Tag: physical sciences
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Harvard Institute, Sony to Partner on Organs-on-Chips
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Massachusetts and Sony Corporation’s optical media division (Sony DADC) will collaborate on developing plastic chips that emulate human organs. Financial terms and timetable of the deal were not disclosed. Chips that emulate human organs are made of clear, flexible polymer plastic, about the size…
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Hospital, Community MRSA Forms Predicted to Coexist
Epidemiologists and mathematicians at Princeton University in New Jersey developed a computer model of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) transmission that shows the two leading forms of the bacteria will both continue to exist, without one dominating the other. The team working under the direction of population biologist Bryan Grenfell published its findings online in a…
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Software Advances Improve Cardiac Ultrasound Images
Biomedical engineers at University of Oxford in the U.K. developed software that they say enhances the ultrasound image quality of the heart. The original research, funded by the U.K.’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, led to a start-up company to commercialize the technology, which is on display today at the Healthcare Innovation Expo 2013…
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Dementia Screening Test Adapted for Smartphone App
Neuroscientists and clinicians from the U.K. and Australia translated a paper-based screening test for dementia into a smartphone app that the developers believe will make the tool more accurate and widely used. The researchers from Plymouth University in the U.K., Derriford Plymouth Hospitals, and Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney unveiled an advance version of the…
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Patent Granted for Nanotech-Enhanced Biodegradable Polymers
Cereplast Inc., a developer of bio-based plastics in El Segundo, California, received a patent for its process of making biodegradable polymers enhanced with mineral nanoparticles. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued patent number 8,389,614 to Cereplast’s CEO Frederick Scheer and research executive William Kelly, and assigned the patent to Cereplast Inc. on 5 March…
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Computer Model Identifies Concussion-Producing Conditions
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and University of Ottawa in Canada developed a technique that combines computer modeling and imaging to calcuate damage capable of causing head trauma and concussion. The team led by Johns Hopkins engineering professor K.T. Ramesh published its findings in a recent issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma (paid…
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Robotics Cloud Software Platform Being Demonstrated
Computer scientists and engineers at five European universities and the Dutch electronics company Phillips designed and are implementing an Internet-based robotics software repository to relieve individual robots of heavy processing tasks. Workshops on cloud robotics, featuring hands-on practice with the RoboEarth system, are being offered next week at the euRobotics Forum in Lyon, France. RoboEarth…
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BASF, Massachusetts Universities to Partner on Materials
Researchers at the German chemical company BASF and three universities in Massachusetts will collaborate on the development of new materials for the automotive, building and construction, and energy industries. Financial details of the new five-year North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials were not disclosed, but the universities in consortium — Harvard University, MIT,…
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Air-Breathing Biobattery Developed for Medical Devices
Researchers at the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Warsaw, part of the Polish Academy of Sciences, developed a power source for implanted medical devices that works with the body’s chemistry, including oxygen taken from the from the air. The team working in the lab of the institute’s Marcin Opallo developed a prototype battery that powers…
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Early Trial Shows Deep Brain Stimulation Effects on Anorexia
Researchers at the University Health Network in Toronto found deep brain stimulation to help some patients with severe anorexia increase their body mass index and reduce related obsessions and compulsions. Results of the small-scale clinical trial were published online in today’s issue of the journal The Lancet (paid subscription required). Anorexia nervosa is an eating…