Category: New products
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Dried Blood Test Developed, Spin-Off Company Formed
Researchers at King’s College London have developed a process to screen patients for genetic and acquired clinical conditions from a single dried blood spot. The college also started today a spin-off diagnostics company providing services using this method. The test, developed by a team from King’s College and clinician collaborators from King’s Health Partners Academic…
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Airport Runway De-Icing System Developed with Solar Panels
Engineering researchers at University of Arkansas in Fayetteville are developing an anti-icing system that could make airport runways safer and less expensive to maintain during winter months. The team led by civil engineering professor Ernie Heymsfield are now testing components of the system at the university’s Engineering Research Center in south Fayetteville. The approach uses…
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Intel Corp. to Fund 3D Computer Processing Unit Development
Computer engineers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh are developing a three-dimensional central processing unit (CPU) that aims to increase energy efficiency by 15 percent. The project, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Intel Corporation, is led by Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. A 3D…
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Trial of Insulin-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Approved
Midatech Ltd. in Oxford, U.K. says it has received approval from regulatory authorities in Switzerland for a clinical trial of the company’s insulin-coated gold nanoparticles. The company says it is the first test in humans of therapies based on solid nanoparticles. Midatech says the trial will test the safety of insulin-coated gold nanoparticles when applied…
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Nanotech Solution Boosts Lithium-Ion Battery Performance
Engineers at Northwestern University in Illinois have created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries that can hold 10 times the charge and recharge 10 times faster than current batteries. A paper describing the research was published last month in the journal Advanced Energy Materials (paid subscription required), and funded by the Energy Frontier Research Centers program…
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Electronic Film Implant Designed to Monitor Brain Functions
Medical and engineering researchers from the U.S., Korea, and China have developed a thin, flexible electronic film that can monitor brain activity without the use of penetrating electrodes. The team’s findings appear online in the journal Nature Neuroscience (paid subscription required). The film (illustrated left), about one-quarter the thickness of a human hair, contains 720…
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Protein Discovered That Enables Heart Tissue Repair
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, Germany have found a protein that stimulates regression of individual heart muscle cells into their precursor cells, a step required for self-generated healing of damaged heart tissue. The Max Planck Institute, with colleagues from the Schüchtermann Klinik in Bad Rothenfelde, published…
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Patent Filed for Nanocomposite Polymer-Based Film
A materials scientist at University of Cincinnati has developed a transparent and electrically conductive polymer-based film with potential solar and fuel cell applications. Jude Iroh (pictured right), who is also an engineering professor at UC, recently filed a provisional patent for the discovery. The nanocomposite film is transparent and electrically conductive, says Iroh, as well…
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Wearable Device Captures Food Intake, Lifestyle Patterns
A device developed at University of Pittsburgh allows people battling obesity to track their food consumption and physical activities without keeping separate records. The eButton, as the NIH-funded device is called, is now a prototype in pilot testing, and the result of research by Pittsburgh biomedical engineer Mingui Sun. The eButton, worn on the chest…
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Honda Advances Autonomous Humanoid Robot and Robot Arm
Robotics engineers at Honda Motor Company in Japan have developed more advanced capabilities for ASIMO, its humanoid robot, and released an early version of a task-performing robot arm. The experimental robot arm is designed to be remotely controlled for tasks in unstable places which are difficult for people to access. The new version of the…