Tag: materials science
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New Coating Material Stops Blood Clots, Bacterial Films
13 October 2014. Engineers and medical researchers at Harvard University developed a material to coat tubes in medical devices that repels blood, preventing clots from forming and reducing the need for blood-thinning drugs. The new material from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and collaborators at affiliated labs and hospitals is described in an…
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Solar Water-Splitting System Produces Hydrogen for Energy
26 September 2014. Engineers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland designed a solar energy system made of inexpensive and abundant materials that efficiently splits water into hydrogen and oxygen for producing electricity. The team from the lab of EPFL’s Michael Grätzel, with colleagues from Singapore and Korea, published its findings in today’s…
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Chip Emulates Human Airway Muscles to Test Asthma Treatments
24 September 2014. Biomedical engineers at Harvard University developed a model of human airway muscles on a miniaturized chip that emulates their actions during an asthma attack. The senior author of the paper describing the airway muscles chip, Kevin Kit Parker, is also a recipient of a new National Institutes of Health grant to develop…
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Security Flaws Revealed in Full-Body X-Ray Scanner
20 August 2014. Computer scientists at three universities evaluated the backscatter X-ray scanners used in U.S. airports up to 2013, finding weapons could be readily concealed, and the device vulnerable to hacking. The team from University of California in San Diego, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and University of Michigan in Ann Arbor will present…
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Engineered Fluid Devised for Lubricating Joint Cartilage
18 August 2014. Biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore developed a synthetic lubrication fluid for natural or artificial joints in the body that emulates the properties of natural substances. A team led by Johns Hopkins medical professor Jennifer Elisseeff published its results earlier this month in the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required).…
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Student Designs Simple Water Filter, Seeks Crowdfunding
24 July 2014. An engineering student at ETH Zurich, a science and technology university in Switzerland, designed a simple, inexpensive water filter to bring drinking water to developing countries that lack reliable clean water sources. Jeremy Nussbaumer developed the DrinkPure filter while an undergraduate at ETH Zurich, and now has a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo…
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Foam/Wax Material Adapted for Shape-Changing Robotics
14 July 2014. Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a process for combining foam and wax materials into components that allow robot devices to become pliable for changing their shape, yet return to a rigid state when needed to do their tasks. The team from the lab of mechanical engineering professor Anette Hosoi, with…
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Univ at Buffalo Starting Advanced Materials Research Center
1 July 2014. University at Buffalo in New York is establishing a new materials research department that aims to accelerate the process of bringing advanced materials to market. Buffalo’s Materials Design and Innovation department is a joint project of the university’s engineering and Arts and Science schools, and funded in part by donation of $1.5…
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Epoxy/Carbon Ink 3-D Printed into Lightweight Cell Material
26 June 2014. Engineers at Harvard University developed an ink made of epoxy resins and carbon fibers, which when arrayed into a cellular pattern with three-dimensional printing, can produce a strong lightweight composite with the properties of balsa wood. Materials scientist and engineering professor Jennifer Lewis and postdoctoral researcher Brett Compton, now at Oak Ridge…
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Ultrasound-Triggered Hydrogel Shown to Deliver Cancer Drug
24 June 2014. Bioengineers at Harvard University developed a technique with hydrogel and ultrasound that makes it possible to trigger short-term on-demand boosts of chemotherapy drugs. The team led by David Mooney of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering published its findings online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (paid…