Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have designed a new type of nitrogen-doped carbon-nanotube catalyst that could pave the way for reliable, economical next-generation batteries and alkaline fuel cells, providing for practical use of wind- and solar-powered electricity, as well as enhanced hybrid electric vehicles.
The new material has the highest oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity in alkaline media of any non-precious metal catalyst developed to date. This activity… read more
Vijay Pande, professor of chemistry at Stanford and colleague, Balaji Srinivasan, both with strong research and entrepreneurial backgrounds, taught a traditional classroom course in software engineering winter quarter aimed at future chief technology officers.
It was so successful they’re now going to go virtual, and starting June 17 they will begin teaching a 10-week massive open online course titled Startup Engineering. The idea is to reach thousands… read more
At the COMPUTEX conference in Taiwan Tuesday, Intel Corporation executives detailed progress toward the company’s vision to integrate human-like sensing technology into devices, ultimately delivering more natural, intuitive and immersive computing experiences.
To help realize this vision, Intel Capital, Intel’s Global Investment and M&A Organization, announced a $100-million investment fund over the next 2–3 years to accelerate the development of software and applications — touch applications, imaging,… read more
University of Washington computer scientists have developed gesture-recognition technology called “WiSee” that uses ambient Wi-Fi signals to detect specific movements (to turn off lights or flip through songs, for example )without needing sensors on the human body or cameras.
The team includes Shwetak Patel, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering and of electrical engineering and his lab.
By using an adapted Wi-Fi router… read more
OrCam, an Israeli start-up, has developed a camera-based system that gives the visually impaired the ability to read easily and move around freely.
It has an introductory price of $2,500, available in late 2013 and early 2014.
OrCam reads text and recognizes faces, locates bus numbers, monitors traffic lights, and identifies objects, products and places, and uses sound (via bone conduction) to convey information, the company… read more
The Omni is a new virtual reality gaming device that launched a funding campaign Tuesday in Kickstarter and, in a matter of hours, more than doubled its goal of $150,000, Digital Trends reports.
As of early Wednesday, the funding total is at more than $492,000. There are still 48 days left to go too, and the hope is that units will start shipping in January 2014.… read more
A new method of manufacturing short, single-stranded DNA molecules can solve many of the problems associated with current production methods.
The new method can be of value to development of drugs consisting of DNA fragments and to DNA nanotechnology research.
The novel technique for manufacturing short, single-stranded DNA molecules — or oligonucleotides — has been developed by researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden and… read more
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that a naturally occurring protein secreted only in discrete areas of the mammalian brain may act as a Valium-like brake on certain types of epileptic seizures.
The protein is known as diazepam binding inhibitor, or DBI. It calms the rhythms of a key brain circuit and so could prove valuable in developing novel, less side-effect-prone… read more
In the brain, cell-to-cell communication is dependent on neurotransmitters, chemicals that aid the transfer of information between neurons.
Several proteins have the ability to modify the production of these chemicals by either increasing or decreasing their amount, or promoting or preventing their secretion. One example is tomosyn, which hinders the secretion of neurotransmitters when in abnormal amounts.
Dr. Boaz Barak of Tel Aviv University‘s Sagol School of Neuroscience,… read more
A dream of scientists has been to visualize details of two types of important fast-moving sub-cellular cytoskeletal structures — microtubules and actin — within our cells.
Now two groups of researchers have independently succeeded in doing that. Their research could prove vital in the study of cancer and other diseases.
Imaging microtubules in real time
Yale University researchers have developed a way to generate accurate… read more
Researchers at Bell Labs in New Jersey say they’ve used compressive sensing to build a camera that needs no lens and uses only a single sensing pixel to take photographs, MIT Technology Review reports.
What’s more, the images from this camera are never out of focus.
The invention could revolutionize optical, infrared and millimeter-wave imaging
This revolutionary lensless camera has a number of advantages over… read more
MIT engineer Sangeeta Bhatia and colleagues have have identified a dozen chemical compounds that can help liver cells maintain their normal function while grown in a lab dish and also multiply to produce new tissue.
Cells grown this way could help researchers develop engineered tissue to treat many of the 500 million people suffering from chronic liver diseases such as hepatitis C, according… read more
A technique for snapping an atomic-scale picture of a chemical before and after it reacts has been developed by chemists and physicists at the University of California, Berkeley.
Using a modified state-of-the-art atomic force microscope (AFM), the scientists have taken the first atom-by-atom pictures, including images of the chemical bonds between atoms, clearly depicting how a molecule’s structure changed during a reaction.
Until now,… read more
Stanford University scientists have dramatically improved the performance of lithium-ion batteries by creating novel electrodes made of silicon and conducting polymer hydrogel, a spongy substance similar to the material used in soft contact lenses and other household products.
“Developing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and long cycle life is of critical importance to address the ever-increasing energy storage needs for portable electronics, electric… read more
By modifying the underlying network of cellulose fibers, etching off surface “fluff” and applying a thin chemical coating, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have created a new type of paper that repels a wide variety of liquids — including water and oil.
The paper takes advantage of the “lotus effect” — used by leaves of the lotus plant — to repel liquids through the creation… read more