Category: New products

  • Vibrating Microsensors Developed for Detection, Testing

    Engineers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana have applied tiny vibrating microcantilevers to sensors that could detect chemical and biological substances. Their research is described in this week’s online issue of the Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (paid subscription required), and a patent is pending on their invention. The team led by mechanical engineering professor…

  • New Technique Enables Nanoscale Images Inside Living Brain

    Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany have developed a technique to record detailed live images inside the brain of a living mouse. The technology, called stimulated emission depletion (STED) fluorescence microscopy is described in the 3 February issue of the journal Science; paid subscription required. The team led by…

  • Stem Cell Method Developed to Increase Bone Strength

    Medical researchers from University of California at Davis and engineering faculty at University of California at Berkeley have developed a technique to increase bone growth by stimulating stem cell activity in bones. The team’s findings appear online in the journal Nature Medicine (paid subscription required). The research team led by Wei Yao of UC Davis’s…

  • Eye Treatment Delivery Option to Syringe Being Developed

    Engineers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada have developed a new system using an implanted patch to deliver drugs to the back of the eye, as an alternative to direct injection with a syringe. The results of their research appear online in the Journal of Biomaterials Applications (paid subscription required). The team led by…

  • Ignore the Sticker Shock, Electric Trucks Can Pay You Back

    A new MIT study indicates that electric vehicles have the potential to improve the bottom line for many kinds of businesses, in addition to being good for the environment. The findings from the study, conducted by researchers at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL), were presented last month at the IEEE Power and Energy…

  • Nanotech Enhanced Oils Boost Insulation Properties

    Materials scientists at Rice University in Houston have developed a process for enhancing the efficiency of lubricants to help remove excess heat in electric-power devices from micro-scale components to industrial transformers. The findings of graduate student Jaime Taha-Tijerina, postdoctoral researcher Tharangattu Narayanan, and colleagues appear in the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). The team…

  • Risk-Based Air Passenger Screening Could Improve Security

    A University of Illinois computer scientist has developed algorithms to assess the relative risk of air passengers that can improve the effectiveness of pre-flight security checks. The work of Sheldon Jacobson in Urbana, Illinois, with Springfield researcher Adrian Lee, appears in the December 2011 issue of the journal Transportation Science (paid subscription required). Jacobson —…

  • Nanotech Paint Devised to Monitor for Structural Damage

    Researcher engineers at University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, U.K. have developed a type of paint that can help detect early signs of structural damage in bridges or buildings. Because this “smart paint” can be applied like any other paint and requires little maintenance, it costs a small fraction of traditional instrument-based sensors. Strathclyde civil engineering…

  • Medical Sensor Powered by Music Vibrations Developed

    Engineers at Purdue University in Indiana have developed a miniature medical sensor that can be powered by vibrations from music played nearby, with the deep bass of rap music found most effective. The research conducted in the lab of Babak Ziaie, professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, will be presented at the…

  • Faster, More Sensitive Flu Diagnostics Developed

    Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center in Yokohama, Japan have developed a new technique to identify influenza virus infection in only 40 minutes and with 100 times the sensitivity of conventional methods. The findings from the team led by RIKEN Omics’ Toshihisa Ishikawa appear in the online journal PLoS ONE. Ishikawa and his colleagues…