Tag: physical sciences
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Institute to Provide On-Board Space Payload Specialists
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas says today it agreed to send scientists as payload specialists aboard eight suborbital flights, some to altitudes greater than 350,000 feet. SwRI researchers will also fly at least six high altitude missions flown by XCOR Corporation. At least two SwRI researchers will fly into space aboard the…
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Nanotech Emergency Water Treatment Technology Devised
Chemistry researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada have developed a technology for a cheap, portable, paper-based water treatment system when disasters like floods or earthquakes strike. The team’s findings were published earlier this month in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology (paid subscription required). The researchers, led by industrial chemistry professor Derek Gray,…
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Nanoparticles Increase Survival Chance After Blood Loss
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York have used nitric oxide particles reduced to nanoscale size to improve survival after life-threatening blood loss. Their results were reported in the 21 February online edition of the journal Resuscitation (paid subscription required). Nanoparticles — particles measured in nanometers, or billions of…
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Consortium to Study Ocean Potential for Carbon Storage
The new ISIS (In-Situ Iron Studies) Consortium announced today its plans to study the role of iron in regulating the ocean’s capacity to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide. The group of scientists from 12 institutions worldwide aims to better understand the impact of iron on marine ecosystems and to quantify its potential for CO2 removal. The…
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Neuroscience, Computational Physics Help Diagnose Autism
A team led by a computational physicist and neuroscientist at Children’s Hospital Boston in Massachusetts have devised a technology that can lead to noninvasive tests for evaluating the risk of autism in infants. Their findings appear today in the journal BMC Medicine. The technology combines the standard electroencephalogram (EEG), which records electrical activity in the…
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High-Res Optics Developed for Imaging Under the Skin
An engineering professor at University of Rochester in New York has developed new medical optics that provide diagnostic images under the skin’s surface. Jannick Rolland discussed the technology on Saturday at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.. Rolland’s technology aims to detect and examine skin…
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USDA Funding Research on Climate Change, Agr Production
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded three grants to study the effects of climate change on agriculture and forest production. NIFA Director Roger Beachy made the announcement today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. A research team led by Dr. Tim Martin,…
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Chemistry Prof. Commercializes Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology
A chemistry professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing developed a process for making inexpensive hydrogen fuel cells to generate cheap electrical power, and helped start a business to bring that technology to market. A company making portable device chargers has now licensed the technology and unveiled its product this week. James Dye has…
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U.K. Universities to Forecast Reactor Lifetimes
Materials scientists and engineers from six universities in the U.K. are taking part in a joint project to forecast the life expectancy of the country’s nuclear power reactors. The research team comes from the University of Leeds, with colleagues from the universities of Manchester, Nottingham, Salford, Sussex, and Huddersfield. The project runs for three years,…
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Grants Awarded for Robotics, Cyber-Vision and Child Health
A research team at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis received two grants totaling more than $3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for technology to help diagnose children’s mental health disorders. The grants, totaling more than $3 million, were awarded by NSF’s Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Major Research Instrumentation programs. The Minnesota team led by…