Category: New products
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Solid-State Supercapacitor Created with Carbon Nanotubes
Researchers at Rice University in Houston have developed a supercapacitor that can store large quantities of energy and charge quickly, and in a solid-state design made possible by the use of carbon nanotubes. Their findings appear online in the journal Carbon (paid subscription required). Capacitors are devices that regulate flow or supply quick bursts of…
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Scheme Protects Against Wireless Network Security Breach
Computer scientists at MIT have devised a method for plugging a security gap in wireless networks that allows attackers to hijack log-on signals from network devices. MIT faculty Nickolai Zeldovich and Dina Katabi, with postdoc Nabeel Ahmed and grad student Shyam Gollakota presented their findings and demonstrated the system earlier this month at the Usenix…
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FDA Gives Accelerated Approval to Lymphoma Drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) developed by Seattle Genetics of Bothell, Washington, to treat two types of lymphoma. FDA approved Adcetris under an accelerated review procedure for promising drugs to treat serious diseases. Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the cells that play a role in…
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Monitors to Prevent Elderly Falls Before They Happen
Grants from the National Science Foundation’s Smart Health and Wellbeing Program are funding development of a sensor-based system to detect the risks of falls by frail elderly people. One of the grants, to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, will involve collaboration between the school’s engineering and gerontology departments; a smaller grant will fund similar engineering work…
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Clinical Trial Shows Drug Improves Heart Muscle Functions
A clinical trial conducted by University of Hull in the U.K. shows the drug omecamtiv mercabil improves the heart’s ability to pump blood in heart failure patients. The findings by Hull cardiology professor John Cleland and colleagues appear in the 20 August issue of the journal The Lancet (paid subscription required). Omecamtiv mercabil is one…
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Self-Powered Prosthetic Leg Developed, Patented, Licensed
Vanderbilt University engineers in Nashville have developed a prosthetic lower leg, which allows amputees to walk without the leg-dragging that characterizes conventional artificial legs. The university has patented basic elements of the device’s design, and licensed the technology to a California company for commercial development. The prosthesis is as much an electronic as an assistive…
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Powder-Free Latex Gloves Reduces Latex Allergy Rate
Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have found that stopping the use of powdered latex gloves reduces allergic sensitization to latex among health care workers. The team’s findings appear online in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (paid subscription required). Kevin Kelley, professor of pediatrics and internal medicine, led the Wisconsin…
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Lab Develops Automated DNA Construction Software
A team of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California has written a software package that they say streamlines the process of DNA construction. The software, known as j5, is available for free for non-commercial users. DNA construction, also known as DNA cloning or recombinant DNA technology, has become a critical tool of modern…
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Ad Hoc Network Devised for Emergency Communications
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have developed a mobile ad hoc system called LifeNet designed to help first responders communicate after disasters. Santosh Vempala, professor of computer science at Georgia Tech and grad student Hrushikesh Mehendale will demonstrate the system at the ACM SIGCOMM conference today in Toronto, Canada. LifeNet is a wireless network designed…
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Two-Legged Robot Developed with Running Ability
Engineers at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have developed a bipedal robot with the ability to run as well as walk. MABEL, as the robot is called, is funded by the National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. MABEL was first developed in 2008 as a collaboration between Michigan’s Jessy Grizzle, a…