Tag: physical sciences
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University Developing Smart Skin, Fabrics for Robots
Engineers at University of Texas in Arlington are developing smart skin and fabrics that can help robotic devices, such as prosthetics, learn about their environments and react accordingly. The four-year, $1.35 million project is funded by National Science Foundation under the National Robotics Initiative. The research is led by engineering professor Dan Popa (pictured left),…
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Process Converts Greenhouse Gas into Useful Chemicals
Chemists at University of Southern California in Los Angeles devised a method for changing fluoroform, a common yet potent greenhouse gas, into reagents for producing pharmaceuticals and agriculture chemicals. The team led by G.K. Surya Prakash, director of USC’s Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute, published its findings in this week’s issue of the journal Science (paid…
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Augmented Reality Applications Enhanced for Mobile Devices
Computer scientists at University of California in Santa Barbara are developing augmented reality applications for mobile devices that offer more stable, realistic, and current images than available today. The lab of computer science professors Matthew Turk and Tobias Höllerer (pictured right) recently received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to create…
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Simple Process Developed to Remove Smokestack CO2 Emissions
Researchers at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) in Québec City, Canada are developing an economical method for removing most carbon dioxide from emissions put out by large industrial plants. The project led by INRS environmental scientist Guy Mercier, is funded by a two-year, $300,000 grant from Carbon Management Canada, a federal Canadian…
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New Technique Developed for Stem Cell Delivery to Eyes
Engineers at University of Sheffield in the U.K. devised a new method for attaching stem cells to eyes that can lessen the need for tissue banks and reduce the growth of scar tissue on the eye. The technology, designed to treat damage to the cornea, the transparent layer on the front of the eye, is…
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MIT Entrepreneurial Center Awards Technology Grants
A division of Massachusetts Institute of Technology that promotes entrepreneurship awarded new grants to eight research teams working on early-stage technologies. The Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT says the grants total $706,000 and cover projects ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to retinal disease detection. The grants support early-stage research and development of new solutions,…
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Lasers, Nanoscale Bubbles Kill, Modify Diseased Cells
Researchers at Rice University in Houston developed a process using lasers and tiny gas bubbles to kill or modify diseased cells, without affecting neighboring cells. The team from the lab of biochemist Dmitri Lapotko published its findings online in a recent issue of the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). Lapotko, with research scientist and…
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Nanotech Lights Improve on Fluorescent, LED, CFL Bulbs
Physicists at Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland developed a new type of electric lighting that improves on many of the current commercial and display lighting technologies. Professor David Carroll, director of Wake Forest’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, led the team that published its findings online in…
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Technique Developed to Create Artificial Brain Tissue in Lab
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School adapted techniques from the semiconductor industry to create simulated brain tissue in the lab. The researchers published their findings online this week in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required). The technique devised by the team of medical researchers, biomedical engineers, and computer scientists produces…
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Binding Process Developed for Antimicrobial Surfaces
An undergraduate research project at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts led to creation of process to bind antimicrobial peptides to gold and silicon surfaces. The students, working under the direction of chemical engineering professor Terri Camesano, published their findings in a recent issue of the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (paid subscription required). The…