Science and Enterprise

Category: New products

  • USDA Funding Research on Sustainable Organic Rice Farming

    Texas AgriLife Research, a division of Texas A&M University in College Station, is conducting research on sustainable techniques to improve yields of high-quality organic rice. The work led by Fugen Dou, a soil and crop science professor at AgriLife’s lab in Beaumont, is funded by two U.S. Department of Agriculture grants totaling $952,000 that run…

  • Process Replaces Platinum with Iron as Fuel Cell Catalyst

    Chemists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington designed a process that makes it possible for iron to replace expensive platinum as a catalyst to make electricity in hydrogen fuel cells. The team led by PNNL’s Morris Bullock published its findings online in yesterday’s issue of the journal Nature Chemistry (paid subscription required). Bullock,…

  • Personalized Chemotherapy Devised from Patients’ Tumors

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a new lab technique to personalize the selection of chemotherapy drugs, with cell lines based on patients’ own tumors and genetically engineered mice. The findings of the team led by Johns Hopkins professor James Eshleman appear online in a recent issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research…

  • FDA Approves Electronic Artificial Retina Implant Device

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first implant device to restore some visual perception for adults with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that damages the retina. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is made by Second Sight Medical Products Inc. in Sylmar, California. Retinitis pigmentosa is an eye disease caused by genetic defects…

  • Feasibility Shown of Spintronic Enabling Organic Materials

    Engineers at University of Utah in Salt Lake City developed a process to create organic materials with the ability to conduct electricity on their edges, while the inside acts as an insulator. The team led by Utah professor Feng Liu published its findings in yesterday’s issue of the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). Materials…

  • Nano Patterns in Plastic Help Stem Cells Become Bone Cells

    Medical researchers and engineers at universities of Southampton and Glasgow in the U.K. created a nanoscale process with a common plastic material to convert human embryonic stem cells into skeletal tissue cells. The findings of the team led by Southampton’s Richard Oreffo are described online in a recent issue of the journal Small (paid subscription…

  • Process Adds New Properties to Ferroelectric Materials

    Materials scientists at University of Illinois in Urbana developed a new type of thin metal oxide film with a built-in electric field, useful  for semiconductor devices such as computer memory. The team led by Illinois professor Lane Martin published their findings online in a recent issue of the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). Lane,…

  • Asthma Drug Reveals Potential as Diabetes, Obesity Treatment

    A drug long prescribed for asthma and canker sores has been shown in tests on mice to reverse obesity and diabetes. Researchers from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and labs in California and Australia, published their findings yesterday online in the journal Nature Medicine (paid subscription required). Alan Saltiel, director of Michigan’s Life Sciences…

  • iPhone App Tests Selective Dominant-Ear Listening Behavior

    Psychologists at University of Bergen in Norway wrote software that turns an iPhone into a device to test dichotic listening, behavior that combines language processing and attention. A team from Bergen’s research group examined the iPhone app’s validity and reliability in measuring dichotic listening, with the team’s results appearing online yesterday in the journal Frontiers…

  • Trial Tests Tablet App to Assess Neuromuscular Performance

    Biomedical researchers at Harvard University tested a computer tablet application to quickly assess neuromuscular disorders, such as those experienced by older adults. The team from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Institute for Aging Research at Harvard Medical School, with colleagues from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, published their findings online…