Tag: physical sciences
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U.S. Patent No. 8 Million Signed, Reform Bill Action Urged
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) held a ceremonial signing today of the eight millionth U.S. patent awarded in the agency’s history. The USPTO’s director and acting Secretary of Commerce used the occasion to urge the Senate to complete its work on patent reform legislation. USPTO issued patent no. 8 million on 16 August…
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Magnetic Fields Help Purify Hybrid Nanoparticles
Chemistry, physics, and materials scientists at Pennsylvania State University have invented a new system using magnetism to purify hybrid nanoparticles, a development with implications for drug delivery, medical imaging, and related fields. The findings of Mary Elizabeth Williams, Raymond E. Schaak, and their colleagues at Penn State appear online in the journal Agewandte Chemie (paid…
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Engineers Develop Full Duplex Wireless Technology
Computer engineering researchers at Rice University in Houston have developed a technology that makes it possible for wireless devices to transmit and receive signals simultaneously and on the same frequency. This “full-duplex” capability can, in effect, double the capacity of wireless networks without adding any more cell phone towers. Mobile phones and wireless data devices…
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Microbes Found to Clean Nuclear Waste, Generate Electricity
Researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing have shown the ability of certain microbes to generate an electric current while cleaning up uranium in wastewater. The team’s findings, for which patents have been filed, appear online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid subscription required). Microbiologist Gemma Reguera (pictured right)…
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Fast, Inexpensive, Portable Blood Tests Developed
A team of engineers from University of Toledo in Ohio has developed a low-cost, portable technique that can quickly detect specific proteins in a sample of human blood. Their technique is described in the 1 September issue of the journal, Biomedical Optics Express. Human blood has thousands of different proteins essential to day-to-day life functions,…
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Integrated Exploration Methods Urged for Oil and Gas
Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel have combined several surveying methods to develop an integrated prospecting technology for oil and gas. The methods proposed by geophysicist Lev Eppelbaum and zoologist Youri Katz appeared earlier this year in the journal Positioning. Eppelbaum and Katz created detailed structural-tectonic maps of Israel and surrounding areas from an…
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NSF, Industry Consortium Fund Advanced Chip Research
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has received two grants totaling $1.75 million from National Science Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation to create more energy-efficient computing devices. Semiconductor Research Corporation is an international technology research consortium of member companies and university research programs. The grants fund research to translate theoretical work on replacing traditional transistor-based…
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Manufacturing Process Devised for More Economical LEDs
Materials scientists at University of Florida in Gainesville have developed a new manufacturing process for light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, used in flat-panel displays and solid-state lighting. The process is described in an article now appearing in the journal Nature Photonics (paid subscription required), and has been licensed to a company for commercialization. Two research teams…
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Computer Model Tests Effects of Heart Rhythm Drugs
Researchers at University of California in Davis have led the development of a computer model to test the effects of medications for arrhythmia — abnormal heart rhythm — before they are given to patients. The work of the team led by biophysicist Colleen Clancy is described in the 31 August issue of the journal Science…
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Eight Teams Funded for Research on Gulf Oil Spill Impact
The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI) announced it will fund eight research groups to investigate the effects of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The grant awards, selected by GRI’s research board, total some $112.5 million over three years. The GRI grants, supported by BP, will fund research…