Tag: physical sciences
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Study: Hydraulic Fracturing Can Release Uranium from Shale
University at Buffalo (UB) researchers have found indications that the process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” to release natural gas from Marcellus shale deposits can cause naturally trapped uranium inside the shale to be released. The findings add to the environmental concerns about the process, particularly chemical contamination of the groundwater in populated regions in…
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Magnets Improve Understanding of Influenza Drugs
Using powerful magnets [sponsored link] to scan proteins’ atomic structures, scientists at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah are close to understanding why some drugs to treat the influenza A virus have become less effective, and how new drugs can replace them. FSU has patented this magnet-screening process…
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Simple, Inexpensive Sensor Detects Shoe Bomb Chemical
University of Illinois chemists in Champaign, Illinois have developed a simple sensor to detect an explosive used in shoe bombs, with the potential to be built into inexpensive devices for luggage and passenger screening at airports and elsewhere. Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) is a high-powered explosive that in recent years has been used in bombing attempts.…
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MIT Innovation Center Awards Emerging Technology Grants
The Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts today announced grants totaling $800,000 to 10 MIT research teams working on early-stage technologies. The Deshpande Center aims to act as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship with grants that fund proof-of-concept explorations of emerging technologies. The 10 selected projects cover technologies including materials,…
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Univ/Corp Team Extends Lithium-Ion Capacity with Silicon
A team of scientists from Rice University and Lockheed Martin in Houston, Texas has discovered a way to use nanotechnology with silicon to increase the capacity of lithium-ion material in batteries. Research by Sibani Lisa Biswal and Michael Wong, on the chemical and biomolecular engineering faculties at Rice, and Steven Sinsabaugh, a Lockheed Martin Fellow,…
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Ozone Technology to be Tested in Soil Cleanup Demo
Civil and environmental engineering professor Andy Hong at University of Utah in Salt Lake City has partnered with Chinese environmental cleanup company Honde LLC to use Hong’s method of heightened ozonation treatment (HOT) to clean metals and other contaminants from polluted soil along the shores of Lake Taihu near Wuxi, China. Hong’s HOT technology infuses…
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More Research Urged on Marcellus Drilling Impact
The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is calling for a comprehensive research plan that provides guidelines and an assessment tool for regulators and managers in order to minimize the environmental impact of Marcellus Shale gas drilling. Marcellus Shale is a deep geological formation along the east coast of the United States with an…
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Private Spaceship Makes First Glide, Landing Tests
Virgin Galactic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a company developing the world’s first commercial manned space flight system and tourism business, completed yesterday the first piloted free flight of its craft, the VSS Enterprise. The company says its two main goals of the flight were a clean release of the test craft from its mothership…
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Chemists Streamline Cooking Oil Conversion to Biodiesel
As the U.S. seeks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, the country continues to discard large quantities of waste vegetable oil — consider the quantity of oil used to cook one order of french fries, for example — that could be converted into bio-based fuels. But this process presents problems, notably the time and…
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Small Business Grant Awarded for Cargo X-Ray System
Accuray Incorporated, a developer of X-ray technology for robotic surgery in Sunnyvale, California, received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of Homeland Security to adapt the company’s high-energy X-ray technology for cargo scanning and inspection. The grant, valued at $1 million, will fund development of a compact X-ray source bundled with…