Delft University of Technology is working to Reinvent the Toilet Upgrading human waste Since 2011 TU Delft has been a participant in the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We propose a community-based sanitation system that processes water on-site and upgrades urine and feces to energy at an omni-gasification plant. Human waste is dried, converted to syngas and fed into a fuel cell. The gasification process instantly destroys pathogens and ...

Amazon's new 'Echo Look' that can not only take photos and videos of you, but also critique your outfit and provide you current style guidelines based on the location, event and weather outside. With Echo Look, you can take full-length photos of your daily look using just your voice. The built-in LED lighting and depth-sensing camera let you blur the background to make your outfits pop, giving you clean, shareable photos. Get a live view in the Echo Look app or ask Alexa to take a short video...

Piaggio, the Italian company that makes Vespa scooters and Moto Guzzi motorcycles, is building a personal delivery device or “cargo robot,” called the Gita(pronounced “jee-ta”). According to Piaggio, its a 22 inches tall Ball shaped robot that allows you to store items and has an assortment of cameras to help it navigate. Gita also has a small compartment which can be accessed via a hatch on top, and can carry up to 40 pounds. Further, the bot can tell where to go by Wi-Fi-connecting to a ...

This year is the 45 years Apollo 11 Moon-landing anniversary. What a perfect time to present you the Saturn-V rocket which took the Apollo 11 crew to the moon out of Lego! The whole Lego rocket is about 1 meter/130 studs high (aprox. 1:110 scale), has 1179 bricks and lots of features: removable 1st rocket-stage with the main rocket engine removable 2nd rocket-stage with rocket engine removable 3rd rocket-stage with the Apollo spacecraft Apollo spacecraft with the "Eagle" ...

For successful organ formation, it is very important that cells generate unique shapes and architecture from which these organs develop. Also during the development of the vertebrate eye, cells need to actively migrate to the correct locations to generate the right tissue shape. The lab of Caren Norden at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) showed that such cell movements are crucial already at early developmental stages. If cells do not reach the right plac...

When it comes to understanding bullying, "we make a lot of assumptions that aren't based on data," says UD psychologist Julie Hubbard, whose scholarship aims to build a stronger empirical foundation that could lead to new and more successful evidence-based programs for bullying. Although school-based bullying prevention programs already exist, findings suggest they are not particularly effective. Thus, Hubbard, an associate professor of psychology, believes that more basic research is needed ...

From JUNE 26TH TO JULY 7TH 2017 | SISSA The 7th Neuron Technology Summer School aims to provide practical and theoretical training on the application of a large spectrum of techniques to neuroscience. The School will address the following topics: Basic Electrophysiology Imaging and optical recordings Optical tweezers microscopy for single cell neurobiology Single-molecule imaging and single cell handling with Atomic Force Microscopy Basic Structural Biology Admission ...

It is not the amount of time spent sitting still that matters. Instead it is the extent of physical activity that is essential in reducing the risk of elderly women developing cardiovascular disease, as shown in a new Örebro study published in PLOS ONE. "We have studied women over 65 as they are among the least active groups of the population, at the same time as they run a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease," says Fawzi Kadi, Professor at Örebro University. A brisk walk instead ...

Potential cure for Type 1 diabetes looms on the horizon in San Antonio, and the novel approach would also allow Type 2 diabetics to stop insulin shots. The discovery, made at The University of Texas Health Science Center, now called UT Health San Antonio, increases the types of pancreatic cells that secrete insulin. UT Health San Antonio researchers have a goal to reach human clinical trials in three years, but to do so they must first test the strategy in large-animal studies, which will ...

Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness worldwide, most often is diagnosed during a routine eye exam. Over time, elevated pressure inside the eye damages the optic nerve, leading to vision loss. Unfortunately, there’s no way to accurately predict which patients might lose vision most rapidly. Now, studying mice, rats and fluid removed from the eyes of patients with glaucoma, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a marker of damage to cells in the ...

The lack of capacity at airports is the major constraint to growth in air transport. Current technology projects optimise the use of the available airport capacity, but unless a structural new approach is followed, the expected three-fold increase in air traffic is not realistic to achieve. Physical constraints on runway operations, like wake vortex separation minima and cross- and tailwind limits, make it hard to improve performance of conventional airport configurations further. The End...

Scientists have witnessed the birth of atmospheric ice clouds, creating ice cloud crystals in the laboratory and then taking images of the process through a microscope, essentially documenting the very first steps of cloud formation. The team witnessed a process known as ice nucleation in unprecedented detail, taking time-lapse movies of the first few seconds when a particle attracts water vapor, forming ice crystals that become the core of icy cirrus clouds — the high, wispy clouds that act ...

Jie Ma, a professor from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, is using neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor to discover a three-dimensional image of the magnetic lattice of an oxide material (Ba2CoTeO6) containing quantum properties that could provide new insight into how electron “spins” can improve data processing and storage in computers. In condensed matter physics, quantum spin liquid is a state that can be achieved in a system of interacting quantum s...

An international team of scientists has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene – also known as ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon. By heating the ethene in stages to a temperature of slightly more than 700 degrees Celsius -- hotter than had been attempted before – the researchers produced pure layers of graphene on a rhodium catalyst substrate. The stepwise heating and higher temperature overcame chall...

Lygos is providing biotechnology solutions for today’s renewable chemical challenges. Lygos engineers microbes to convert sugars into high-value, industrial chemicals, targeting compounds where biological production is cost-advantaged over petrochemical production. Lygos' technology goes beyond engineering microbes and includes fermentation and purification development. Our goal is to manufacture and sell chemicals. This work has been supported, in part, by over $6.5MM in grants from the U.S....

New tool at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will be taking on some of the periodic table’s latest heavyweight champions to see how their masses measure up to predictions. Dubbed FIONA, the device is designed to measure the mass numbers of individual atoms of superheavy elements, which have higher masses than uranium. “Once we have determined those mass numbers, we will use FIONA to learn about the shape and structure of heavy nuclei, guide th...

Invisible Solar Dyaqua has invented "Invisible Solar" photovoltaic panel that are incorporated in current roof tiles. Invisible Solar is a new PV technology able to take on the appearance of any building material. Each Invisible Solar module is not only a photovoltaic panel, but an active architectural element with various functionality. A single and indivisible body, with the highest resistance, hides and protects the photovoltaic cells inside itself. Operatin...

Illumibowl Anti-Germ is a device that attaches to the toilet and sanitizes the toilet bowl using a safe, medical-grade technology that kills germs using non-UVC wavelengths of light. Developed by the same team that created the IllumiBowl Toilet Night Light, the Anti-Germ goes a step further, using a safe, medical-grade technology that kills germs using non-UVC wavelengths of light. Once in place, the Anti-Germ IllumiBowl will emit its germ-killing light for 15 seconds every two minutes, and e...

Kobo Aura H2O is the first premium eReader that truly allows for worry-free eReading because of its waterproof* and dustproof design. It features an impressive extra-large, no-glare 6.8” Carta E Ink touchscreen that reads like print on paper – even in direct sunlight. Eyestrain is minimized in any light with the fully adjustable ComfortLight directing light at the page, not your eyes. Plus, with ClarityScreen+, Kobo Aura H2O provides a high definition reading experience, with crisp, clear text f...

A new strain of rice that flowers within a certain period of time after being sprayed with commercial chemicals commonly used to protect rice from fungal diseases is now available, say Japanese scientists. This new strain could one day allow rice farmers to dictate the timing of their harvest regardless of weather, temperature, and other conditions that currently affect cultivation. Temperature, day length, and other environmental cues determine when plants flower, making it difficult for far...

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have demonstrated that ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism coexist at room temperature in thin films of bismuth-iron-cobalt oxide. The research could have implications in the next generation of computer memory and sensors. Traditional computer memory, known as DRAM, uses electric fields to store information. In DRAM, the presence or absence of an electric charge is indicated either by number 1 or number 0. Unfortunately, this type of in...

AirSonea - a revolutionary, asthma monitoring device that will sync with smart phones to enable anyone, anywhere at any time to conveniently monitor their wheezing symptoms and better manage the condition. AirSonea, the world’s first digital device for monitoring wheeze, takes the stress out of asthma management. AirSonea turns your smartphone into a portable asthma monitor. Teamed with the AsthmaSense App it can detect and measure wheeze while factoring in your personal environmental trigger...

Gryphon Sensors provides the most sophisticated systems to detect, track and identify low-altitude, small unmanned aircraft systems, birds and other hard-to-detect airborne traffic. Using an innovative multi-spectrum approach, Gryphon Sensors provides low-cost, best-in-class products to serve the drone security market and protect critical infrastructure from drones. As a leader in this emerging industry, Gryphon Sensors is also helping to safely integrate UAS into the national airspace sys...

The Smartphone Controlled Home Patrolling Robot This is the robot that allows one to remotely monitor one’s home via an iPhone or iPad from anywhere in the world. Available only from Hammacher Schlemmer, the robot’s high-definition 1080p camera transmits a live video and audio feed via WiFi to your preferred iOS device using an existing home internet connection. The Smartphone Controlled Home Patrolling Robot comes with The Hammacher Schlemmer Lifetime Guarantee. The mobile robot’s 4" d...

Researchers in laboratories at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition will be testing revolutionary new technology that creates human organ systems in miniature on micro-engineered chips. Beginning with a liver-chip, FDA scientists will be evaluating the effectiveness of this technology to better understand the effects of medicines, disease-causing bacteria in foods, chemicals, and other potentially harmful materials on the human body. There are many things you might envision putt...