Tag: physical sciences
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Renewable Chemicals Developer Raises $104M in Venture Funds
Elevance Renewable Sciences in Woodbridge, Illinois says it raised $104 million in its series E financing, the fifth round of funding after start-up. Lacustrine Limited, a subsidiary of Genting Berhad, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia led the round with Total Energy Ventures International, based in Paris. Elevance produces specialty chemicals for personal care products, detergents,…
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Smart Headlights Help Drivers See Better in the Rain
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh have devised a new type of car headlight that is better able to illuminate the road ahead in rain or snow. The team led by computer scientist Srinivasa Narasimhan (pictured left) says lab tests have demonstrated the feasiblity of the new headlight. The system works by…
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Grant Funds Feasibility Study of Photonic Ethernet Chips
A researcher at Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby has received a DKK 2.2 million ($US 370,000) grant to study the use of photonics to achieve high-speed Ethernet transfers on silicon chips. The grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research will fund the work of photonics staff researcher Hao Hu (pictured left) at Alcatel-Lucent-Bell…
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Robotic Legs Developed with Human Walking Motion
Engineers at University of Arizona in Tucson have developed a robotic pair of legs with a biologically accurate walking motion. Theresa Klein (pictured right) and Anthony Lewis at Arizona’s Robotics and Neural Systems Laboratory published the results of their work this week in the Journal of Neural Engineering. The researchers say the robotic legs have…
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Researcher Writes Anti-Data Theft Software for Smartphones
A computer scientist at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany (English translation by EurekAlert) has written an application to prevent the theft of data from Android smartphones. The app was written by computer science professor Michael Backes, pictured right, who chairs the university’s Center for IT-Security, Privacy and Accountability, and who has also started a company…
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X-Ray Efficiency Boosted with Nanomaterials
Physicists in the U.S. and China have developed nanoscale materials using a design based on the eye of a moth to increase the efficiency of X-ray devices, which can lead to higher resolution images with lower doses of radiation. The research team led by Yasha Yi at City University of New York published its findings…
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Nanotech Coatings Found to Protect Ships from Barnacles
Chemists and molecular biologists in Germany and the Netherlands have tested coatings with vanadium pentoxide nanoparticles as an alternative to tin- and copper-based substances that prevent the build-up of marine organisms on ships’ hulls. The team led by Wolfgang Tremel of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany reported their findings online this week in the…
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Memory Device Maker Secures $12.5 Million Venture Loan
Avalanche Technology, a developer of digital memory devices in Fremont, California has received a $12.5 million loan from Horizon Technology Finance Corporation in Farmington, Connecticut. Horizon Technology Finance calls the deal a venture loan, since the debt is secured by earlier venture capital and private equity financing. The funding is expected to support Avalanche Technology’s…
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Laser Techniques Manufacture 3-D Aluminum Composite Parts
Engineers at University of Exeter in the U.K. have devised a process using lasers to produce three-dimensional aluminum composite parts from inexpensive metal powders. The work of Ph.D. candidate Sasan Dadbakhsh and lecturer Liang Hao appears online in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds (paid subscription required). Automotive and aircraft parts are often made from…
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Lab Seeking Commercial Partners for Detection Technology
Sandia National Laboratory in Livermore, California is developing a new process that the lab says can make radiation detection in cargo and baggage more effective and less costly. Sandia lab is seeking partners to commercialize the new technology. The process, known as spectral shape discrimination, makes use of a new type of nanomaterials called metal-organic…