Tag: physical sciences
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Zero-Gravity, Tropical Institute Partner on Food Security
24 July 2014. Zero Gravity Solutions Inc. and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are collaborating on implementing technologies originally developed for the U.S. space program to improve food security in Africa and other tropical regions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. IITA, in Ibadan, Nigeria, conducts research on agricultural plant health and…
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Student Designs Simple Water Filter, Seeks Crowdfunding
24 July 2014. An engineering student at ETH Zurich, a science and technology university in Switzerland, designed a simple, inexpensive water filter to bring drinking water to developing countries that lack reliable clean water sources. Jeremy Nussbaumer developed the DrinkPure filter while an undergraduate at ETH Zurich, and now has a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo…
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Farm Survey Drone System Seeks Crowdfunding Support
21 July 2014. A system that combines an aerial drone with Android tablet and software designed to survey a grower’s crop fields is seeking crowdfunding contributors. The StitchCam system by San Diego start-up SNAP Vision Technologies LLC is the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, but needs to raise more than $92,000 of its $100,000 goal…
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Robotic Device Provides Extra Fingers to Enhance Human Grip
18 July 2014. Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed a glove-like robotic device that adds two more fingers and coordinates with a person’s hand to help with manual activities. Mechanical engineering professor Harry Asada and graduate student Faye Wu discussed the device earlier this week at the Robotics Science and Systems conference in Berkeley,…
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Novartis Licensing Smart Lens Technology from Google
15 July 2014. The Alcon division of pharmaceutical company Novartis is licensing the rights to Google’s so-called smart lens technology for medical applications involving the eyes. Financial terms of the licensing agreement between Alcon that develops vision care products for Novartis and Google[x], part of the company’s research labs, were not disclosed. Google[x] announced in…
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Foam/Wax Material Adapted for Shape-Changing Robotics
14 July 2014. Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a process for combining foam and wax materials into components that allow robot devices to become pliable for changing their shape, yet return to a rigid state when needed to do their tasks. The team from the lab of mechanical engineering professor Anette Hosoi, with…
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Panel: Federal Science Cuts Hurt U.S. Competitiveness
9 July 2014. A panel of research executives from 10 universities in the U.S. told of the harmful impact of Federal spending cuts on science in the past few years, which the panelists said reduces the country’s ability to compete in world markets. The roundtable discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. was…
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DARPA Funding Development of Brain Implants to Boost Memory
9 July 2014. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Defense, is awarding grants to two universities and a national lab to develop devices for implanting in the brain that can sense and restore memory loss. Research agreements totaling $40 million were designated for University of California in Los Angeles,…
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Virtual Reality System Developed to Track Crowd Moves
8 July 2014. A psychology research group at Brown University in Providence is using virtual reality to detect and document patterns of autonomous individuals taking part in crowds. The system developed by Brown’s Virtual Environment Navigation lab was described last week by its director William Warren in a keynote address at a meeting of the…
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Nanotech Technique Devised for Real-Time Intestinal Images
7 July 2014. Biomedical engineers from University at Buffalo in New York developed a non-invasive technique making it possible to capture live images to diagnose and care for diseases of the small intestine. The team led by Buffalo professor Jonathan Lovell — with colleagues from Buffalo and universities in Wisconsin, Canada, and Korea — published…