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Regulatory Agency Funding Increases in Federal Budgets
A new report from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and George Washington University in Washington, DC describe increases in funding and staff at federal regulatory agencies over the two most recent fiscal years. Fiscal Stalemate Reflected in Regulators Budget: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, by…
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Engineers Demo Collaborative Mapping Robot Vehicles
A team from Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania and California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed and demonstrated miniature vehicles that work by themselves to create a detailed floor plan of an office building. The researchers described their findings in a paper presented last month at the SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing…
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U.K. University Offering Space Data for Smaller Companies
The University of Leicester in the U.K. is making available Earth observation data from a European Union space program to small and medium-sized businesses in the East Midlands, where the university is located. The university’s Space Technology Exchange Partnership will develop practical uses of data generated from the EU’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security…
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Cause of Headphone, Hearing Aid Fatigue Diagnosed
Engineers at Asius Technologies in Longmont, Colorado have found what they believe is the cause of listener fatigue brought on by on-ear headphones and hearing aids. Their findings, along with suggested fixes, were presented this past weekend at a meeting of the Audio Engineering Society in London, U.K. The problem concerns the discomfort and pain…
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Travel day
I will be on the road Friday 13 May. Our posts will return on Monday 16 May. Enjoy your weekends. * * *
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Study: Local Food Can Improve Oregon’s Health, Create Jobs
A new study suggests that proposed legislation in Oregon that offers incentives to deliver fresh local food to schools would help improve the health of the state’s residents and create hundreds of new farm-industry jobs. The study was funded by a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation…
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Software Helps Farmers Determine Pesticide Spray Dates
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed software that helps farmers decide on the best days to spray pesticides on their fields. The software was developed by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service at its Fort Collins, Colorado research facility. The software, called PhenologyMMS (Modular Modeling System), was developed by agronomist Greg McMaster and plant science technician…
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Blood Pressure Drug Helps Regenerate Muscle, Prevent Atrophy
Medical researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland have found the blood pressure drug losartan can help repair injured muscle and protect against muscles wasting away, at least in mice. Their findings appear in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription required). Previous research revealed that as humans age, the…
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New 3D Prostate Biopsy Combines MRI, Ultrasound
Researchers from the UCLA Health System in Los Angeles and medical device company Eigen Inc. have developed more targeted biopsies of prostate cancer that combine MRI and ultrasound technologies. The team reported its early results in the online issue of the journal Urologic Oncology (subscription required). National Cancer Institute estimates nearly 218,000 new cases of…
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Silver Nanoparticles Generated in Natural Environment
A team of university and government chemists have found that given a source of silver ions, naturally occurring humic acid can synthesize stable silver nanoparticles. The researchers published their findings last month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology (paid subscription required). Nanoscale silver particles — one nanometer equals one-billionth of a meter — are…