Tag: physical sciences
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Simple Microfluidics Immune System Sensor Developed
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a simple, inexpensive sensor to diagnose a range of diseases including immune system disorders. The work of the team led by Stanford pediatrician and immunologist Manish Butte (pictured right) appears today online in the journal Biomicrofluidics; paid subscription required. The university says it has filed a…
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Naval Lab, Universities Design Firefighting Robot
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., with researchers from Virginia Tech and University of Pennsylvania, are building a humanoid-type robot to fight shipboard fires on new combat vessels. The device is based on the Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with Learning Intelligence (CHARLI, pictured left) prototype developed at Virginia Tech. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting…
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Coating Developed to Enable Faster, Stronger Dental Implants
A clinical study led by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden shows that a new process speeds and strengthens the implants of artificial teeth in the jaw bones of patients. The findings of the study appear online in the journal Bone (paid subscription required), and the study leader has founded a company for commercializing the…
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Research Institute, XCOR Partner on Suborbital Test Flights
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio says it will conduct suborbital space missions with SwRI payload specialist astronauts flying aboard one or two test missions in the XCOR Aerospace Lynx Mark I vehicle. The flights are expected to test capabilities of the Lynx vehicle with actual researchers and research experiments aboard. About one year…
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Challenge Seeks Molecular Composition Tool for Electronics
A new challenge from InnoCentive calls for a technology to determine the chemical composition of everyday electronic devices. This “ideation” challenge — one looking for a breakthrough idea — has a total prize fund of $8,000 and a deadline of 20 March 2012 for submissions. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation,…
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Worker Deaths Linked to Paint Stripping Chemical
An investigation by researchers at Michigan State University has found that 13 deaths since 2000 involved the use of paint-stripping products containing methylene chloride. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) includes the findings in the 24 February 2012 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Methylene chloride is a volatile, colorless and toxic chemical…
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ARPA-E to Fund $44M for Natural Gas, Algae Biofuels R&D
The Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) will devote $44 million to fund new research in natural gas for transportation and biofuels from algae. The new programs were announced by President Obama yesterday in a speech at University of Miami in Florida. Some $30 million of the ARPA-E funds will support research on innovations…
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No-Engine Commercial Aircraft Taxiing Deemed Feasible
Research conducted at University of Lincoln in the U.K. indicates airliners can power their taxiing after landing by harnessing energy in the wheel rotation of their landing gear to generate electricity. The study was funded by a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the U.K. government’s main funding agency for studies…
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One-Step Process Developed to Produce Multi-Color Polymer
Researchers from University at Buffalo in New York have developed a simple, inexpensive process for generating a polymer that emits many different wave-lengths of light. The findings from Buffalo’s engineering department appear online in the journal Advanced Materials (paid subscription required), for which a provisional U.S. patent application has been filed. The engineers, led by…
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Nanotech Fiber Material Converts Heat to Electricity
Researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina have developed a fiber-like material with the ability to convert heat, such as body heat, into electric power. The team, which includes researchers from universities in New Zealand and Korea, and the company NanoTechLabs Inc. in nearby Yadkinville, North Carolina published its findings online in the…