most vaccines need to be refrigerated. Reaching the relevant populations often means traveling to areas, where electricity and refrigeration are spotty at best. Nearly half of the vaccine doses around the world are lost to the heat. Also, the cost of refrigeration contributes to about 80 percent of the cost of the vaccines. So silk experts at Tufts University have come up with a potential solution: encase the vaccines in silk protein. Silk proteins contain nanoscale pockets that can hold and protect biological compounds. Inside the silk protein wrap, the compounds stay biologically stable. In the lab, they were able to stabilize the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for more than 6 months at a variety of tropical temperatures. The technology also worked with antibiotics. Stored at a month at temperatures reaching 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the antibiotics kept their potency. The research is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If the lab results hold up out in the world, the silk safeguard could save billions of dollars, and millions of lives.

In electronics there's an understanding that silicon and other elements are responsible for bringing our gadgets to life, while plastic serves as the supporting structure. But what if that plastic could be both the brains and the brawn? Better yet, what if plastic was pliable enough to form, all sorts of wearable electronics and even implantable medical devices? In fact, electronics made from conductive plastic have been in the works for at least a decade. One of the difficulties has been overcoming a loss of conductivity when plastic electronics are stretched too far. A team of researchers from the U.S., South Korea and China say, they have found a way to keep an electrical connection , even after stretching their specially made plastic more than four times its normal size. The key—make a highly porous polymer, and then fill those pores with liquid metal. Imagine these "3-D stretchable conductors " being used to make artificial eyes, that restore vision or synthetic skin that monitors blood glucose levels. A bit out-there, I know, but science has a knack for catching up with science fiction.

It's a dirty job, but two NASA spacecraft are ready to do it. On August 23rd, NASA plans to launch two spacecraft into the radiation belts around Earth. The twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes will investigate high-energy particles held in place by Earth's magnetic field. Those fast-moving protons and electrons form two bands known as the Van Allen radiation belts, after physicist James Van Allen, who discovered them in 1958. The two NASA probes will study how the belts formed, and what makes them swell up from time to time.The outer radiation belt in particular can change quickly in response to the sun's outbursts of charged particles, also known as solar storms. The Van Allen Belts are a nuisance to some spacecraft, and they could pose a hazard to future manned missions as well. But the Radiation Belt Storm Probes will call those harsh environs home. The spacecraft will fly through the belts for two years, measuring charged particles, plasma waves and magnetic fields in Earth's vicinity. NASA hopes that the mission will help illuminate the complex physics of the stormy near-Earth environment. And, perhaps, help future spacecraft weather that storm.