Futurity.org » Carl Blesch-Rutgers

Next-gen electronics inspired by vacuum sealer

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:40:02 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — A familiar kitchen gadget has inspired an advance toward flexible screens for electronics.

One day in 2010, Rutgers physicist Vitaly Podzorov watched a store employee showcase a kitchen gadget that vacuum-seals food in plastic. The demo stuck with him.

Therapy protects liver from drug damage

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:38:54 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — Blocking communication between cells may be an effective way to protect the liver from toxic drugs like acetaminophen, new research shows.

Drug-induced liver injury is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the US and is also the most frequent reason for abandoning drugs early in development or withdrawing them from the market. Liver toxicity limits the development of many therapeutic compounds and presents major challenges to both clinical medicine and to the pharmaceutical industry.

El Gordo: Big, hot galaxy cluster found

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:36:10 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — Astrophysicists have discovered the largest galaxy cluster ever seen in the distant universe, located more than 7 billion light years from Earth.

Officially known as ACT-CL J0102-4915, the galaxy cluster has been nicknamed “El Gordo” (the big one or the fat one in Spanish) by the researchers who discovered it.

Genuflecting plant discovered in Brazil

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:09:27 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — A newly discovered Brazilian plant bends down after its fruits are formed and plants its own seeds in the ground.

The phenomenon, called geocarpy, allows Spigelia genuflex to ensure its seeds end up as close to the mother plant as possible, facilitating its propagation the following season. Peanuts are another example of geocarpy—a rare adaptation to growing in harsh or ephemeral environments.

Why influenza B only infects humans

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:42:57 +0000

RUTGERS / U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Researchers say they now know why influenza B is limited to humans, a discovery that could lead to new drugs to fight seasonal flu epidemics.

The findings also help explain why influenza B cannot be as virulent as A strains that incorporate new genes from influenza viruses that infect other species. The devastating flu pandemic of 1918, the pandemics of 1968 and 1977, and the avian influenza that emerged in the middle of the last decade were caused by influenza A viruses.

Supercomputing in the cloud (from an iPad)

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:49:55 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — A team of experts created a massive virtual supercomputer cloud capable of easily solving the toughest computing tasks. And they can operate it from an iPad.

“We demonstrated how to build ‘federated clouds,’” says Manish Parashar, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rutgers. The effort involved mixing and matching multiple computing resources, integrating them into a virtual ‘cloud’ that operated as a single large computer, and disbanding resources when they were no longer needed.

New HIV drug’s secret is flexibility

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:42:15 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — A new HIV drug’s effectiveness comes from its ability to adapt to the constantly mutating virus, changes that can prevent existing AIDS drugs from working.

The drug, called Edurant, is the first in three years to be approved by the Federal Drug Administration, a decade after it was first developed in 2001.

How a supernova earns its stripes

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:27:51 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — A cosmic event can speed particles to energies a hundred times higher than those on Earth. How it’s possible may be explained by a pattern of X-ray stripes in the remains of an exploded star.

An extended observation of the Tycho supernova remnant using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory clarifies how some of the extremely energetic particles bombarding the Earth called cosmic rays are produced.

Versatile alloy delivers extra bounce

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:37:11 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — A class of high-strength metal alloys could be a hundred times more responsive than existing materials, making springs, sensors, and switches smaller and more responsive.

The pliant alloys could be used in blood vessel stents, sensitive microphones, powerful loudspeakers, and components that boost the performance of medical imaging equipment, security systems, and clean-burning gasoline and diesel engines.

Galaxy clusters emerge from shadows

Carl Blesch-Rutgers — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:33:04 +0000

RUTGERS (US) — Astrophysicists have discovered 10 new massive galaxy clusters from a large, uniform survey of the southern sky.

The survey was conducted using a breakthrough technique that detects “shadows” of galaxy clusters on the cosmic microwave background radiation, a relic of the “big bang” that gave birth to the universe.