Category: New products
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Small-Scale Surveillance/Emergency Robot Developed
ReconRobotics Inc. in Edina, Minnesota has unveiled a compact and lightweight robotic device for military, police, and emergency-response applications. The company plans to demonstrate the Throwbot XT Reconnaissance Robot at the Eurosatory defense and security exhibition, 11-14 June in Paris. The Throwbot is designed to be physically thrown into harm’s way by military, police, and…
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New Data Encoding Method Cuts Energy for Memory Cards
Engineers and computer scientists at Rice University in Houston and University of California in Los Angeles have discovered a way to write data on computer memory cards that cuts the energy needed for the task by 30 percent. The team from Rice’s Adaptive Computing and Embedded Systems Laboratory, led by Ph.D. student Azalia Mirhoseini (pictured…
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High-Energy Infrared Beams Adapted for Tabletop X-Ray Device
Physicists from University of Colorado at Boulder, with colleagues from the U.S., Austria, and Spain, have developed an X-ray system that captures concentrated infrared beams, in a compact device that can fit on a lab table. The team led by Colorado researchers Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane published their findings in the 8 June issue…
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Cellulosic Biofuel Process Close to Cost-Competitive
Chemical engineers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana have devised a process for producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks they say is nearly cost-competitive with fossil fuels. An economic analysis of the process developed in the lab of Purdue’s Rakesh Agrawal is described in the journal Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (paid subscription required). This method,…
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Low-Dose, High-Rez CT Scanning Technique Developed
Researchers from France, Germany, and Switzerland have devised an X-ray imaging technique that can improve the contrast of computed tomography (CT) scans while reducing the radiation dose of those scans. The results of the team led by Irene Zanette of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France will be published this week in the…
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Math Model Helps Predict Future Medical Problems
A University of Washington statistician, with colleagues from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University, have devised a mathematical model that predicts a patient’s possible medical conditions in the future based on the patient’s current and past medical history. The work of Washington’s Tyler McCormick (pictured right), with MIT’s Cynthia Rudin and Columbia’s David Madigan,…
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National Lab Develops Demonstration Community Fuel Cell
Engineers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington have created a more efficient fuel cell system that can provide electric power for neighborhoods. The PNNL researchers published their findings last month in the Journal of Power Sources (paid subscription required). The solid oxide fuel cell system developed at PNNL, a division of the…
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Light-Triggered Anti-Bacterial Technology Developed
Researchers at University of California-Santa Cruz have developed a method for eradicating drug-resistant bacteria from wounds and skin infections, using light to trigger the release of the chemical nitric oxide. The team led by biochemistry professor Pradip Mascharak published its findings online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (paid subscription required). The UC…
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Synthetic Platelets Developed for Therapies, Diagnostics
Chemical engineers at University of California-Santa Barbara, with colleagues at Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California, have developed synthetic blood platelets for therapeutic and diagnostic uses. Their findings appear online in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). The team led by research scientist Nishit Doshi (pictured right), now with a…
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Process Developed to Determine Tomato Flavor Chemistry
Researchers from University of Florida and Ohio State University have developed a method to reveal the chemical composition of tasty tomatoes that the researchers say can lead to better-tasting tomatoes in the supermarket. Their findings appear online in the journal Current Biology (paid subscription required). The interdisciplinary team led by Florida horticultural sciences professor Harry…