Science and Enterprise

Tag: mathematics

  • MRI Helps Screen Alzheimer’s, Brain Degeneration Dementia

    Medical researchers at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia developed an algorithm based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to differentiate cases of Alzheimer’s disease from front temporal lobe degeneration, which has similar dementia symptoms. The findings from the research team led by postdoctoral fellow and first author Corey McMillan appear online today in the journal Neurology…

  • Cell Phone, GPS Data Identify Urban Traffic Jam Sources

    Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California at Berkeley devised a method for locating sources of urban traffic jams with anonymous data from cell phone records, which can encourage more effective strategies for reducing congestion. The team led by MIT civil and environmental engineering professor Marta González reported its findings in yesterday’s…

  • University Research Leads to Battery Sorting Machine

    Research on artificial intelligence by a professor at Gothenberg University in Sweden made possible a machine that sorts discarded household batteries and a company that developed and markets the system. Claes Strannegård, a researcher in logic and cognitive science at Gothenberg, applied his work on artificial intelligence to find a better way of sorting garbage.…

  • Portable Air Pollution Sensors Built Into Smartphones

    Computer scientists at University of California in San Diego created pollution sensors that monitor air quality in real time on smartphones. CitiSense, as the sensor system is called, comes from the lab of computer scientist William Griswold that described the system at the Wireless Health 2012 conference in October, also in San Diego. The sensors…

  • Computer Model Shown to Predict Irregular Heartbeat

    Medical researchers at University of Rochester in New York, with computer scientists at IBM, built a computer model of the heart wall that can predict the risk of irregular heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death in patients. The results of this collaboration, led by Rochester cardiovascular professor Coeli Lopes, appear in a recent issue of…

  • Study: Insurance Industry Adjusting to Climate Change

    A study by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California finds the global insurance industry is taking human-induced climate change seriously and undertaking a variety of actions to limit the impact of climate change on their companies’ finances. Environmental scientist Evan Mills describes his findings in this week’s issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required).…

  • Amgen Purchases Diagnostics Developer deCODE Genetics

    Amgen, a biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, California, acquired deCODE Genetics, a developer of genetic disease risk assessment tests in Reykjavik, Iceland in an all-cash transaction valued at $415 million. Amgen says the transaction does not require regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of 2012. deCODE Genetics offers genetic scans for…

  • Algorithm Improves Brain-Controlled Cursor Movements

    Engineers, neuroscientists, and computer scientists in the U.S. and U.K. designed an algorithm offering more sensitive and accurate control of a computer display cursor controlled by thoughts. The team led by Krishna Shenoy, Stanford University professor of neurobiology and engineering, published its findings online yesterday in the journal Nature Neuroscience (paid subscription required), and aims…

  • Iowa State Testing Bio-Oil Gasifier for Biofuels

    Engineers at Iowa State University in Ames are testing a new machine that converts biomass to oil and then gas, for conversion to transportation and boiler fuels. The new bio-oil gasifier is part of a next-generation biofuels feasibility research project, funded by state and federal grants of nearly $1.5 million. The bio-oil gasifier uses a…

  • 3-D, Low-Radiation Breast Cancer Imaging Technique Developed

    Physicists and radiologists in the U.S. and Europe developed a new method for producing three-dimensional images of breast tissue with a lower dose of radiation than a mammogram. The team from University of California in Los Angeles, Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and Garching, Germany, and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France describe their…