Industry News
Biochip-based Device for Cell Analysis
May 30, 2012 9:42 am | News | CommentsInexpensive, portable devices that can rapidly screen cells for leukemia or HIV may soon be possible thanks to a chip that can produce three-dimensional focusing of a stream of cells, according to researchers. "HIV is diagnosed based on counting CD4 cells," said Tony Jun Huang, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, Penn State.
Coatings with Nanoparticles that Interact with Sunlight and Eliminate Contaminants are Developed
May 30, 2012 9:35 am | News | CommentsResearchers of the UPNA-Public University of Navarre have developed a type of coating for construction materials. It is based on nanoparticles that interact with sunlight and trigger a chemical reaction that eliminates certain air pollutants. It is reckoned that the reduction in atmospheric pollution could be 90% of nitrogen oxides, 80% of hydrocarbons, and 75% of carbon monoxides emitted.
Microreactors to Produce Explosive Materials
May 30, 2012 9:31 am | News | CommentsThe larger the reaction vessel, the quicker products can be made – or so you might think. Microreactors show just how wrong that assumption is: in fact, they can be used to produce explosive materials – nitroglycerine, for instance – around ten times faster than in conventional vessels, and much more safely as well.
The Wireless Future of Medicine
May 29, 2012 11:02 am | News | CommentsEric Topol says we'll soon use our smartphones to monitor our vital signs and chronic conditions. At TEDMED, he highlights several of the most important wireless devices in medicine's future -- all helping to keep more of us out of hospital beds. Eric Topol is a leading cardiologist who has embraced the study of genomics and the latest advances in technology to treat chronic disease TED Talks Posted by Janine E.
Researchers Take Virus-tracking Software Worldwide
May 29, 2012 6:10 am | News | CommentsA biomedical informatics researcher who tracks dangerous viruses as they spread around the globe has restructured his innovative tracking software to promote even wider use of the program around the world. Associate Professor Daniel Janies, Ph.D., an expert in computational genomics at the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University (OSU), is working with software engineers at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) to expand the reach of SUPRAMAP (supramap.
Tongue Analysis Software Developed at MU Uses Ancient Chinese Medicine to Warn of Disease
May 29, 2012 6:04 am | News | CommentsFor 5,000 years, the Chinese have used a system of medicine based on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body. In this system, the appearance of the tongue is one of the measures used to classify the overall physical status of the body, or zheng . Now, University of Missouri researchers have developed computer software that combines the ancient practices and modern medicine by providing an automated system for analyzing images of the tongue.
Tiny Planet-Finding Mirrors Borrow from Webb Telescope Playbook
May 29, 2012 5:55 am | News | CommentsNASA's next flagship mission — the James Webb Space Telescope — will carry the largest primary mirror ever deployed. This segmented behemoth will unfold to 21.3 feet in diameter once the observatory reaches its orbit in 2018. A team of scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
NIH-funded Study Examines Use of Mobile Technology to Improve Diet and Physical Activity Behavior
May 29, 2012 5:51 am | News | CommentsWhat : A new study, supported in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, suggests that a combination of mobile technology and remote coaching holds promise in encouraging healthier eating and physical activity behavior in adults. The study focused on the best way to change multiple health behaviors.
NTU and I²R Scientists Invent Revolutionary Chipset for High-speed Wireless Data Transfer
May 29, 2012 5:37 am | by Here is a new microchip that can transfer data the size of 80 MP3 song files (or 250 megabytes) wirelessly between mobile devices, in the flick of a second. | News | CommentsData can now be transmitted 1,000 times faster than Bluetooth Or how about transferring a typical 2-hour, 8-gigabyte DVD movie in just half a minute compared to 8.5 hours on Bluetooth? Such unprecedented speeds on the wireless platform are now a reality as scientists from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) have developed a revolutionary microchip that can transmit large volumes of data at ultra-high speeds of 2 Gigabits per second (or 1,000 times faster than Bluetooth^).
Sensing the Infrared: Researchers Improve IR Detectors with Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes
May 29, 2012 5:20 am | News | CommentsWhether used in telescopes or optoelectronic communications, infrared detectors must be continuously cooled to avoid being overwhelmed by stray thermal radiation. Now, a team of researchers from Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Duke University (USA) is harnessing the remarkable properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to create highly sensitive, "uncooled" photovoltaic infrared detectors.
Making Microscopic Machines Using Metallic Glass
May 23, 2012 5:30 am | News | CommentsResearchers in Ireland have developed a new technology using materials called bulk metallic glasses to produce high-precision molds for making tiny plastic components. The components, with detailed microscopically patterned surfaces could be used in the next generation of computer memory devices and microscale testing kits and chemical reactors.
Days of ‘One-size-fits-all’ Cloud Contracts are Numbered, Report Finds
May 23, 2012 5:27 am | News | CommentsCombined legal and market factors may force online companies to offer more flexible contract terms, suggests new research from Queen Mary, University of London . The paper examines how and why companies providing IT services over the internet, also known as cloud computing, have begun to negotiate standard contract terms to better meet cloud users’ needs, minimise operating risks and address legal compliance obligations.
Bluetooth Baby
May 23, 2012 5:23 am | News | CommentsChecking the heart of the unborn baby usually involves a stethoscope. However, an inexpensive and accurate Bluetooth fetal heart rate monitoring system has now been developed by researchers in India for long-term home care. Details are reported in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computers in Healthcare .
Protocol Enables Wireless and Secure Biometric Acquisition with Web Services
May 23, 2012 5:21 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and published a new protocol for communicating with biometric sensors over wired and wireless networks—using some of the same technologies that underpin the web. The new protocol, called WS-Biometric Devices (WS-BD), allows desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones to access sensors that capture biometric data such as fingerprints, iris images and face images using web services.
Getting in Tune: Researchers Solve Tuning Problem For Wireless Power Transfer Systems
May 23, 2012 5:19 am | by Researchers have shown that it is possible to transmit power wirelessly by using magnetic resonance. Even minor changes in how the transmitter or receiver is tuned, however, can result in faulty power transmission. | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new way to fine-tune wireless power transfer (WPT) receivers, making the systems more efficient and functional. WPT systems hold promise for charging electric vehicles, electronic devices and other technologies. A new prototype developed at NC State addresses the problem by automatically – and precisely – re-tuning the receivers in WPT systems.
Quantum Computing: The Light At The End Of The Tunnel May Be A Single Photon
May 23, 2012 5:18 am | News | CommentsQuantum physics promises faster and more powerful computers, but quantum versions of basic logic functions are still needed to bring this technology to fruition. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Toshiba Research Europe Ltd. have taken one step toward this goal by creating an all-semiconductor quantum logic gate, a controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate.
Navy Pilot Training Enhanced by AEMASE ‘Smart Machine’
May 23, 2012 5:15 am | News | CommentsNavy pilots and other flight specialists soon will have a new “smart machine” installed in training simulators that learns from expert instructors to more efficiently train their students. Sandia National Laboratories’ Automated Expert Modeling & Student Evaluation (AEMASE, pronounced “amaze”) is being provided to the Navy as a component of flight simulators.
Life-size 3-D Hologram-like Telepods May Revolutionize Videoconferencing in the Future
May 23, 2012 5:10 am | by Posted by Janine E. Mooney, Editor | News | CommentsQueen's University's Roel Vertegaal's Star Trek-like 3D cylindrical display is probably as close to teleportation as we will ever get A Queen's University researcher has created a Star Trek-like human-scale 3D videoconferencing pod that allows people in different locations to video conference as if they are standing in front of each other.
Research Breakthrough Takes Supercomputing Out of the Lab
May 23, 2012 5:06 am | by Posted by Janine E. Mooney, Editor | News | CommentsNew device, developed by team of engineers led by Professor Amr Helmy (ECE), could bring quantum computing to your home or office In the age of high-speed computing, the photon is king. However, producing the finely tuned particles of light is a complex and time-consuming process, until now. Thanks to the work by a team of engineers led by Professor Amr Helmy of The Edward S.
X-rays Reveal Molecular Arrangements for Better Printable Electronics
May 23, 2012 5:01 am | News | CommentsBy employing powerful X-rays that can see down to the molecular level of organic materials used in printable electronics, researchers are now able to determine why some materials perform better than others. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Materials , could lead to cheaper, more efficient printable electronic devices.
Computing Experts Unveil Superefficient ‘Inexact’ Chip
May 23, 2012 4:59 am | News | CommentsResearchers have unveiled an “inexact” computer chip that challenges the industry’s 50-year pursuit of accuracy. The design improves power and resource efficiency by allowing for occasional errors. Prototypes unveiled this week at the ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers in Cagliari, Italy, are at least 15 times more efficient than today’s technology.
Researchers Improve Fast-Moving Mobile Networks
May 23, 2012 4:55 am | News | CommentsMobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) allow people in multiple, rapidly-moving vehicles to communicate with each other – such as in military or emergency-response situations. Researchers from North Carolina State University have devised a method to improve the quality and efficiency of data transmission in these networks.
Engineers Use Plasmonics to Create An Invisible Photodetector
May 22, 2012 5:15 am | News | CommentsIt may not be intuitive, but a coating of reflective metal can actually make something less visible, engineers at Stanford and UPenn have shown. They have created an invisible, light-detecting device that can “see without being seen.” At the heart of the device are silicon nanowires covered by a thin cap of gold.
New Silicon Memory Chip Developed
May 22, 2012 5:05 am | by The first purely silicon oxide-based 'Resistive RAM' memory chip that can operate in ambient conditions – opening up the possibility of new super-fast memory - has been developed by researchers at UCL. | News | CommentsResistive RAM (or 'ReRAM') memory chips are based on materials, most often oxides of metals, whose electrical resistance changes when a voltage is applied – and they "remember" this change even when the power is turned off. ReRAM chips promise significantly greater memory storage than current technology, such as the Flash memory used on USB sticks, and require much less energy and space.
Performance Boost for Microchips
May 22, 2012 5:03 am | News | CommentsThe semiconductor industry is faced with the challenge of supplying ever faster and more powerful chips. The Next-Generation Lithography with EUV radiation will help meeting that challenge. Fraunhofer researchers have developed key components. Flat computers, powerful cell phones and tablets – the integrated circuits, our computers‘ power centers, are becoming increasingly smaller and more complex.
