Tag: physics

  • Jet Fuel Additive Reduces Chance for Crash Explosions

    2 October 2015. Materials scientists and chemists designed a polymer additive that reduces the explosive nature of jet fuel in crashes or terror attacks, without compromising the fuel’s performance. Researchers from California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena published their findings in today’s issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required). The…

  • Sensor Network, Google Maps to Track California Air Quality

    28 September 2015. A San Francisco company that designs environmental sensors and networks is partnering with Google Maps to track air quality in three California regions. Aclima Inc. and Google Maps announced the partnership today at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, but no financial details were revealed. Aclima Inc. develops…

  • Optical Device IDs Healthy, Cancerous Tissue in Surgery

    18 September 2015. An engineering and medical team at University of Illinois in Champaign designed a surgical tool that identifies and discriminates between healthy and cancerous tissue in real time when removing tumors. Researchers led by engineering professor Stephen Boppart published results of a study testing the hand-held device with 35 breast cancer patients earlier…

  • Allied Minds Forming Space Signaling Company

    17 September 2015. Allied Minds, a research commercialization company in Boston, is forming a new enterprise harnessing space satellites to detect wireless signals from earth for maritime, emergency, and commercial applications. The company, HawkEye 360 Inc., is licensing research on radio-frequency communications from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, designed initially for U.S. defense and…

  • Inside Air Monitor Devised as Smartphone Add-On

    13 August 2015. Engineers in Finland designed a miniaturized system for measuring levels of carbon dioxide and other gases with smartphones to monitor interior air quality for health care needs. The team at VTT Technical Research Centre, an applied research institute in Finland, developed the monitor as an add-on to mobile devices, with a spin-off…

  • Navy Seeks Graphene Nanoribbons for Electricity Distribution

    20 July 2015. The U.S. Navy wants a more efficient way to distribute electric power on its ships, and believes ultrathin ribbons made of graphene may help them do it. The Office of Naval Research awarded an $800,000 grant to the lab led by engineering professor Cemal Basaran at University at Buffalo to find out more…

  • Commercial Space Launch Site Slated for New Zealand

    2 July 2015. Rocket Lab Ltd, a company aiming to make orbital space launches frequent and less costly, says it plans to build a launch site in New Zealand, with completion scheduled by the end of 2015. The company says test flights will begin soon after completing construction of the site, with commercial operations planned…

  • Environmental Sensor Developer Reveals Collaborations

    30 June 2015. Aclima Inc., a designer of environmental monitoring sensors and networks, unveiled today collaborations with Google Inc., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, among others. The San Francisco company, operating with little publicity for long as 5 years, did not disclose financial details from any of these partnerships. Aclima Inc.…

  • Mini Gamma Camera Developed, Spin-Off Company Formed

    1 June 2015. Physicists and medical researchers at two universities in the U.K. designed a hand-held camera that performs gamma ray imaging, normally requiring a powerful room-sized device for diagnosing tumors and other medical functions. The team from Universities of Leicester and Nottingham also formed a spin-off company, Gamma Technologies Ltd., to take the device…

  • Space Object Taxonomy Sought in $50K Challenge

    22 May 2015. A new challenge on InnoCentive seeks a scientifically-based method for describing orbiting space objects with the fewest characteristics possible, but still predicts the objects’ behavior. The competition has a total purse of $50,000 and a deadline for submissions of 20 July 2015. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowdsourcing competitions for corporate…