Category: New products
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Graphene Photodetector Integrated with Semiconductor Chip
Researchers at Vienna University of Technology and Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria built a detector and converter of optical signals with graphene into a traditional semiconductor chip, making it easier to integrate optics and electronics in a single device. The team led by Vienna’s Thomas Mueller published its findings online this week in the…
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Engineered Castor Beans Growth-Tested as Biofuel Feedstock
The plant genomics company Evogene Ltd. in Rehovot, Israel says growing trials of its engineered castor bean show it is ready for commercial development as an alternative feedstock for biodiesel fuels and other industrial products. The three-year trials were conducted in Brazil with SLC Agrícola S.A., a grower of soybeans, corn, and cotton. Evogene’s biofuel…
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Near-Infrared Light Tests Paintings’ Ability to Travel
A collaboration of British, Spanish, and Slovenian chemistry researchers and fine art conservation specialists devised a technique adapted from the life sciences to test the ability of paintings to withstand the rigors of travel without damaging the works of art. The team led by Matija Strlic of the Centre for Sustainable Heritage at University College London…
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System Measures Ball-Head Impact to Simulate Sports Injuries
Engineers at Washington State University in Pullman built a system that lets sports scientists measure the impact of a softball hitting a player’s head to simulate potential injuries based on the properties of the ball. Washington State engineering professor Lloyd Smith and project engineer Derek Nevins will report their findings next week at the Asia-Pacific…
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Safer, Cheaper Ultraviolet PCB Disposal Process Developed
A team of engineers and chemists at University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada devised a new process for cleaning soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, cancer-causing chemicals banned in the U.S. since 1979, but with residues still in the environment. The new methods, say Calgary engineering professor Gopal Achari and chemistry professor Cooper Langford,…
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Copper and Copper Alloys Found to Destroy Norovirus
Biologists at University of Southampton in the U.K. found surfaces made of copper and copper alloys can quickly destroy norovirus, the pathogen causing acute gastroenteritis. Researcher Sarah Warnes and Bill Keevil, director of the university’s Environmental Healthcare Unit, published their findings earlier this week in the online journal PLoS One. Norovirus is a highly contagious…
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Nanodiamonds Improve Chemotherapy Targeting for Brain Tumors
Researchers at University of California in Los Angeles, with colleagues from Northwestern University and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, developed a more precise delivery method for chemotherapy drugs using nanoscale diamonds to treat brain tumors. The team that included participants from the lab of UCLA biomedical engineering professor Dean Ho published their findings online in…
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Wireless Sensor System Detects Occurrence of Elderly Falls
Engineers at University of Utah in Salt Lake City developed a system combining wireless radio-wave sensors and a control algorithm to detect a person falling, without the individual wearing a separate device. Graduate student Brad Mager, representing the Utah team, presents the findings of a proof-of-concept test of the system today at the IEEE Personal,…
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Clinical Trial Tests Implantable Melanoma Vaccine
Engineering and medical researchers at Harvard University, with colleagues from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, started an early-stage clinical trial testing an implanted vaccine to treat melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer.The trial is designed primarily to test the safety of the proposed treatments with patients having advanced melanoma that has spread in the body,…
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University of Houston Spins-Off Nanotech Coatings Company
A physics professor at University of Houston in Texas started a company to develop and manufacture protective coatings for industrial and consumer goods based on his research in nanotechnology. C-Voltaics, started by Houston physicist Seamus Curran, was awarded last week the Young Technology Award at the Commercialization of Micro- and Nanosystems conference in The Netherlands, according…