The research is a step toward the development of a system that might help in rehabilitating people who have suffered spinal cord injuries. An international team of scientists has used a wireless “brain-spinal interface” to bypass spinal cord injuries in a pair of rhesus macaques, restoring intentional walking movement to a temporarily paralyzed leg. The researchers, who describe their work in the journal Nature, say this is the first time a neural prosthetic has been used to restore walking m...

Solar Cells Get Boost with Integration of Water-Splitting Catalyst onto Semiconductor Scientists have found a way to engineer the atomic-scale chemical properties of a water-splitting catalyst for integration with a solar cell, and the result is a big boost to the stability and efficiency of artificial photosynthesis. Led by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the project is described in a paper published this week in the jour...

Scientists pioneer method that enables material to carry more electrical current without resistance at a higher temperature Brookhaven physicist Qiang Li (right) and materials scientist Lijun Wu in an electron microscopy lab in the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department at Brookhaven Lab. Li and his team used electron microscopes to examine the microstructural defects that appeared in an iron-based superconducting material after the material was bombarded with low-energy pr...

University of Dresden is supporting the City Tree developers Victor Splittberger and Peter Sänger by using a special programme to research how pollution could be most effectively filtered from the air. The programme can be employed to numerous locations worldwide. The CityTree structure is an amalgamation of sorts: a green, free-standing contraption that’s seemingly part tree sculpture, part park bench and part skate ramp. Its verdant wall stands about 13 feet high, and its square face st...

Brookhaven Lab scientists discover a way to create billionth-of-a-meter structures that snap together in complex patterns with unprecedented efficiency To continue advancing, next-generation electronic devices must fully exploit the nanoscale, where materials span just billionths of a meter. But balancing complexity, precision, and manufacturing scalability on such fantastically small scales is inevitably difficult. Fortunately, some nanomaterials can be coaxed into snapping themselves into des...

Vacuum-Operated Auto Retractable Safety Syringe - 2010 Award Winner The purpose of this safety syringe is to prevent needle stick injuries. The Vacuumed Auto Retractable Safety Syringe is a patented disposable syringe that is designed for one-handed operation and incorporates vacuum-operated automatic retractable technology. It is the ONLY Syringe that uses vacuum force (instead of spring) to retract the used needle into the barrel of the syringe after an injection is administered. Th...

An increased concentration of air pollution within metropolitan areas is associated with progression in coronary calcification and with acceleration of atherosclerosis, according to a study published in The Lancet. In the prospective, 10-year cohort study, Northwestern Medicine scientists and collaborators at other institutions repeatedly measured coronary artery calcium by CT scan in 6,795 participants aged 45 to 84 years, who were enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Ai...

Physical forces like blood pressure and the shear stress of flowing blood are important parameters for the tension of blood vessels. Scientists have been looking for a measurement sensor for many years that enables the translation of mechanical stimuli into a molecular response, which then regulates the tension in blood vessels. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now discovered just such a sensor in the inner layer of the blood vessel wall: t...

Shape-memory alloy (SMA, smart metal, memory metal, memory alloy, muscle wire, smart alloy) is an alloy that "remembers" its original shape and that when deformed returns to its pre-deformed shape when heated. This material is a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems. Shape-memory alloys have applications in robotics and automotive, aerospace and biomedical industries https://youtu.be/nK-hjDdXYyU   NASA G...

BioTrace Medical, Inc. today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the company’s Tempo® Lead, an innovative temporary pacing lead designed for use in procedures in which temporary pacing is indicated, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and electrophysiology (EP) procedures. BioTrace Medical’s Tempo® Lead incorporates innovations designed for secure and stable cardiac pacing with the goal of reducing complications and allowing patients to a...

In early studies on mice, a research team has found a Zika virus antibody that when given to pregnant animals protected their fetuses, and also protected adult mice from the disease. The findings raise hope for a potential treatment to prevent maternal-fetal transmission of the virus to prevent microcephaly and other devastating birth defects until a vaccine is available and also may help guide vaccine development. The team, based at Washington University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt Uni...

In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. Their finding, which involves nanofabrication and catalysis science, was serendipitous. ORNL’s Yang Song (seated), Dale Hensley (standing left) and Adam Rondinone examine a carbon nanospike sample with a scanning electron microscope. “We disc...

SlicePlanner is a brand new hybrid approach to planning, combining an old-fashioned paper ... our unique system complements your favorite digital calendars. Slice Planner is the first ever paper planner connected to the digital calendars. It is not only an old-fashioned paper planner refreshed by the technology of 2016 but also a specially-designed time management system that presents a new approach to planning your day and time. Powered by computer vision and augmented reality, our unique...

A cobot or co-robot (from collaborative robot) is a robot intended to physically interact with humans in a shared workspace.[3] This is in contrast with other robots, designed to operate autonomously or with limited guidance, which is what most industrial robots were up until the decade No area of industrial robotics has attracted more fanfare than human-robot collaboration. You can’t deny the compelling nature of collaborative robots. They have an innate ability to both fascinate and empower...

Lancaster (UK) based Cardiocity Limited have developed their second variant of the RhythmPad product range to successfully screen from Hypertension through simple hand placement. The RhythmPadGP is a simple USB connected lead1 and 6 lead screening tool. In under 30 seconds the subject’s lead1 and 6 lead ECG may be obtained and analysed giving instant outputs ranging from Sinus Rhythm to Atrial Fibrillation through to Right Bundle Branch Block. The RhythmPadGP makes screening for cardia...

Arterys, a pioneer in cloud-based medical imaging software, announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Arterys Software. This clearance allows the Arterys product to be used in clinical settings for the quantification of cardiac flow, which includes 4D flow and 2D Phase Contrast workflows, and cardiac function measurements. The product seamlessly integrates into clinical practice to provide comprehensive, simple and quick Cardiac MR i...

The importance of foot comfort cannot be overstated, especially for those suffering from conditions such as diabetes. That is, while ordinary discomfort in shoes can be frustrating to anyone, it can actually be dangerous for those with diabetes, as atrophied nerve endings in the foot caused by the disease can dull or eliminate the sensation of pain, which can in turn result in serious foot injuries or wounds. Custom padded insoles have been an important part in curbing this problem, though un...

TransEnterix Completes Successful Pre-Clinical Robotic Surgical Procedures; Management Affirms FDA Timeline A medical device company that is pioneering the use of robotics and flexible instruments to improve minimally invasive surgery, today announced the successful completion of four general surgery and urology procedures using its SurgiBot system patient-side robotic surgery system. Management also stated that the preparation of its FDA 510(k) filing is proceeding as planned, and affi...

Protection of food from microbial or chemical deterioration has traditionally been an important concern in the food industry. Chemically synthesised preservatives have been classically used to decrease both microbial spoiling and oxidative deterioration of food. However, in recent years, consumers are demanding partial or complete substitution of chemically synthesised preservatives due to their possible adverse health effects. This fact has lead to an increasing interest in developing more “...

Sunshine matters. A lot. The idea isn't exactly new, but according to a recent BYU study, when it comes to your mental and emotional health, the amount of time between sunrise and sunset is the weather variable that matters most. Your day might be filled with irritatingly hot temperatures, thick air pollution and maybe even pockets of rainclouds, but that won't necessarily get you down. If you're able to soak up enough sun, your level of emotional distress should remain stable. Take away sun ...

Mistakes happen. This is the case in the process of transporting genetic information in cells. How our cells keep errors in this process in check is the subject of a new paper by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). They found that RNA-binding proteins are regulated such that gateway proteins can recognize and block aberrant strands of genetic code from exiting the nucleus. Unused messenger RNA (mRNA) strands that cannot exit the ...

By using ultrafast laser flashes, Max Planck scientists have generated the fastest electric current that has ever been measured inside a solid material In the field of electronics, the principle 'the smaller, the better' applies. Some building blocks of computers or mobile phones, however, have become nearly as small today as only a few atoms. It is therefore hardly possible to reduce them any further. Light pulses generate Multi-PHz electric current in bulk solids. The emitted extre...

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and Seoul National University, South Korea, were able to show for the first time that roots react directly to light which is transmitted from the shoot to the underground parts of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Roots can thus effectively adapt plant growth to the light conditions in the environment. (Science Signaling, November 2016, DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.aaf6530). Light is not only a source of energ...

A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a magnetic ink that can be used to make self-healing batteries, electrochemical sensors and wearable, textile-based electrical circuits. The key ingredient for the ink is microparticles oriented in a certain configuration by a magnetic field. Because of the way they’re oriented, particles on both sides of a tear are magnetically attracted to one another, causing a device printed with the ink to heal itself. The device...

New computational imaging method identifies letters printed on first nine pages of a stack of paper. MIT researchers and their colleagues are designing an imaging system that can read closed books. In the latest issue of Nature Communications, the researchers describe a prototype of the system, which they tested on a stack of papers, each with one letter printed on it. The system was able to correctly identify the letters on the top nine sheets. “The Metropolitan Museum in New York show...

Atoms, photons, and other quantum particles are often capricious and finicky by nature; very rarely at a standstill, they often collide with others of their kind. But if such particles can be individually corralled and controlled in large numbers, they may be harnessed as quantum bits, or qubits — tiny units of information whose state or orientation can be used to carry out calculations at rates significantly faster than today’s semiconductor-based computer chips. In recent years, scientists ...

Affecting 33.5 million patients worldwide, atrial fibrillation is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. As if having an irregular heart beat wasn’t troubling enough, patients with atrial fibrillation are also much more likely to have a stroke. Michael Markl “Atrial fibrillation is thought to be responsible for 20 to 30 percent of all strokes in the United States,” said Northwestern’s Michael Markl, the Lester B. and Frances T. Knight Professor of Cardiac Imaging. “While atrial fibril...

Organisms pay attention to what other members of their species are doing," says Cori Bargmann, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University. "It's a very robust phenomenon that you see from humans on Twitter to bacteria, and everything in between." That's why Bargmann, Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and head of Rockefeller University's Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, and her coworkers set out to understand how animals are incorporating social information into thei...

Research led by the University shows that stimulation of the brain impacts on endurance exercise performance by decreasing perception of effort. Researchers led by Dr Lex Mauger from Kent’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences found that tDCS delayed exhaustion of the leg muscles by an average of 15% during an exercise task, and that this was likely caused by the participants feeling less effort during the exercise. However, tDCS elicited no significant effect on the neuromuscular response t...