Science and Enterprise

Category: New products

  • Study to Genetically Alter Algae for Faster Biofuel Output

    Biochemists and engineers at Texas A&M AgriLife Research in College Station are researching the genetic characteristics of algae to produce a type of the organism that can quickly make fuel-grade oil in commercial quantities. The project that includes collaborators from Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research is funded by a $2 million…

  • 23andMe Opens Application Interface to Outside Developers

    The personal genetics company 23andMe Inc. in Mountain View, California will make available to outside systems developers the codes and routines needed to access its DNA analysis database. Mike Polcari, the company’s engineering director, will describe the initiative at the Quantified Self Conference in Palo Alto, California, on 16 September. An application program interface (API),…

  • Prototype Net-Zero Energy Home Being Tested

    National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, unveiled this week a two-story suburban-style home to demonstrate that a family of four can generate as much energy as it uses in a year. The year-long pilot is expected to improve testing methods for residential energy efficiency and develop…

  • Home Computer Fetal Ultrasound System Developed

    Engineers at Newcastle University in the U.K. created a low-cost ultrasound scanner that can display images of a fetus on a home computer display. The device aims to make the monitoring of fetal development a more routine task, particularly in less developed areas of the world. The scanner, about the size of a computer mouse,…

  • Synthetic Nanomaterial Developed for Semiconductors

    Chemists and physicists at University at Buffalo in New York created a synthetic nanoscale material with properties making it a potential replacement for silicon in electronic components. The team led by chemist Sarbajit Banerjee and physicist Sambandamurthy Ganapathy published its findings in a recent issue of the journal Advanced Functional Materials (paid subscription required). The…

  • Levitation Technique Devised to Create More Soluble Drugs

    Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy in Illinois, developed techniques making it more feasible to create drugs that are more soluble, and thus more effective in lower doses. X-ray physicist Chris Benmore led the study that uses levitation to suspend the solution in air while it evaporates, leaving…

  • Computer Chips Recast for High Frequency Detector Circuits

    Engineers at Tel Aviv University in Israel reconfigured common computer chips into high frequency circuits, making them useful for building low-cost security imaging devices. Eran Socher, a lecturer in Tel Aviv’s engineering department, is leading the university’s research team that published its findings in a recent issue of the journal IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components…

  • Project to Study Light-Enabled Quantum Dot Circuits

    Researchers at Tampere University of Technology in Finland are developing a new process for designing and fabricating logic circuits that consume no current and can be read and written with light. The four-year, €1.6 million ($US 2.1 million) study is funded by the Academy of Finland, the country’s main science agency. The project draws on…

  • Nanoscale Bar Codes Developed to Combat Counterfeiting

    Engineers and chemists at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT) in Rapid City and University of South Dakota in Vermillion devised invisible, nanoscale high-density bar codes that can authenticate paper documents and other solid objects. The team published its findings in the journal Nanotechnology, published by Institute of Physics (free registration required). The…

  • Sliding Metal Parts Found to Exhibit Fluid-Like Properties

    Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana found solid pieces of metal that slide over each other to display properties resembling fluids rather than solids. Their research — funded by National Science Foundation, U.S. Army and General Motors — appears in the journal Physical Review Letters (paid subscription required). The team led by materials engineer Srinivasan…