Technologies & Strategies That Enable R&D
Researchers use graphene quantum dots to detect humidity, pressure
May 8, 2013 3:04 pm | News | CommentsThe latest research from a Kansas State University chemical engineer may help improve humidity and pressure sensors, particularly those used in outer space. A research team is using graphene quantum dots to improve sensing devices in a two-fold project. The first part involves producing the graphene quantum dots. The second part of the project involves incorporating these quantum dots into electron-tunneling based sensing devices.
One order of steel; hold the greenhouse gases
May 8, 2013 2:52 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsAnyone who has seen pictures of the giant, red-hot cauldrons in which steel is made—fed by vast amounts of carbon, and belching flame and smoke—would not be surprised to learn that steelmaking is one of the world’s leading industrial sources of greenhouse gases. But remarkably, a new process developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers could change all that.
Engineers fine-tune the sensitivity of nano-chemical sensor
May 8, 2013 1:42 pm | News | CommentsResearchers in Illinois have discovered a technique for controlling the sensitivity of graphene chemical sensors. The sensors, made of an insulating base coated with a graphene sheet are already so sensitive that they can detect an individual molecule of gas. But manipulating the chemical properties of the insulating layer, without altering the graphene layer, may yet improve their ability to detect gases.
Data Acquisition Starter Kit
May 8, 2013 1:36 pm | Product Releases | CommentsDATAQ Instruments has released its new DI-145 USB data acquisition instrument, the latest in a long line of low-cost starter kits. A fraction of the cost of similarly equipped products, the DI-145 includes four ±10 V analog channels and two dedicated digital inputs.
Handheld Raman Spectrometer
May 8, 2013 1:27 pm | Product Releases | CommentsOcean Optics has released the IDRaman mini handheld Raman spectrometer, a small, powerful instrument with exceptional performance for sample authentication and counterfeit detection, identification, and verification.
Robotic instruments provide real-time data on Maine red tide
May 8, 2013 12:36 pm | News | CommentsA robotic sensor that won an R&D 100 Award in 2009 has been put to use by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Gulf of Maine coastal waters to monitor the way red tides behave. These harmful algal blooms, which generate a potentially fatal toxin, can be a challenge to track or predict. The Environmental Sample Processors have been remotely deployed and should simplify and enhance this effort.
Explaining energy shifts in optical tweezers
May 8, 2013 12:26 pm | News | CommentsPhysicists working with optical tweezers have conducted work to provide an all-in-one guide to help calculate the effect the use of these tools has on the energy levels of atoms under study. This effect can change the frequency at which atoms emit or absorb light and microwave radiation and skew results; the new findings should help physicists foresee effects on future experiments.
Quantum optics demonstrated with microwaves
May 8, 2013 12:21 pm | News | CommentsPhysicists in Switzerland have demonstrated one of the quintessential effects of quantum optics—known as the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect—with microwaves, which have a frequency that 100,000 times lower than that of visible light. The experiment takes quantum optics into a new frequency regime and could eventually lead to new technological applications.
An electronic nose can tell pears and apples apart
May 8, 2013 12:13 pm | News | CommentsSwedish and Spanish engineers have created a system of sensors that detects fruit odors more effectively than the human sense of smell. For now, the device, which has 32 sensors and can process scent data in real time, can distinguish between the odorous compounds emitted by pears and apples, but the system can be tailored to other applications.
“Marathon” mice and”'couch potato” mice reveal key to muscle fitness
May 8, 2013 12:09 pm | News | CommentsResearchers have identified MicroRNAs as the missing link between the two defining features of muscle fitness: fuel-burning and fiber-type switching. The team used two complementary mouse models—the "marathon mouse" and the "couch potato mouse"—to make the finding, which could provide a potential new target for interventions that boost fitness in people with chronic illness or injury.
Electronics comes to paper
May 8, 2013 9:43 am | News | CommentsPaper, a light and foldable raw material, could be a cost-efficient and simple basis for electronic devices if a practical solution for depositing conductive structures could be found. Researchers in Germany say they have done this by creating targeted structures by printing and heating a catalyst on a sheet of paper. The solution was created with a conventional inkjet printer.
Bioengineers simplify fluid flows by removing complex math
May 8, 2013 8:42 am | News | CommentsA research team led by UCLA bioengineers has developed a way to program and control the shape of fluids flowing through pipes or conduits without the need to solve complex and time-consuming fluid-motion equations. This strategy could allow researchers to tap the vast, unrealized potential of fluid-flow applications.
Bacteria adapt, evade nanosilver's sting
May 8, 2013 8:22 am | News | CommentsResearchers have cautioned that more work is needed to understand how microorganisms respond to the disinfecting properties of silver nanoparticles, increasingly used in consumer goods and for medical and environmental applications. Although nanosilver has effective antimicrobial properties against certain pathogens, overexposure to silver nanoparticles can cause other potentially harmful organisms to rapidly adapt and flourish.
Research makes advance in nanotech gene sequencing technique
May 8, 2013 8:09 am | News | CommentsThe allure of personalized medicine has made new, more efficient ways of sequencing genes a top research priority. One promising technique involves reading DNA bases using changes in electrical current as they are threaded through a nanoscopic hole. Now, a team led by University of Pennsylvania physicists has used solid-state nanopores to differentiate single-stranded DNA molecules containing sequences of a single repeating base.
New technique to improve quality control of lithium-ion batteries
May 8, 2013 7:56 am | News | CommentsResearchers have created a new tool to detect flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured, a step toward reducing defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that affect battery life and reliability. The Purdue researchers have developed a system that uses a flashbulb-like heat source and a thermal camera to read how heat travels through the electrodes.
