Category: New products
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Heart Model Devised to Implant Child’s Defibrillator
Engineers and medical researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a three-dimensional computer model of a child’s heart to guide the optimal location for a defibrillator that regulates heart rhythms. The team led by biomedical engineering professor Natalia Trayanova describes the model online in The Journal of Physiology (paid subscription required). Children born with…
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Simple Authentication Scheme Cuts Phishing, Password Theft
Computer scientists at Royal Hollaway in the U.K., a part of University of London, developed a method for verifying the identify of computer users when logging on to password-protected Web sites that reduces opportunities for stealing user credentials. Royal Hollaway professor Chris Mitchell and researcher Haitham Al-Sinani in the university’s Information Security Group describe an…
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Nanotech Window Coating Controls Building Light, Heat
Chemists and materials scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California created a window coating of nanocrystals that can dynamically control the sunlight passing through the window and thus improve a building’s energy efficiency. The team led by Berkeley Lab’s Delia Milliron published its findings yesterday in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The Department…
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Calculator Estimates Individual Surgical Complications Risk
Medical researchers with American College of Surgeons devised an online system that calculates an individual’s risk of developing complications for nearly all kinds of surgery. The team led by Karl Bilimoria, director of the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center at Northwestern University in Chicago, with colleagues from the UCLA medical center and VA Greater…
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TV, Cellular Signals Harnessed for Power, Communications
Computer scientists and engineers at University of Washington in Seattle developed a wireless process that harnesses existing television and cell phone signals as sources of power and a way of communicating. The team led by computer science professors Shyam Gollakota and Joshua Smith describes the process in a paper at ACM’s Special Interest Group on…
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Design for Microenterprise Helps Target Emerging Markets
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge recommend designing products for small entrepreneurial businesses as a strategy for success in large emerging markets, such as India and China. Graduate student Jesse Austin-Breneman and engineering professor Maria Yang describe their findings in a paper delivered last week at the International Design Engineering Technical Conference of…
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Prototype Robotic Brain Blood-Clot Surgery Device Developed
Engineers and surgeons at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee built a prototype of a surgical device to safely remove blood clots from the brain, a risky and difficult procedure. A team led by Vanderbilt neurosurgery professor Kyle Weaver and mechanical engineering professor Robert Webster describe the system in an upcoming issue of the journal IEEE…
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Trial Testing External Power Connections for Heart Pumps
A clinical trial testing alternative connections for external powering of implanted heart pumps is enrolling patients at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, one site of the study. Bartley Griffith, a cardiac surgeon and professor of surgery is leading the research for the university, which is funded by Jarvik Heart Inc., maker of one…
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Inexpensive Robotic Power Line Inspection Device Developed
An engineer at University of California in San Diego created a prototype device that propels itself along utility lines and can locate problems that need repair. The device, called SkySweeper and built by graduate student Nick Morozovsky, will be presented at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 3 to 8 November, in Tokyo.…
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Smartphone App for Personal Psychosis Care in Development
Psychologists at University of Manchester in the U.K. are writing a smartphone app to help early-stage psychosis patients manage their own care at home. The research and app development are led by Manchester clinical psychology lecturer Sandra Bucci, funded by a £450,000 ($US 683,400) award from the Biomedical Catalyst program of U.K.’s Technology Strategy Board.…