A breakthrough invention in developing transient batteries has been developed:  a self-destructing battery that completely dissolves in water without leaving behind any trace. Researchers at Iowa State University have designed a one-millimeter-thick, five-millimeter-long and six millimeters wide battery that use typical lithium-ion technology. The transient battery is made up of eight layers, including an anode, a cathode and the electrolyte separator, all wrapped up in two layers of a polyvi...

Ever thought of a car driven by a machine? Want to get around the city without the hassle of driving or parking?  If you ever thought it would just be a dream, here is a surprise from Uber. Uber is planning to roll out its first self-driving cars in the heart of Steel City, Pittsburgh. Uber just announced that self-driving cars started picking up passengers in late August. Uber customers in downtown Pittsburgh will be able to hire and ride into specially modified Ford focuses and VolvoXC90...

University of Washington scientists have developed a way to link your smartphones to your contact lenses using a new technology called the "interscatter communication.” Using this technology, medical aid such as contact lenses and brain implants can send signals to smartphones. The "interscatter communication" works by converting Bluetooth signals into Wi-Fi signals. (Elaborate more here on the technology.) This technology will create Wi-Fi by using Bluetooth transmissions from nearby mobi...

A new technology, Sgnl, allows you to answer phone calls through a rather unconventional method: your fingertip. Sgnl, a smart strap, was developed by Innomdle Lab. The idea was the brainchild of CEO Hyunchul Choi, who sought to solve a dilemma that smartwatch users faced when taking calls: everyone could hear what was being spoken about. The device receives voice signal from your phone through Bluetooth. When a signal is received, the strap creates a vibration through its body conduction ...

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an umbrella term that encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by those with a wide range of speech and language impairments, including congenital impairments such as cerebral palsy, intellectual impairment and autism, and acquired conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's d...

Video analytics can transform standard CCTV systems into intelligent and effective detection and alert systems. CCTV technology is now capable of recognising faces of people, vehicles, animals and bags automatically. Integrated with CCTV video analytics, both facial and general recognition software systems are capable of counting, measuring speed and monitoring direction. For example, recognition systems can monitor the duration of time that people are present in a specific area or how long a...

Do you ever turn your world upside down by standing on your head? After a few minutes you might feel some pressure in your face and around your skull. This is because headstands invert the body’s blood flow, pushing more blood toward your head. Astronauts in microgravity experience something similar. Without gravity pulling body fluids down toward their legs and feet, the fluids move toward the upper body. Scientists believe this causes fluid congestion in the head and increased pressure in t...

A research team, led by an IU School of Health and Rehabilitation faculty member at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has determined that adapted yoga is both feasible and beneficial for adults with stroke or traumatic brain injury. Subjects in a recently published study of adults with traumatic brain injury demonstrated improved balance, flexibility, strength, endurance and walking speed after participation in adapted yoga. The study underscores the belief that adapted yoga m...

Our brains have a detailed picture of our hands and fingers, and that persists even decades after an amputation, Oxford University researchers have found. The finding could have implications for the control of next generation prosthetics. Team leader, Dr. Tamar Makin said: 'It has been thought that the hand 'picture' in the brain, located in the primary somatosensory cortex, could only be maintained by regular sensory input from the hand. In fact, textbooks teach that the 'picture' ...

Researchers at Monash University in Melbourne have successfully developed the world’s most energy-efficient ‘artificial photosynthesis’ technique, which effectively mimics plant-based photosynthesis by using solar energy to convert water into hydrogen. The process, which creates hydrogen and oxygen by running an electric current through water, could be used to inexpensively power our homes and cars in just a few years, say the researchers. Electrochemical splitting of water could provide a ch...

Encounters with nearby nature help alleviate mental fatigue by relaxing and restoring the mind. Within built environments parks and green spaces are settings for cognitive respite, as they encourage social interaction and de-stressing through exercise or conversation, and provide calming settings. Having quality landscaping and vegetation in and around the places where people work and study is a good investment. Both visual access and being within green space helps to restore the mind’s ability ...

Cyrano is an air freshener that wants to give your videos smell-o-vision. The device holds three capsules at a time, each containing four scents, like lilac, guava, peppermint, vanilla, and more, You use its app, oNotes, to “play” the scents and can watch specially made videos.   Cyrano is a "scent speaker" that allows you to "play" whatever scent you'd like. Developed by Vapor Communications. Cyrano is a small cylindrical device that is connected to an app named oNotes, where ...

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – Some people have no fear, like that 17-year-old kid who drives like a maniac. But for the nearly 40 million adults who suffer from anxiety disorders, an overabundance of fear rules their lives. Debilitating anxiety prevents them from participating in life’s most mundane moments, from driving a car to riding in an elevator. Team of researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) describes a new pathway that controls fear memories and behavior in the mouse brain, offer...

Control your air conditioner automatically with your smartphone. tado° turns the air conditioner down when the last person leaves home and starts to cool again when it detects the first person returning. This can reduce your AC’s electricity costs by up to 40%.   More control Whatever the time of day, tado°lets you know your home temperature, when the AC is on, how much you’re saving and allows you to control your AC from wherever you are. Geolocation control tado° ...

Alcon, the global leader in eye care and a division of Novartis, announced today that it has achieved FDA approval for the CyPass® Micro-Stent, a micro invasive glaucoma surgical (MIGS) device to treat patients with mild to moderate primary open-angle glaucoma in conjunction with cataract surgery. CyPass Micro-Stent is the latest addition to Alcon's surgical portfolio providing an additional option to meet the needs of millions of glaucoma patients. The FDA approval is based on the landmark C...

A material inspired by plastic wrap could keep you cooler than anything you’ve ever worn before – perhaps even cool enough to help kill your dependence on air conditioning. Stanford University researcher Yi Cui, unveiled an innovative textile made of plastic that isn’t too far off from common plastic wrap. The main difference is they engineered theirs to be breathable, which means you can wear it without your body suffocating. And because it’s plastic, the material offers something clothing f...

A dream is successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occurs involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, as well as a subject of philosophical and religious interest, throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology. One aim of neuroscience is to map the brain loci of thoughts and mental experiences. ...

Blood irradiation therapy is a procedure in which the blood is exposed to low level red light (often laser light) for therapeutic reasons. Most research on blood irradiation therapy has been conducted in Germany, Russia and China, while smaller-scale research has been performed in other countries such as Britain. Blood irradiation therapy can be administered through a catheter in a vein, through the blood vessels inside the nose or applied externally through the skin. It is not related to the pr...

CycleAT - Bluetooth tire sensor for motorcycle (& bicycle), gives you REAL-TIME tire temp, pressure. The device is designed to help riders get a safer and more efficient ride every time. It comes with 2 sensors to let you know when you are riding with improper tire pressure. It notifies you through audio and visual cues if your bike deviates outside the range of safe values. The companion app lets you create a profile for your bike to suggest optimal tire pressure based on that informa...

Marya Lieberman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame and Abigail Weaver, a postdoctoral associate in the University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, took up the challenge of how people in developing countries could detect low-quality antimalarial drugs without expensive equipment and without handling dangerous chemicals. The solution they developed involves using paper cards, embedded with reagents, that carry o...

Testing for health conditions usually involves needles, X-rays and other invasive or uncomfortable measures. To make diagnostics less burdensome for patients, scientists are developing alternatives, looking for disease markers in urine—and even spit. Now a study, appearing in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, demonstrates for the first time that individuals may have saliva "fingerprints." The finding suggests that identifying changes in these baseline fingerprints could someday be a reliable wa...

lab-grown meat is made of cells harmlessly drawn from a cow and then cultured to grow and form muscle fibers. Scientists and businesses working full steam to produce lab-created meat claim it will be healthier than conventional meat. Cultured meat, also called synthetic meat, cell-cultured meat and in vitro meat, is meat grown in cell culture instead of inside animals. Cultured meat is produced using many of the same tissue engineering techniques traditionally used in regenerative medicine. ...

Ecovacs robotics is changing the home robotics category by moving from floors to windows with WINBOT W830 - the window cleaning Robot. Thanks to its smart suction fan, W830 cleans more surfaces including vertical glass, framed or frameless glass, frosted, filmed or colored glass, horizontal surfaces and more.W830 is smart and simple to use with one touch operation and automatic "n" or "Z" cleaning paths. It also has sensors to stop WINBOT W830 from moving across window frames, intelligently iden...

Imagine getting inside the head of a working FDA inspector ... receiving the same training the inspector gets ... knowing which problems face the most scrutiny ... all before your next inspection. Here's how. Are you confident you'll sail through your next inspection? You can be when you have the same training the FDA gives its own inspectors. Know what to expect when the next inspector walks through your door -- from what the agency trains its investigators to look for ... to which pr...

Researchers have developed a chemical sensing material consisting of a group of carbon nanotubes individually wrapped with supramolecular polymers that can be used with a mobile phone to detect toxins. Chemical sensors offer opportunities for improving personal security, safety, and health. To enable broad adoption of chemical sensors requires performance and cost advantages that are best realized from innovations in the design of the sensing (transduction) materials. Ideal materials a...

Slime molds form when individual cells swarm together and self-assemble into a blob, essentially a giant single cell containing thousands of nuclei. These unusual cells, which have already been found on the International Space Station, respond to external forces and stimuli by moving and changing their shapes. NanoRacks-Slime Mold Organization (NanoRacks-Slime Mold) treats slime molds with a series of stimuli while in microgravity, monitoring their responses and comparing them to slime molds on ...

University of California, San Diego bioengineers have demonstrated in a study in pigs that a new injectable hydrogel can repair damage from heart attacks, help the heart grow new tissue and blood vessels, and get the heart moving closer to how a healthy heart should. The results of the study were published Feb. 20 in Science Translational Medicine and clear the way for clinical trials to begin this year in Europe. The gel is injected through a catheter without requiring surgery or general anesth...

A team of Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and microfluidics has demonstrated the first autonomous, untethered, entirely soft robot. This small, 3D-printed robot — nicknamed the octobot — could pave the way for a new generation of completely soft, autonomous machines. In this video, see the octobot in action. It is the first entirely soft, autonomous robot, made by a combination of embedded 3D printing, modeling, and soft lithography. Credit:...

At the University of California, Los Angeles clinical researchers have successfully used focused ultrasound to “jump-start” the brain of a man coming out of a coma. The 25-year-old patient was barely conscious once he woke up from the coma, but soon after the initiation of treatment his condition improved measurably. A 25-year-old man recovering from a coma has made remarkable progress following a treatment at UCLA to jump-start his brain using ultrasound. The technique uses sonic stimulation...

So far, Innovation Essence has featured 3d printed prosthetics, 3d printing pens, and 3d printers that print a house, and even food printing. However, another 3d printing product is also extremely innovative, as all of the former were limited in how much they could print by the amount of filament used. The SolarSinster prints glass, is entirely solarpowered, and runs off of natural resources. All it needs is the sun to be out and sand and it can function, making it ideal for a desert. Factories ...