If you were sick, wouldn’t you prefer a customized medical treatment that works specifically for you? Or a treatment that prevents you from ever getting sick in the first place? The emerging field of clinical and translational science provides the bridging force that transforms lab discoveries into customized, patient-specific therapy.

A tool for Microsoft Word, to be released as a downloadable plug-in at no charge early next year, will enable the translation of millions of Open XML documents into DAISY XML, the lingua franca of the globally accepted standard for digital talking books.

IBM has developed an ingenious system called SiSi (Say It Sign It) that automatically converts the spoken word into British Sign Language (BSL) which is then signed by an animated digital character or avatar.

Wartime military patrols and civilian encounters can be especially dangerous if neither group understands the other’s language. To help American forces secure critical information and communicate with the local population, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers are evaluating prototype, real-time, two-way translation systems for the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA).