Science and Enterprise

Month: March 2012

  • Robot Jellyfish Runs on Hydrogen, Oxygen in Water

    Researchers at University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have developed an autonomous undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on hydrogen and oxygen in the water. The team, led by Dallas engineering professor and first author Yonas Tadesse (pictured left), published its findings this week in the journal Smart Materials…

  • Virginia Tech to Establish Auto Tire Research Center

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg is setting up a new research center devoted to the study of vehicle tires. The Center for Tire Research, which will involve collaborations with other institutions and tire and auto companies, gets its initial funding from a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The tire research center is expected to focus on…

  • FDA Approves Implanted Reflux Disease Treatment Device

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Linx Reflux Management System, a surgical implant device for people diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The Linx system is made by Torax Medical Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota. GERD is a condition where the stomach contents leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus, irritating or…

  • Study Shows Increased Heat Boosts Biochar as Soil Additive

    A research team at Rice University in Houston, Texas has found that heating biochar — charcoal added to topsoil to enhance plant growth — to 450 degrees Celsius increases its ability to deliver water and nutrients to the targeted crops. Their findings appear online this week in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy (paid subscription required).…

  • Trial Underway for Non-Addictive ADHD Drug for Adults

    Euthymics Bioscience Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts says it has started a phase 1 clinical trial of its drug candidate EB-1020 to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults. The company says that EB-1020 is notable because it has a low risk of drug abuse liability, a problem with some current drugs for ADHD that…

  • Aqueous Solution Tested to Reduce Carbon Nanotube Toxicity

    Engineers at University of Florida in Gainesville are investigating ways of reducing the toxicity of carbon nanotubes, a promising technology with applications in semiconductors, energy storage, and displays. The latest findings of environmental engineer Jean-Claude Bonzongo, chemical engineer Kirk Ziegler, and their Florida colleagues appear in the March 2012 issue of the journal Nanotoxicology (paid…

  • Grants to Fund Brain-Hand Neural Connections Research

    Grants from the National Science Foundation will fund research into sensory and cognitive connections between the brain and the hands that can lead to new prosthetic devices and treatments. The NSF funds totaling $640,000 will support research by Arizona State University biomedical engineering professor Marco Santello and Columbia University kinesiology professor Andrew Gordon. Santello’s research…

  • Blood Biomarker Can Help Predict Imminent Heart Attack Risks

    Research conducted by Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California discovered a potential biomarker found in a patient’s blood that can help predict if that person is at imminent risk of a heart attack. The findings of Scripps’s Eric Topol and colleagues appear in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription…

  • Camera Captures Photos of Objects Beyond Line of Sight

    Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, and Rice University have devised a system that can produce recognizable 3-D images of objects outside of a camera’s line of sight. Their findings are described in this week’s issue of the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). The interdisciplinary team of engineers, mathematician, and chemist, led by…

  • GSK, Johnson & Johnson Join in Life Science Venture Fund

    The London-based venture capital company Index Ventures unveiled a new investment fund for early-stage life sciences companies, with pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson, among the investors. The Index Life VI fund, valued at €150 million ($US230 million), is the first for Index Ventures devoted solely to the life sciences.…