Students may soon be able to reach out and touch some of the theoretical concepts they are taught in their physics classes thanks to a novel idea devised by a group of researchers from Imperial College London.
In new study published December 9 in the journal EPL, the researchers successfully demonstrated how complex theoretical physics can be transformed into a physical object using a 3D printer.… read more
Scientists in Lyon, France have discovered how to create copious amount of the hydrogen that propels rockets and energizes fuel cells.
In a few decades, it could even help the world meet key energy needs.
Here’s the recipe, according to University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 researchers:
1. In a microscopic high-pressure cooker called a diamond anvil cell (within a tiny space about as wide as a pencil… read more
Apple switched on “iBeacons” across its 254 U.S. stores Friday, using low-power Bluetooth transmitters to offer tips to customers.
Here’s how it works, according to GigaOm:
“Using Bluetooth Low Energy(BLE), iBeacon opens up a new whole dimension by creating a beacon around regions so your app can be alerted when users enter them. Beacons are a small wireless sensors placed inside any physical space… read more
A University at Buffalo-led research team has developed a technique for “seeing through” a stack of graphene sheets to identify and describe the electronic properties of each individual sheet — even when the sheets are covering each other up.
The method involves shooting a beam of infrared light at the stack, and measuring how the light wave’s direction of oscillation changes as it bounces off the layers… read more
By exploiting flaws in nanoscale diamond fragments, researchers say they have created precise quantum sensors in a biocompatible material.
Nanoscopic thermal and magnetic field detectors that could be inserted into living cells could enhance our understanding of everything from chemical reactions within single cells to signaling in neural networks and the origin of magnetism in novel materials.
Atomic impurities in natural diamond structure give rise to the color… read more
EPFL scientists have shown how to achieve a dramatic increase in the capacity of optical fibers by reducing the amount of space required between the pulses of light that transport data.
Optical fibers carry data in the form of pulses of light over distances of thousands of miles at high speeds. But their capacity is limited, because the pulses of light need to be lined up one… read more
Researchers at Chongqing University in China have adapted capsule endoscopy to allow for detecting tiny quantities of “occult” blood for screening of early-stage gastric cancer.
The data is automatically transmitted to an external monitoring device in real time for diagnosis by a physician.
The non-invasive Gastric Occult Blood (GOB) capsule, which carries inside a detector, power supply, and wireless transmitter, is encased in non-toxic, acid-safe polycarbonate. The device has a… read more
A new algorithm designed at the University of Toronto could change the way we find photos among the billions on social media sites such as Facebook and Flickr.
Developed by Parham Aarabi, a professor in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and his former Master’s student Ron Appel, the search tool uses the locations of tagged persons to quantify relationships between them,… read more
Miniaturized robots that could one day function medically inside the human body are being designed by researchers in Trieste and Catalonia.
The robots of the future will be increasingly like biological organisms, with the same “softness” and flexibility as biological tissues, according to Antonio De Simone from SISSA (the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste) and Marino Arroyo from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, who have… read more
Per Lindstrand, the engineer who broke numerous ballooning records with Richard Branson, is hoping to develop a 1km-tall inflatable chimney that can capture energy from the sun, The Engineer reports.
The tower uses rising air heated by the sun to drive turbines. It could provide an alternative to photovoltaic generation in remote areas of seismic activity where maintenance of power lines or solar panels would be difficult.… read more
University at Buffalo researchers are developing brain-computer interface (BCI) devices to mentally control robots.
“The technology has practical applications that we’re only beginning to explore,” said Thenkurussi “Kesh” Kesavadas, PhD, UB professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of UB’s Virtual Reality Laboratory. “For example, it could help paraplegic patients to control assistive devices, or it could help factory workers perform advanced… read more
Andy Rubin, the Google executive who developed Google’s free Android software, has revealed to The New York Times he is working on a secret Google project to create a new generation of robots.
The goal: improve the efficiency of manufacturing of small electronics — now largely manual — and packing goods in warehouses, and ultimately making home deliveries — perhaps via Google-designed autonomous vehicles.
“Google has recently… read more
Based on the Edward Snowden documents, the NSA logs almost five billion mobile phone location records every day around the world via its CO-TRAVELER system, reports the Washington Post — a staggering total of 27 terabytes so far, by one account.
The data comes from tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. “Sophisticated mathematical… read more
A research team at Berkeley Lab has discovered a way to introduce a recoverable strain into bismuth ferrite of up to 14 percent on the nanoscale, larger than any shape-memory effect observed in a metal. This discovery opens the door to applications in a wide range of fields, including medical, energy and electronics.
“Our bismuth ferrite not only displayed the champion shape-memory value, it was also far… read more
Researchers at the Hebrew university of Jerusalem have found that TyrNovo’s NT219 compound selectively inhibits the process of aging of the brain from neurodegenerative diseases, without affecting lifespan — a step towards development of future drugs for treating various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.
These diseases stem from toxic protein aggregation and emerge late in life. The common emergence pattern exhibited by these… read more