Animals in space originally only served to test the survivability of spaceflight, before manned space missions were attempted. Later, animals were also flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects microgravity and space flight might have on them. To date, seven national space programs have flown animals into space: the Soviet Union, the United States, France, Argentina, China, Japan and Iran. Can fish swim in microgravity? Do bees make honey in space? Can ant farms exist ...

EDGAR is a tele-presence robot optimised to project the gestures of its human user. By standing in front of a specialised webcam, a user can control EDGAR remotely from anywhere in the world. The user’s face and expressions will be displayed on the robot’s face in real time, while the robot mimics the person’s upper body movements. EDGAR can also deliver speeches by autonomously acting out a script. With an integrated webcam, he automatically tracks the people he meets to engage them in conve...

Alton Towers has opened its 'world first' virtual reality rollercoaster 'Galactica'. The theme park says it is the first fully-dedicated virtual reality. Galactica uses motion sensors next to every seat to link the physical twists and turns to computer graphics played on headsets worn by the riders. The video takes thrill seekers on a 189-second flight from a space station through an asteroid belt to the canyons of an alien world. Simon Reveley from Figment Productions, which created th...

Researchers have developed a new class of small, thin electronic sensors that monitor temperature and pressure within the skull – crucial health parameters after a brain injury or surgery – then melt away when no longer needed. This eliminates the need for additional surgery to remove the monitors and reduces the risk of infection and haemorrhage. Similar sensors can be adapted for postoperative monitoring in other body systems as well, the researchers say. Led by John A. Rogers, a professor ...

For the first time, an international team of astronomers from MIT, the University of Liège in Belgium, and elsewhere have detected three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star, just 40 light years from Earth. The sizes and temperatures of these worlds are comparable to those of Earth and Venus, and are the best targets found so far for the search for life outside the solar system. The results are published today in the journal Nature. The scientists discovered the planets using TRAPPIST (TRAn...

In recent years, the use of nanomaterials for water treatment, food packaging, pesticides, cosmetics and other industries has increased. Such particles, like silver nanoparticles deployed as a pesticide, are used to suppress the growth of harmful microorganisms. The increased use has led to concerns that these toxic particles could end up in food designed for human consumption. One study showed that artificial silver nanoparticles from polyethylene films destined for package of such foods as ...

Nanoparticle treatment developed by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder could provide an effective means of fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria including Salmonella, E. Coli, and Staphylococcus, based on results in a laboratory environment. In testing with a lab-grown culture, the nanoparticles killed 92 percent of drug-resistant bacterial cells while leaving the other cells intact. The treatment consists of light-activated therapeutic nanoparticles called "'quantum dots". Th...

Handheld, miniature microscope being developed by University of Washington mechanical engineers could allow surgeons to “see” at a cellular level in the operating room and determine where to stop cutting. The new technology, developed in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University and the Barrow Neurological Institute, is outlined in a paper published in January in the journal Biomedical Optics Express. The handheld microscope, roughly the size of a pen, ...

Paralyzed people and Parkinson’s disease patients can regain some control of their limbs and symptoms with neural implants. The problem is that with traditional implant hookups, wires from the implant run through the skull and connect with an external computer. Not only are the wires cumbersome but there is a high risk of infection with the open entry holes in the skull. Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have designed a low power chip that works with existing n...

Portable Wireless Signal Booster Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have invented a portable communications signal booster that is currently available for licensing. Originally designed to improve communications for lunar missions, this lightweight, portable device can boost incoming signals to improve local reception for cell phones, laptops, satellite and Wi-Fi internet receivers without the need for power plugs, cables or batteries. This portable signal booster can be configured as an...

Singapore is one of Asia’s most powerful economies, but it lacks a reliable water supply. Wastewater-reuse plants could change that by soon recycling enough sewage to meet 50 percent of the nation’s water needs. The concept of recycling wastewater certainly isn’t new, with long-running initiatives already well underway in Israel, Spain, Scandinavian countries and the US. But with NEWater, Singapore has quickly gained an international reputation for efficient recycling of wastewater. The initi...

Founded in 1968, the International Baccalaureate® (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation offering four highly respected programmes of international education that develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills needed to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Schools must be authorized, by the IB organization, to offer any of the programmes. The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a...

Brains are built over time, from the bottom up. The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood. Early experiences affect the quality of that architecture by establishing either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health and behavior that follow. In the first few years of life, 700 new neural connections are formed every second. After this period of rapid proliferation, connections are...

The world at the quantum level, at the scale of particles too small for the eye to see, is very strange. It's possible, for instance, to have two particles that are "entangled" -- that is, they function as if they were connected, even if they are many miles away from each other. New research co-authored by Francesco Marsili, microdevices engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, makes use of this phenomenon in a technological advancement published in the journal ...

Skully AR-1 is a technologically advanced motorcycle helmet with integrated 180degree camera. It's sharp, stealthy-looking black helmet read like specs off the navigation system of a fighter plane: heads-up display, rearview camera, and GPS navigation, all tied together by a high-speed microprocessor. And this helmet isn't all work and no play; it also connects to wireless devices via Bluetooth, streams music, makes hands-free calls, and can even connect to the internet via Wi-Fi. It even has a ...

LifeFuels is a health technology company devoted to bringing responsive intelligence to nutrition and hydration management. We need to fuel our bodies properly in order to live life well. But nutrition is complicated, and nutritional regimens are difficult to adhere to. The LifeFuels Smart Nutrition Bottle simplifies nutrition and hydration management by dispensing the products that you need to help you live a happier, healthier life while you're on the go. FuelPods are inserted in the top...

ALTYOR: subcontracting & ODM/OEM solutions for start-ups, SME and majors. Fully integrated solution from design, to production, to distribution. ALTYOR has a deep understanding of market and technological trends and always imposes itself a high pressure on market intelligence and technical intelligence as well as business environement trends. Employing young talents aware of latest technologies, staying tunes with the market to be able to support customers in design thinking approach. ...

An 18-month NASA research effort to visualize the passenger airplanes of the future has produced some ideas that at first glance may appear to be old fashioned. Instead of exotic new designs seemingly borrowed from science fiction, familiar shapes dominate the pages of advanced concept studies which four industry teams completed for NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program in April 2010. Look more closely at these concepts for airplanes that may enter service 20 to 25 years from now and you'll ...

'Sensmi' is the world's most accurate smart wristband that tracks and analyzes your daily stress levels and sleep patterns. It helps you pursue life with less stress and more mindfulness. With sensmi, you can easily find out when, where, who, and what triggers the most stress in life and work, and practice stress-relieving exercises to calm down and increase focus, based on sensmi's suggestions. sensmi also accurately tracks and records lab quality sleep data (light to deep) to evaluate ch...

Pill coated with tiny needles can deliver drugs directly into the lining of the digestive tract. Given a choice, most patients would prefer to take a drug orally instead of getting an injection. Unfortunately, many drugs, especially those made from large proteins, cannot be given as a pill because they get broken down in the stomach before they can be absorbed. To help overcome that obstacle, researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have devised a novel drug capsule coat...

Currently supporting field trials at 14 companies across 10 industries with the UBIQUITOUSWARE Pilot Pack Fujitsu Limited Fujitsu today announced ten new products in its FUJITSU IoT Solution UBIQUITOUSWARE line, to accelerate the digitalization of its customers' operations. The new products will be steadily rolled out in Japan beginning January 20, 2016. UBIQUITOUSWARE gathers and analyzes a range of human-centric data using advanced sensing technology, and can provide the high-value infor...

Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) recently developed and tested optical communication technology using lasers, which transferred data at much higher rates than Radio Frequency (RF) communications systems. SCaN demonstrated the technology with the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) from October 2013 through April 2014 during the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. The LLCD demonstration consisted...

The thermal sensor can be attached directly to the skin, potentially useful in monitoring the health of infants or even making sportswear more comfortable. Japanese researchers have developed a micro-thin thermal sensor that can be attached directly to the skin, potentially useful in monitoring the health of infants or even making sportswear more comfortable. The group said that the device, embedded in an ultra-fine film, can measure target temperatures between 25 and 50 degrees Celsius, a r...

University of Tokyo is developing a wearable and modular device allowing users to perceive and respond to spatial information using haptic cues in an intuitive and unobtrusive way. The system is composed of an array of "optical-hair modules", each of which senses range information and transduces it as an appropriate vibro-tactile cue on the skin directly beneath it (the module can be embedded on clothes or strapped to body parts as in the figures below). An analogy for our artificial sensory sys...

University of Tokyo researchers have developed an ultrathin, ultraflexible, protective layer and demonstrated its use by creating an air-stable, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. This technology will enable creation of electronic skin (e-skin) displays of blood oxygen level, e-skin heart rate sensors for athletes and many other applications. Integrating electronic devices with the human body to enhance or restore body function for biomedical applications is the goal of researchers ...

SensiumVitals® system is a wireless system designed to monitor the vital signs of patients on general wards. The system comprises a light-weight, wearable, wireless single patient use patch, which provides vital signs (heart-rate, respiration and axillary temperature) and wirelessly communicates this data to clinicians via the hospital’s IT infrastructure. The SensiumVitals® System is the first single patient use product aimed at the general floor and emergency room of hospitals to have recei...

 Non-Invasive Glucose Monitor The glucose sensor by NovioSense is a tiny, spring-shaped device that is designed to monitor a patient’s glucose levels by taking measurements from tears. Initially designed to be worn continuously for two weeks, the goal is to create a device that will last even longer and eliminate the need for finger stick blood samples for patients with diabetes. Health Patch for Clinical Monitoring Billions of dollars are spent on monitoring patient vital signs in cl...

  Medical vital-sign monitoring reduced to the size of a postage stamp Electrical engineers at Oregon State University have developed new technology to monitor medical vital signs, with sophisticated sensors so small and cheap they could fit onto a bandage, be manufactured in high volumes and cost less than a quarter. A patent is being processed for the monitoring system and it’s now ready for clinical trials, researchers say. When commercialized, it could be used as a disposable elect...

From outer space to the wide open spaces of farmland in Crookston, Minn., the benefits originating from International Space Station research and technology stretch far and wide. The space station provides a microgravity environment for researchers to conduct multidisciplinary investigations, for educators to inspire next generation scientists and engineers, and to serve as a stepping stone to future exploration that was not possible just 15 years ago. A few of the many benefits provided by resea...

Japanese AI program has co-authored a short-form novel that passed the first round of screening for a national literary prize. The novel is actually called The Day A Computer Writes A Novel, or “Konpyuta ga shosetsu wo kaku hi” in Japanese. The meta-narrative wasn’t enough to win first prize at the third Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award ceremony, but it did come close. Hitoshi Matsubara and his team at Future University Hakodate in Japan selected words and sentences, and set parameters...