Science and Enterprise

Month: August 2011

  • First Flaw Reportedly Found in Advanced Encryption Standard

    Computer scientists from European universities and Microsoft Research have found a weakness in the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm. Andrey Bogdanov from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, Christian Rechberger from L’École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and Dmitry Khovratovich from Microsoft Research say that the discovered flaw makes the recovery of the secret AES encryption key…

  • 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…

  • Weather Company to Partner with European Climate Researchers

    Weather and climate data company Earth Networks in Germantown, Maryland announced today a collaboration with Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), a consortium of European climate research institutes. Earth Networks says it plans to work with ICOS’s  network of climate scientists to increase the size of Europe’s greenhouse gas monitoring network and collaborate on data management…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Evaluation Tool Developed to Predict Death in Obese People

    Medical researchers and statisticians from Canada and the U.S. have developed a rating scale to predict mortality of overweight and obese people. The Edmonton obesity staging system, named for the city in Alberta, Canada where the scale was developed, is described in the 15 August issue of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The most common…

  • FDA Issues Draft Clinical Trial, Benefit-Risk Guidelines

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued separate draft guidelines involving medical devices, one for designing better clinical trials, and the other for benefit-risk determinations. Both documents are open for public comment for 90 days. FDA’s guidance documents generally do not establish legal responsibilities, but instead describe FDA’s current thinking and recommendations. The clinical…

  • Clinical Trial to Test Stroke Treatment for Diabetics

    The University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville has received a $25 million grant to lead a national clinical trial investigating a new treatment that could benefit ischemic stroke patients. The National Institutes of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, part of National Institutes of Health, is funding the study. Ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel…

  • Algorithm Helps Identify Viral Strains, Mutations

    Researchers in Israel and the U.S. have developed computational methods to analyze the composition of proteins that control a virus’s ability to attach to host cells and produce more virus. The unique position of amino acids in those proteins acts as a signature for the virus, and identifying that signature can help pinpoint the virus’s…

  • Auto Crash Model Can Simulate Offshore Oil Pipe Breaks

    Engineers at MIT have shown how a simulation model that tests automobile components for crashworthiness can be applied to predict the performance of pipes in offshore drilling accidents. The team from MIT’s Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory presented their findings at the International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference in June. Tomasz Wierzbicki, professor of applied mechanics…