Tag: physical sciences
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UCLA Starts Crowdfunding Platform for Research, Service
18 February 2014. University of California at Los Angeles today started a crowdfunding platform to finance research and service projects by faculty and students. The platform, called UCLA Spark, began with five appeals including research projects in engineering and public health. Crowdfunding, according to the technology Web site Mashable, “describes the collective effort of individuals who…
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Golden Goose Highlights Bipartisan Support for Basic Science
15 February 2014. Research on black holes in space by a University of Illinois physicist led to development of an early Web browser on which much of today’s browsers are based. That physicist, Larry Smarr, now at University of California in San Diego, is the first 2014 winner of the Golden Goose award to recognize…
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Science-Based Enterprises: Great Ideas Beat Venture Capital
14 February 2014. Three entrepreneurs starting companies based on science described how they got their businesses off the ground, with ground-breaking science in many cases more important than a large stash of venture capital. San Diego entrepreneurs John Newsam, Irwin Jacobs, and Han Cao told of their start-up business experiences today at a session of…
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AAAS Pres: Science Drives Innovation, Economic Growth
13 February 2014. Phillip Sharp, professor of molecular biology at MIT and president of American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), underscored the tight connection between scientific advancement, entrepreneurship, and economic growth, in the opening plenary session of the AAAS annual conference in Chicago. Sharp described the way scientific discovery feeds the economic engines of…
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Belgium-U.S. Consortium Developing Lung Image Technology
11 February 2014. A group of companies and universities in Belgium and the U.S. are collaborating on an advanced imaging technology to spot signs of lung transplant rejection earlier in a patient’s recovery. Fluidda nv in Kontich, Belgium is leading the collaboration, with additive manufacturing company Materialise in Leuven, Belgium, and universities in Belgium (University…
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Challenge Seeks Better Metal Removal Method from Mine Water
7 February 2014. A new challenge on InnoCentive asks for new, less expensive techniques to remove metals from water that drains from mines, both current and inactive. The competition has a total purse of $12,000 and a deadline of 8 March 2014 (free registration required). InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate…
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Xerox Testing Video to Monitor Patient Vital Signs
6 February 2014. Engineers at Xerox Corporation research centers in Bangalore, India and Webster, New York are testing the feasibility of video sensing combined with data analytics to track the status of patients with chronic conditions. The project is led by Xerox research fellow Lalit Mestha in Webster. The techniques tested by Xerox use video…
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Sense of Touch Restored to Amputee’s Prosthetic Hand
5 February 2014. Biomedical engineers and computer scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland developed a sensory feedback system for an amputee’s prosthetic hand to control grasping and sense stiffness and shapes of objects. The findings of the Lifehand 2 team led by EPFL’s Silvestro Micera, with colleagues from other institutions in Europe,…
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NSF-Funded Research Studying Robot-Human Interaction
3 February 2014. Computer scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts are researching interactions between humans and robots in factory and home settings, working either as collaborators with or helpers to people. Research by Worcester Tech faculty Dmitry Berenson and Sonia Chernova, is funded by a pair of three-year grants from National Science Foundation’s National…
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Football Helmet Design Shown to Reduce Concussion Risk
31 January 2014. Biomedical engineers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg found a helmet design that better absorbs head impact can reduce the rate of concussions among college football players. The team led by Virginia Tech research professor Steve Rowson, with colleagues from seven other institutions, published its findings online today in Journal of Neurosurgery. Recent…