Tag: physical sciences
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New Wireless Sensor Detects Bacterial Beach Contamination
Engineers from an environmental technology company and Johns Hopkins University have developed a wireless, autonomous sensor that can detect E. coli outbreaks at beaches and drinking water sources. The team headed by Jeffrey Talley, president of Environmental Technology Solutions in Gilbert, Arizona and adjunct professor of engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, published its…
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OriginOil, National Lab to Collaborate on Biomass Standards
OriginOil Inc. an algae fuel developer in Los Angeles, signed a research agreement with the Idaho National Lab, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, to establish industry standards for algal biomass. Standards for fuels from biomass are considered a an important step in making algal biofuels a competitive alternative to petroleum. The company says…
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Robotic System to Test 10,000 Compounds for Toxicity
Three U.S. agencies have begun a testing program of some 10,000 chemical compounds for potential toxicity. The Tox21 program is a collaboration of National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and Food and Drug Administration. The program aims to find out if these chemicals have the potential to disrupt human processes that can lead to…
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University Builds Virtual-Reality Factory Simulation
Iowa State University in Ames has built a simulated factory lab based on virtual reality technology. The lab, called Multimodal Experience Testbed and Laboratory or METaL, seeks to create natural interactions in virtual reality for industrial purposes, such as to design new parts, explore design functionality, or develop better assembly methods. METaL consists of two…
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New Radiation Therapy Directly Attacks Cancer Cells
Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel have developed a new method of tumor removal that improves the likelihood of permanently destroying the tumor, and reduce the odds of it returning. The ablation process devised by Tel Aviv medical researcher Yona Keisari and physicist Itzhak Kelson is described in the journal Translational Research (paid subscription…
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Prototype Molybdenite Microchip Developed
Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed the first microchip on a molybdenite platform. The chip, with capabilities that exceed the limits of silicon, is described in a recent online issue of the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). Physicist Andras Kis and colleagues from EPFL’s Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and…
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Report: Electrical Grid Needs Technology, Regulatory Changes
The electrical power grid in the U.S. faces significant changes in technology over the next two decades, says a new report from the MIT Energy Initiative, but the grid also needs regulatory, economic, and security upgrades to meet these changes. The authors — 13 MIT faculty members plus one author from Harvard — discussed the…
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Mobile Lab to Test Environmental Impact of Farms
The Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development, (Neiker-Tecnalia) in Spain has built a mobile environmental monitoring unit to assess on site greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from farms. The measurements from the mobile lab will be used to assess techniques based on scientific protocols to ease the environmental impact of livestock farming developed by…
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Study Takes Down Renewable Energy Myths in the U.S. South
A study by researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and Georgia Tech in Atlanta analyzes myths propagated by both advocates and opponents of renewable energy and finds they don’t hold up to scrutiny. Their findings appear online in the journal Energy Policy (paid subscription required). Duke’s Etan Gumerman and Georgia Tech’s Marilyn Brown,…
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Biotech, Energy Company Partner on Renewable Fuel, Chemicals
The synthetic biology company Amyris Inc. in Emeryville, California and the French oil and gas company Total have agreed to collaborate on research and production of renewable fuels and chemicals. The agreement expands on an existing R&D relationship between the two companies. Amyris and Total agreed to accelerate the pace of their current partnership to…