Tag: physical sciences
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Imaging Technology Used to Improve Grain Yields
Scientists at University of Adelaide in Australia are developing a technology based on computer imaging to better understand growth patterns of cereal grains and improve their yields under various conditions. The project involves a collaboration among computer scientists and plant physiologists at the university, with a German computer-imaging company. The team aims to develop technology…
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Solar Wafer Process Developer Earns DoE Loan Guarantee
The U.S. Department of Energy will offer a conditional commitment for a $150 million loan guarantee to 1366 Technologies in Lexington, Massachusetts. The company has developed a new manufacturing process for silicon wafers used in solar panels that promises to slash the costs and time needed to make. The loan guarantee will support 1366 Techologies’…
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Platform, Tools Developed to Network Smart Objects
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim have devised a platform and tools to connect home and office objects with built-in intelligence. The Infrastructure for Integrated Services (ISIS) offers a common framework for developing and distributing applications in what the researchers call the Internet of Things. ISIS addresses a need…
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Trial Shows Sealant Gel Closes Spinal Surgery Wounds
A clinical trial led by researchers at University of California at Davis found a gel that creates a watertight seal to close surgical wounds, sealed spinal wounds 100 percent of the time. The UC Davis team reported their findings in the online issue of the journal Spine (paid subscription required). The trial, funded by the…
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Calendar Blister Packs Shown to Help Medication Adherence
A study of drug packaging indicates that calendar blister packaging with days or dates printed on the card under the individual dose helps patients keep to the prescribed schedule for those drugs. The results of the study appeared in the May 2011 issue of the journal Clinical Therapeutics (paid subscription required). Poor medication adherence leads…
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Self-Repairing Structural Stress Sensor Developed
A research team at North Carolina State University in Raleigh has built a sensor to measure the strain in structural materials and that can fix itself if broken. NCSU mechanical engineering student Young Song and faculty member Kara Peters published their findings in the June issue of the journal Smart Materials And Structures (paid subscription…
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Wireless Security Devised for Implanted Medical Devices
Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and University of Massachusetts in Amherst have designed a system that shields implanted medical devices like heart pacemakers and defibrillators from unauthorized wireless access or sabotage. Their findings will be presented at the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM) conference in Toronto, Canada in August.…
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Lab Tests Indicate Inhaled Carbon Nanotubes Pose Cancer Risk
Researchers at University of Edinburgh in Scotland found some types carbon nanotubes could cause cancer if inhaled. Ken Donaldson, a toxicology professor at Edinburgh, and colleagues published their findings in the June 2011 issue of the American Journal of Pathology (paid subscription required). Carbon nanotubes are a type of nanoscale material (1 nanometer equals 1…
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Engineers Developing Human Driving Model to Reduce Crashes
Researchers at University of Michigan and MIT are devising an algorithm that models human driving behavior to help cars avoid accidents on the road. Early results of the model are expected to be published in the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine. Mechanical engineers Domitilla Del Vecchio of MIT and Rajeev Verma at University of…
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Oak Ridge Lab Develops Web 2.0 System for HazMat Tracking
Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is developing a system for tracking hazardous materials that lets stakeholders use their own technology and protocols for keeping track of these shipments. The Tracking 2.0 system, that employs a Web-based social media approach to HazMat tracking, was funded by the Office of Science in the Department of Energy…