HEADLINES ARCHIVE
The Sky is the Limit for New Low-cost 3-D Printer
Sliperiet at Umeå Arts Campus is in the process of making a 3-D printed Tower of Babel using a novel hanging printer. This offers a low-cost solution and increased flexibility to print large volumes.
Reusable Sponge Soaks Up Oil, Could Revolutionize Oil Spill and Diesel Cleanup
When the Deepwater Horizon drilling pipe blew out seven years ago, beginning the worst oil spill in U.S. history, those in charge of the recovery discovered a new wrinkle: the millions of gallons of oil bubbling from the sea floor weren’t all collecting on the surface where it could be skimmed or burned. Some of it was forming a plume and drifting through the ocean under the surface.
The microHammer Project: Banging on Brain Cells
Researchers built the world's tiniest hammer to apply a variety of mechanical forces to brain cells.
Measuring Mercury in Fish
A fluorescent polymer detects the presence of methylmercury and Hg2+ salt in fish samples.
Nanostraws Sample Cells Without Damage
‘Nanostraws’ allow researchers to sample a single cell at a time, penetrating a cell’s outer membrane without damaging it.
Clothing for Cardiac Cartography
A vest equipped with 252 electrodes offers a non-invasive approach to mapping irregular heart rhythms.
Restoring Communication for Locked-In Patients
A brain-computer interface enabled four paralyzed patients suffering from complete locked-in syndrome to convey their thoughts.
Innovative Battery Design for Grid-Scale Storage
A new type of battery developed at Oregon State University may show promise for sustainable, high-power energy storage. The battery uses only hydronium ions as the charge carrier.
Acoustofluidic Chip Sounds Out Biomarkers
An acoustic whirlpool device that uses only sound to concentrate nanoparticles may pave the way for designing compact, low-cost diagnostics for isolating biomarkers from biological fluids.
Living Chemical Detectors: Gloves Glow and Sensors Shine
Hydrogel sheets infused with live cells genetically programmed to light up in the presence of certain chemicals may provide new material technology for industrial, medical, and environmental sensors.
MEMS-based Microscope Shrinks Inspection Equipment Cost
The MEMS-based device is about the size of a dime, and is mounted on a credit-card-sized printed circuit board that contains circuits, sensors, and other miniature components that control the microscope.
Stretchable Electronic Fabric Made by an Inkjet Printer
Engineering researchers have developed a stretchable smart fabric that can be created using an inkjet printer, raising the potential producing the material inexpensively.
Simulation Improves Oil Shale Formation Characterization
Engineers developed a computer simulation that mimic water, oil, and gas molecules’ relaxation properties and model how the molecules move in the highly restricted, “tight” pore formations.
Long-lasting Flow Battery Technology
The technology promises to be a practical storage system for renewable energy, developers say.
Paper Beats Felt as Microbial Fuel Cell Electrode
A durable, low-cost bioelectrode material for microbial fuel cells was demonstrated by University of Rochester, NY, researchers.
Tree Species Recognition by Modeling and Measurement
Researchers from Tampere University of Technology and the Natural Resources Institute Finland developed a method to extract individual trees from forest plot level point cloud data.
Biotech Startup Aims for Cost-Effective Consumables
The spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created what it says is a low-cost process for engineering microbes with complex metabolic pathways borrowed from plants.
The Search for a Better Li-Ion Battery
Researchers developed a simulation protocol to screen electrolyte materials, initially trying a set of 500 diverse classes of polymers.
Creative Uses for Biomaterials Is Aim of Forest Institute
Goals include researching new wood-based products such as adhesives and green-platform chemicals. Plans also call for working on advancements in wood engineering and new uses for what was previously seen as waste from pulp and paper.
Cracking the Secrets of a Lithium Battery Cathode
A team of researchers studied a lithium manganese nickel oxide cathode, which is viewed as one of the next generation battery materials because of its high energy.