A Harvard University lab has developed the first insect-size robots capable of flight and swimming. Researchers at the Harvard Paulson School have demonstrated a flying, swimming, insectlike robot, easing the way to create future aerial-aquatic robotic vehicles. Coming from the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, this discovery can only mean one thing, swimming RoboBees. The biggest challenge involved the conflicting design requirements. Aerial vehicles require large airfoils such as wings or sails to...

Researchers at Northeastern University are developing patient-specific 3D printed medical devices for newborns. Anything to do with babies tugs at the heartstrings of most anyone, so the idea of patient-specific catheters made to offer greater support to premature newborns is exponentially inspiring. Their innovative designs are different indeed in that they use magnetic fields to mold 3D printed material into customized devices and products. Meant to be more durable, as well as lightweight, Nor...

Scientists have discovered a naturally occurring protein that can be used to create ice cream that is more resistant to melting than conventional products. The protein binds together the air, fat and water in ice cream, creating a super-smooth consistency. The new ingredient could enable ice creams to keep frozen for longer in hot weather. It could also prevent gritty ice crystals from forming, ensuring a fine, smooth texture like those of luxury ice creams. The development could allow products ...

Eye Diseases Eighty percent of Americans fear losing their sight. But, unfortunately, after the age of forty, macular degeneration, and with it cloudy, soft, blurred vision at best, becomes a reality for millions of people. Age-related macular degeneration, and Stargardt disease, the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration, are diseases of the retina that cause a loss of central vision over time. The retina is a layer of light-sensitive cel...

Digital currencies like Bitcoin are poised to make a dramatic impact on most people’s lives over the next decade. They offer tremendous possibilities for growing our global economy, and, similar to the cell phone, enabling developing nations to leapfrog the tech of developed nations. But, we are at a pivotal point for this nascent technology. Getting digital currencies right and realizing the projected impact, present daunting challenges that will require significant research and development to ...

Robots are an intriguing technology that can straddle both the physical and social world of people. Inspired by animal and human behavior, MIT's robotic team's goal is to build capable robotic creatures with a "living" presence, and to gain a better understanding of how humans will interact with this new kind of technology. People will physically interact with them, communicate with them, understand them, and teach them, all in familiar human terms. Ultimately, such robots will possess the socia...

A team of researchers have been working on a handheld camera that sports the technology that can see through the wall using micro wave, additionally future usage envisioned is for cancer detection and aerospace engineering. The camera currently takes 30 images per second by transmitting millimeter and microwaves to a "collector" on the other side of a subject, and then sends them to a laptop for real-time inspection. Aside from being able to see straight through your BVDs, it can also be used...

Using lasers to regenerate and grow body parts sounds like science fiction, but researchers have just demonstrated that it might be a tranformative tool in medicine—or at least dentistry—in the future. A Harvard-led team just successfully used low-powered lasers to activate stem cells and stimulate the growth of teeth in rats and human dental tissue in a lab. The results were published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Stem cells exist throughout the body, and they fasci...

The structure of the human brain is complex, reminiscent of a circuit diagram with countless connections. But what role does this architecture play in the functioning of the brain? To answer this question, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, in cooperation with colleagues at the Free University of Berlin and University Hospital Freiburg, have for the first time analysed 1.6 billion connections within the brain simultaneously. They found the highest agreement ...

Smart Mice with half Human brain Mice have been created whose brains are half human. As a result, the animals are smarter than their siblings by professors at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. The idea is not to mimic fiction, but to advance our understanding of human brain diseases by studying them in whole mouse brains rather than in dishes. The altered mice still have mouse neurons – the “thinking” cells that make up around half of all their brain cells. But pra...

“IQ gene” and, inevitably, the possibility of enhancing human intelligence. The inspiration for the study of Tang et al. comes from the predominant theory on the cellular basis for learning, called Hebb's rule, which states that synaptic transmission between two neurons will be strengthened if the two cells are simultaneously active and one cell repeatedly excites or causes the other cell to fire. This form of synaptic plasticity called long-term potentiation (LTP) clearly exists, as well as th...

A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. The human brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and change—even into old age. This ability is known as neuroplasticity. With the right stimulation, your brain can form new neural pathways, alter existing connections, and adapt and react in ever-changing ways. The brain’s incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase y...

Designer Babies Genetically modified babies have DNA from three different adults. Although having DNA from more than two sources can occur naturally (as in the cases of microchimerism and tetragametic chimerism), these 15 babies were created with a method called “cytoplasmic transfer,” which had been banned by the FDA. The method was initially developed to save female eggs that had been difficult to fertilize and was showing much promise—until tracking the growth of the genetically modified b...

You've probably seen ads for IBM's SmarterCity initiative, a program that uses the company's information technology to help municipal governments create healthier, more intelligent urban environments for their residents. Using their ability to collect and analyze data, IBM is able to provide information about elements of daily city life ranging from weather and traffic to water usage and air quality. But what they've done with that data has largely been used to make policy and economic decisions...

ROOST SMART BATTERY THAT CAN MAKE YOUR SMOKE ALARM INTELLIGENT Roost is a smart battery that is wifi enabled with sensors to alert you of any smoke or fire condition via its app on smart phone. Simple but very useful device that can save life. Making your smoke alarm intelligent is simple, connect the Roost Smart Battery to your home Wi-Fi network, replace the existing 9V battery in your smoke alarm with Roost and immediately receive emergency alerts on your smart phone - no matter where y...

GENETICALLY modified potatoes that glow when they need watering have been developed by scientists. The vegetables' leaves have been implanted with a fluorescent gene from a jellyfish, which can be seen using a handheld monitor. Researchers say using the plant could increase the efficiency of food production by raising crop yields, leading to lower shop prices. And the technique could be used on root vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips. 'It has been shown that if potato crops do...

The staff at a Japanese hotel manned entirely by robots includes a realistic-looking woman and a bow tie-clad velociraptor. The Henn na Hotel -- which translates to "Weird Hotel" -- features the humanoid robot and English-speaking dinosaur as receptionists and also features a tulip-shaped concierge robot, named Tuly, in charge of controlling lights in the rooms, as well as giving information on the time and weather. An automated porter robot carries luggage to guests' rooms, which use phot...

Scientists identify markers on immune cells that 'predict who can stop drug therapy and stay well.' Scientists have discovered the way a patient's immune system responds to HIV infection could offer clues as to whether they will go on to achieve remission after drug treatment. The breakthrough sheds light on the phenomenon known as 'post-treatment control' where the virus remains undetectable in some patients even after medication is stopped. The findings could open new avenues for understand...

A new material with micropores might be a way to fight climate change. Scientists have created crystals that capture carbon dioxide much more efficiently than previously known materials, even in the presence of water. The research was recently published in a report in the scientific journal Science. One way to mitigate climate change could be to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. So far this has been difficult, since the presence of water prevents the adsorption of CO2. Complete dehyd...

Johns Hopkins researchers today introduced EpiWatch, an app designed to collect data from patients with epilepsy before, during, and after their seizures. The app, which runs on Apple Watch and iPhone, uses the open source ResearchKit framework designed by Apple. The data gathered for the study by the app, including physiological changes, altered responsiveness, and other characteristics of recurrent seizures, will be used by researchers to better understand epilepsy, to develop new methods f...

BYU is leading a collaborative team that has just kicked off a massive multidisciplinary effort to combat a threat to global health, the rising prevalence of bacteria that can’t be treated by antibiotics. Four BYU professors from three colleges have joined forces on the multi-year, National Institutes of Health-sponsored effort to create a faster diagnostic test for drug-resistant blood infections. As it stands now, diagnostic tests for these types of infections can take up to three days to prod...

Termites build massive, empty structures above their underground nest in order to control their local environment. Hunter King and Samuel A. Ocko, under the supervision of Applied Mathematics professor Lakshminarayan Mahadevan discovered the key to ventilation in the mounds of an Indian termite species. It is well known that termites build such massive, empty structures above their underground nest in order to control their local environment. The researchers conducted tests on live and dea...

The latest innovative development by Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge are genetically modified glow-in-the-dark chickens developed in order to block the bird flu. The genetically modified organism chickens are given a shot of a fluorescent protein. The modified birds contain a protein to differentiate themselves from other chickens. Under ultraviolet light, their beaks and feet emit a haunting green hue. This sets them apart from regular birds To...

A safe and efficient technique using cellulose to get drugs to safely reach their target to save lives was created. Xiangtao Meng, a fourth-year graduate student in the College of Natural Resources and Environment has developed a new technique that can get drugs to market, and to patients, that would otherwise fail. Taking medications orally is typically much more practical for patients than methods like intravenous injections, but the bioavailability of a drug the amount that actually rea...

Wacom®, the world leader in pen-based creative tablets, introduced its next generation Intuos® product family to empower and inspire creative enthusiasts. The new range of Intuos Pen & Touch tablets consists of four models: Intuos Art, (for beginners with a passion for creativity), Intuos Comic, (more advanced painting and artistic skill) Intuos Photo (for photo editors who want to try new creative techniques) and Intuos Draw. (For comic and manga enthusiasts). Each model includes free...

Deborah Kelly, a biologist at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, has developed a "microchip-based toolkit" to watch the breast cancer affiliated BRCA1 gene act inside a human breast cancer cell. This new technology allows scientists to watch cancer cells in action at unprecedented resolution. They can now peer closely into the world of cells and molecules within a native, liquid environment. Kelly and colleagues have developed a way to isolate biological specimens in a flowing, liquid en...

Antarctic ice shelf collapse and unstoppable sea level rise 'very likely' without tough climate action, say scientists. Warming of 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above current levels could lead to "unstoppable" sea level rise that would last for thousands of years. The new model, published today in Nature, shows that such temperatures would result in 80 to 85 per cent loss of major Antarctic ice shelves, something that is possible by the end of the century under existing IPCC scenarios. Collapse of th...

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in an experiment where they get an artificial atom to survive ten times longer than normal by positioning the atom in front of a mirror. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Physics. The artificial atom consists of a superconducting circuit on a silicon chip. The interaction between the atom and its mirror image modifies the vacuum fluctuations seen by the atom and thus its lifetime. The microwaves that mediate...

For decades, scientists have been looking for so-called “glueballs." Now it seems they have been found at last. A glueball is an exotic particle, made up entirely of gluons, the “sticky” particles that keep nuclear particles together. Glueballs are unstable and can only be detected indirectly, by analyzing their decay. This decay process, however, is not yet fully understood. Professor Anton Rebhan and Frederic Brünner from TU Wien (Vienna) have now employed a new theoretical approach to calcula...