Posts Tagged ‘electrical engineering’
Science & Technology - Dec 21, 2009 17:58 - 1 Comment
Fingerprinting pirates at the movies
U. ILLINOIS (US)—Most moviegoers catch the previews but miss the invisible “feature” playing on screen—an anti-piracy digital fingerprint that stamps the individual theater showing the motion picture. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 10, 2009 18:41 - 2 Comments
Can you see me now?
CORNELL (US)—New technology is allowing the deaf and hard of hearing to use cell phones the same way hearing people do—by talking. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Dec 10, 2009 14:59 - 2 Comments
Optics may speed breast cancer diagnosis
U. ILLINOIS (US)—Waiting for laboratory results is often one of the most stressful aspects of a breast cancer diagnosis. A new optical imaging system aims to ease that stress by giving doctors performing lumpectomies real-time information on breast cancer tissue margins while still in the operating room. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 10, 2009 13:56 - 8 Comments
Tiny transistor may become conductor king
CORNELL (US)—A newly developed and extremely efficient transistor may soon replace silicon as the semiconductor of choice for power applications. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 9, 2009 10:43 - 0 Comments
Nanotubes + ink + paper = instant battery
STANFORD (US)—Dip an ordinary piece of paper into ink infused with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires, and it turns into a battery or supercapacitor. Crumple the piece of paper, and it still works. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 30, 2009 11:46 - 2 Comments
Emotional fruit flies offer clues to ADHD
CALTECH (US)—Researchers have uncovered evidence of a primitive emotion-like behavior in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The findings may be relevant to the relationship between the neurotransmitter dopamine and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). (more…)
Health & Medicine - Nov 20, 2009 12:34 - 1 Comment
Infrared scanners scope out early cancer
U. FLORIDA (US)—Traditional endoscopes provide a peek inside patients’ bodies. Now, an engineering researcher is designing ones capable of “seeing” beneath the surface of tissues. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 18, 2009 12:55 - 2 Comments
Marveling over ‘molecular chicken wire’
VANDERBILT (US)—The hottest, thinnest, toughest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 16, 2009 17:14 - 0 Comments
Tiny light beam budges nanoscale object
CORNELL (US)—With a bit of leverage, researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 milliwatt of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nanometers. That’s enough to completely switch the optical properties of the structure from opaque to transparent, they report. (more…)
Science & Technology - Nov 12, 2009 14:57 - 0 Comments
Growing graphene without the mess
A conceptual illustration of an array of single atom-thick graphene transistors. Graphene is often hailed as potentially supplanting silicon in electronics, with its remarkable strength, despite its one atom-thick sheets, and its off-the-charts electrical properties. Researchers are experimenting with growing full-scale, four-inch graphene wafers. (Credit: Shivank Garg)
Society & Culture - Nov 3, 2009 0:01 - 0 Comments
Cell phones as tools for global development
U. WASHINGTON (US)—Computer scientists have used Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to turn a cell phone into a versatile data-collection device. (more…)
Health & Medicine - Oct 19, 2009 12:44 - 0 Comments
Nanotags spot cancer early in mice
STANFORD (US)—A new biosensor chip has detected cancer tumors in mice earlier than any detection technology currently in use. The nanosensor is up to 1,000 times more sensitive and can be used to detect markers of diseases other than cancer. (more…)
Science & Technology - Sep 15, 2009 1:00 - 7 Comments
Plug in to a low-voltage tree
Electrical engineers Babak Parviz and Brian Otis and undergraduate student Carlton Himes (right to left) demonstrate a circuit that runs entirely off tree power.
Health & Medicine - Aug 14, 2009 4:00 - 0 Comments
New way to size up placentas
“In this study, we showed that the equation predicted the actual placental weight with an accuracy of up to 89 percent,” says Harvey Kliman. “The method works best during the second and early third trimesters, just when routine ultrasound screening is done on many women in the U.S.”
Science & Technology - Jul 13, 2009 15:28 - 0 Comments
Running nanodevices on ‘repulsive’ light
Tang’s team show how interacting lightwaves can be used to control devices on a silicon chip. (Photo: Hong Tang/Yale University)
Society & Culture - Jul 7, 2009 14:55 - 0 Comments
Ask avatars what makes trends trendy
“There’s been a high correspondence between the real world and virtual worlds,” says Lada Adamic, a researcher at the University of Michigan. “We’re not saying this is exactly how people share in the real world, but we believe it does have some relevance.” (Credit: Second Life/Linden Lab)
Health & Medicine - Jun 23, 2009 16:23 - 0 Comments
Wall-sized images reveal human body in 3-D
UC Irvine professor Joerg Meyer has developed software that renders medical data in 3-D on HIPerWall, a tiled display of 50 computer screens. (Credit: Daniel A. Anderson/UC Irvine)
Health & Medicine - May 28, 2009 22:01 - 2 Comments
Better (assisted) living through smart cameras
Yale researchers have developed a surveillance system that definitively recognizes falls and automatically calls for help. “It’s simple, it’s inexpensive, and it preserves the privacy and independence of the person being monitored,” says Yale’s Eugenio Culurciello.
