Tag: physical sciences
-
Heartbeat Vibrations Found Feasible to Power Pacemakers
Engineers at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor developed a device that can harvest enough energy from a beating heart to power an implanted pacemaker. Michigan engineering research fellow Amin Karami (pictured right) and colleague Daniel Inman presented their findings yesterday at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Los Angeles. Pacemakers help regulate…
-
Wake Forest, NanoMedica to Partner on Sequencing Technology
Physicists at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and NanoMedica Inc., a biotechnology company also in Winston-Salem, received a Small Business Innovation Research grant to develop a faster process of drug development. The $700,000 grant from National Institutes of Health is supplemented by a $160,000 award from North Carolina Biotech Center to develop the…
-
Earthquake Model Helps Assess Building Vulnerabilities
Engineers and earth scientists at University of California in Berkeley built a physical earthquake fault model in the lab that can assess the vulnerabilities of buildings and other structures when an earthquake happens. The study reporting on the model, first-authored by Gregory McLaskey now at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, appears in…
-
Solar Cell Developed from Carbon-Based Nanotech Materials
Researchers at Stanford University in California developed a solar cell made entirely of carbon, instead of silicon and more expensive materials found in current solar cells. The team that included contributors from University of Rochester in New York and Nankai University in China published their findings today in the online issue of the journal ACS…
-
Study to Boost High-Speed Railroad Ties’ Durability
Research underway at Kansas State University in Manhattan aims to improve the durability of railroad ties designed for high speed rail systems in the U.S. and elsewhere. The work led by Kansas State engineering professor Kyle Riding is funded in part by a $1.2 milion grant from the Federal Railroad Association, an agency of the…
-
Process Developed for Mass Nanotube Semiconductor Assembly
Researchers at IBM Corporation’s Thomas Watson research lab in New York developed a method for assembling high densities of carbon nanotubes on a wafer surface, a key advance in fabricating semiconductors. The IBM team led by Hongsik Park (picured right) published its findings yesterday online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology; paid subscription required. Carbon nanotubes…
-
Challenge Seeks Smartphone GPS Jamming Detector
A new challenge on InnoCentive asks for a method of detecting GPS signal jamming devices using smartphones. The competiton (free registration required) has an award of $20,000 and a deadline of 3 January 2013. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization sponsors. Global Positioning System (GPS) signals can be drowned…
-
Lab-On-A-Chip Device Built for Visual Evaluation
Chemical researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah created a microfluidics device for lab tests that indicates the presence and concentrations of target substances with the naked eye. The findings of the team led by chemistry professor Adam Woolley appear online in the journal Analytical Chemistry (paid subscription required). Woolley’s team designed the device on…
-
Mobile Phones Enhanced to Transmit Emphasis, Emotions
Computer scientists at University of Helsinki in Finland developed enhancements to mobile phones that enable callers to express their emotions during calls through tactile sensory devices. A team led by postdoctoral researcher Eve Hoggan in Helsinki’s Institute of Information Technology described the technology they call ForcePhone at ACM’s User Interface Software and Technology symposium in…
-
Public Domain Name Services Found Slowing Web Performance
Computer scientists at Northwestern University in Illinois found the global trend toward public domain name systems (DNSs) — to look up Internet addresses before making connections — is slowing down the Web for many visitors. A team led by Northwestern computer science professor Fabián Bustamante (pictured left) will discuss these findings at the ACM Internet…