Science and Enterprise

Month: September 2011

  • Campaign Begins to Boost Public Support for Biomed Research

    An advocacy group kicked off a national media campaign to boost what the group says is flagging public support for biomedical research, focusing on the benefits to military veterans. However, the group’s own poll and other survey data suggest a sizable majority of Americans continues to support public funding of biomedical research. The Foundation for…

  • Sanofi Division, Max Planck to Partner on Retinal Research

    Max Planck Society in Germany and Fovea Pharmaceuticals in Paris have agreed to a research and licensing agreement on therapies for restoring vision to patients with diseases affecting the retina. Fovea is the ophthalmology division of the French drug company Sanofi-Aventis. Fovea’s team plans to work with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt…

  • Research-Based Healthy Eating Plate Unveiled

    Nutritionists at Harvard University’s School of Public Health have released the Healthy Eating Plate, a visual guide for eating a healthy meal that the developers say is based only on the science and not the interests of growers or industry. Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the school says, “We want people…

  • Device Captures Vibrations to Power Wireless Sensors

    Engineers at MIT have designed a miniature device that harvests energy from low-frequency vibrations to power wireless sensors for industrial or environmental monitoring. Mechanical engineering professor Sang-Gook Kim and Arman Hajati, now at FujiFilm Dimatix in Santa Clara, California, published their findings last month in the  journal Applied Physics Letters (paid subscription required). While wireless…

  • Sandia Lab Contributes Nearly $1B to California Economy

    An analysis of economic output generated by Sandia National Laboratories shows the lab contributes nearly $1 billion to the California economy, particularly in and around its Livermore campus in the Bay Area. The report was prepared by the Center for Economic Development (CED) at California State University in Chico. The CED report defines economic output…

  • Review: Reminder Packaging Can Help Medication Adherence

    A review of studies conducted in the past few years shows instruction reminders on medication packaging helps some patients more closely follow those instructions. The review, led by health sciences professor Kamal Mahtani of Oxford University in the U.K., appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library (paid subscription required). The analysis by Mahtani…

  • Trial to Test Value of Genetic Tests for Heart Disease

    The Stanford University Medical Center in California has begun a clinical trial to determine if giving patients genetic information about their risk of coronary artery disease will help motivate them to reduce that risk by changing their behavior. The study, just underway, is expected to be completed in December 2012. The trial will test the…

  • Report: Electric Cars Can Balance Renewable Power Grid

    A report from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) says the growing use of electric vehicles offers a way of balancing the intermittent nature of renewable sources in the Northwest U.S. power grid. PNNL, a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy, examined grid conditions in the Northwest Power Pool, which covers Idaho, Montana, Nevada,…

  • AngelSoft Becomes Gust, Offers Start-Up Funding Platform

    AngelSoft, a network of 600 angel investor groups, is rebranding itself under the new name Gust, and will offer both entrepreneurs and investors a common platform to make connections and develop partnerships. Gust says it has endorsements from more than 15 national and international investor associations, 150 venture capital funds, and 35,000 individual angel investors.…

  • Simulation Improves Safety at Traffic Intersections

    A computer simulation developed at Tel Aviv University in Israel incorporates human behavior data with traffic statistics to determine environmental features that lead to black spots, intersections that experience a high incidence of traffic accidents. Environmental science Ph.D. student Gennady Waizman and colleagues discussed the SAFEPED model in July at the Geocomputation 2011 conference in…