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Better Building Codes Urged for Tornado, Hurricane Regions
Researchers and engineers from universities and industry that reviewed the damage caused by destructive Spring 2011 tornadoes in the U.S. call for more intensive engineering design and more rigorous, localized construction and inspection standards to reduce property damage and loss of life. The report of the group’s research on the Tuscaloosa, Alabama tornado on 27…
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Carbon Nanotube Material Used on NASA Jupiter Mission
Nanocomp Technologies Inc. in Concord, New Hampshire, a developer of materials and component products from carbon nanotubes, says that its nanotube-based sheet material has been incorporated into NASA’s Juno spacecraft launched on 5 August. The material, called Emshield, is expected to provide protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD) as the spacecraft makes its way to Jupiter.…
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UC San Diego Added to Pfizer Translational Network
Pfizer Inc. in New York says University of California, San Diego Health Sciences will join the company’s network of translation research partnerships called Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI). The company’s CTI partnerships now include life science research institutions in Massachusetts and New York, as well as California. Pfizer says it expects to spend some $50…
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Army Seeking Energy Harvesters for Foot Soldiers and Squads
The U.S. Army’s Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Massachusetts wants ideas for energy sources that soldiers can carry around to power the sensors and other electronic devices needed to carry out their missions. The deadline for concept papers on this topic is 31 August. The Natick center notes that the soldiers will…
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Electronic Conductivity Found in Bacteria Nanowires
A team of microbiologists and physicists at University of Massachusetts in Amherst have discovered the ability of nanowires in a common microbe to transport electrons across long distances. The researchers published their findings online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology (paid subscription required). Microbiologist Derek Lovley with physicists Mark Tuominen, Nikhil Malvankar and colleagues found this…
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USDA Develops Cooked Corn-Soy Meal Supplement Product
The Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a fully cooked food-aid product called Instant Corn Soy Blend that supplements meals, particularly for young children. The work was led by food technologist Charles Onwulata at the USDA’s Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. A nutritionally fortified and processed corn-soy blend…
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More Antidepressants Prescribed for Non-Psychiatric Disorders
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and Columbia University in New York find that the rapid growth of prescriptions for antidepressant medications has been fueled by orders from non-psychiatrist providers and without any psychiatric diagnosis. The paper by Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins and Columbia’s Mark Olfson appears in the August 2011 issue…
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FDA Approves First Treatment for Scorpion Stings
The Food and Drug Administration approved Anascorp, the first specific treatment for a sting by Centruroides scorpions, commonly known as the Arizona Bark Scorpion in the United States. The drug was developed by Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc. in Franklin, Tennessee, licensing research by University of Arizona in Tucson and and two research institutes in Mexico.…
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Electronic Glove Helps Improve Sense of Touch
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have developed a glove that adds a small vibration to one of the fingertips to improve tactile sensitivity and motor performance. Details of the device and preliminary test results were presented in May at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Shanghai. Georgia Tech engineering…
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To Grow Economies with Small Businesses, Think Local
Economists at Pennsylvania State University have found that small, locally owned businesses and start-ups tend to generate higher incomes for people in a community. Stephan Goetz and graduate student David Fleming from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development at Penn State published their findings in the August issue of the journal Economic Development Quarterly…