Science and Enterprise

Tag: computer science

  • Challenge Seeks Risk Assessment Tool for Microloan Denials

    A new challenge from InnoCentive calls for a tool to gauge the financial risk of people and organizations that were denied a microloan for their business. The challenge has a prize of $40,000 and a deadline of 30 May 2012. InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and…

  • Robotic Hand Demonstrates Firm Grip and Gentle Touch

    An engineering team at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany has built a robotic hand with the ability to firmly grasp sturdy objects like bottles, yet with enough sensitivity to hold an egg (pictured right). The Saarland researchers collaborated with colleagues in Bologna and Naples, Italy as part of the EU-funded DEXMART project, an acronym for…

  • Carnegie Institution Adds Four New Crop Databases

    The Carnegie Institution of Science says its Plant Metabolic Network, based in Stanford, California, has added online databases on the biochemical pathways controlling the metabolism of corn, soybeans, wine grapes, and cassava. The new additions offer a detailed view of the chemical reactions taking place in the cells of these four commercially important crops. The…

  • Medication Alerts Probed in Electronic Health Records

    Medical and engineering researchers in Indiana have investigated human and electronic factors behind the value of alerts in automated health records designed to warn prescribers of medication problems. The findings of the team from the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana and Purdue universities, and the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis appear in the…

  • Novartis, Broad Institute Partner on Cancer Genome Database

    The global pharmaceutical company Novartis and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts have launched a compendium of genomic and molecular data on 947 cancer cell lines for drug research and development. The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia is available to the public on the Broad Institute Web site and described online in the journal Nature (paid…

  • Cisco Systems Unveils R&D Collaboration Plans in Russia

    Cisco Systems in San Jose, California revealed plans for new collaborations in Russia’s Skolkovo project, the country’s scheme to develop a technology and innovation center outside Moscow. The strategy unveiled today is part of a larger initiative with Russia announced by Cisco in 2010. The Skolkovo project is Russia’s attempt to build a technology and…

  • European Patent Office Filings, Awards Gain in 2011

    The European Patent Office, based in Munich, says the number of patent applications and awards increased in 2011, with applications from Asia now making up about a third of the total. The largest single technical field among applications was medical technology, which had almost as many filings in 2011 as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology combined. EPO…

  • Robot Jellyfish Runs on Hydrogen, Oxygen in Water

    Researchers at University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have developed an autonomous undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on hydrogen and oxygen in the water. The team, led by Dallas engineering professor and first author Yonas Tadesse (pictured left), published its findings this week in the journal Smart Materials…

  • Blood Biomarker Can Help Predict Imminent Heart Attack Risks

    Research conducted by Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California discovered a potential biomarker found in a patient’s blood that can help predict if that person is at imminent risk of a heart attack. The findings of Scripps’s Eric Topol and colleagues appear in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine (paid subscription…

  • Camera Captures Photos of Objects Beyond Line of Sight

    Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, and Rice University have devised a system that can produce recognizable 3-D images of objects outside of a camera’s line of sight. Their findings are described in this week’s issue of the journal Nature Communications (paid subscription required). The interdisciplinary team of engineers, mathematician, and chemist, led by…