R & D Daily
Scientists moving 15-ton magnet from N.Y. to Chicago
June 17, 2013 6:20 pm | by Frank Eltman, Associated Press | News | Comments
Scientists on Long Island are preparing to move a 50-foot-wide electromagnet 3,200 miles over land and sea to its new home at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. The trip, starting at Brookhaven National Laboratory, is expected to take more than a month.
Rapid prototyping conference breaks past attendance records
June 19, 2013 12:11 am | News | Comments
More than 2,500 attendees turned out for the 2013 RAPID Conference and Exposition,...
Underwater springs show how coral reefs respond to ocean acidification
June 17, 2013 7:06 pm | News | Comments
A recent study is the first to show that corals are not able to fully acclimate to low...
New type of nanosheet offers fast pollutant degradation
June 17, 2013 6:56 pm | News | Comments
Waste from textile and paint industries often contains organic dyes such as methylene...
Stop hyperventilating, say energy-efficiency researchers
June 18, 2013 2:10 pm | News | CommentsA single advanced building control now in development could slash 18%—tens of thousands of dollars—off the overall annual energy bill of the average large office building, with no loss of comfort, according to a report by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Printing tiny batteries
June 18, 2013 1:52 pm | News | Comments3-D printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on laboratory benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.
World’s most powerful microscope ready for research
June 18, 2013 1:26 pm | News | CommentsThe world’s most powerful microscope, which resides in a specially constructed room at the Univ. of Victoria, has now been fully assembled and tested, and has a lineup of scientists and businesses eager to use it. The seven-ton, 4.5-m-tall scanning transmission electron holography microscope, the first such microscope of its type, came to the university in parts last year.
Researchers design variant of main painkiller receptor
June 18, 2013 1:04 pm | News | CommentsOpioids are still the most effective class of painkillers, but they come with unwanted side effects. Designing new drugs of this type involves testing them on their corresponding receptors, but access to meaningful quantities of these receptors that work in experimental conditions has been a limiting factor. Now, researchers have developed a variant of the mu opioid receptor that has several advantages when it comes to experimentation.
A new high-energy record for LCLS
June 18, 2013 11:25 am | News | CommentsJohn Hill, a Brookhaven National Laboratory scientist, and his team watched with eager anticipation as controllers ramped up the power systems driving SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's x-ray laser in an attempt to achieve the record high energies needed to make his experiment a runaway success. To reach the high x-ray energies they were aiming for, all of the 80 klystrons associated with LCLS would need to operate at near-peak levels.
New method helps distinguish between neighboring quantum bits
June 18, 2013 10:42 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Univ. of New South Wales have proposed a new way to distinguish between quantum bits that are placed only a few nanometers apart in a silicon chip, taking them a step closer to the construction of a large-scale quantum computer.
Global cooling as significant as global warming
June 18, 2013 10:30 am | News | CommentsA “cold snap” 116 million years ago triggered a similar marine ecosystem crisis to the ones witnessed in the past as a result of global warming, according to recently published research. The international study confirms the link between global cooling and a crash in the marine ecosystem during the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse period.
China’s Tiahne-2 is the new world champ of supercomputing
June 18, 2013 9:27 am | News | CommentsTiahne-2, or Milky Way-2, a supercomputer developed by China's National Univ. of Defense Technology, is the new No. 1 ranked machine on the industry-standard Top500 list of the world's most powerful high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
Database helps building owners, investors evaluate energy-efficient buildings
June 18, 2013 7:32 am | News | CommentsA new database of building features and energy use data helps building managers, owners, real estate investors and lenders evaluate the financial results of energy efficiency investment projects and identify high- and low-performing buildings.
Surprising turns in magnetic thin films could lead to better data storage
June 18, 2013 7:19 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA magnetic phenomenon newly discovered by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers could lead to much faster, denser and more energy-efficient chips for memory and computation. The findings could reduce the energy needed to store and retrieve one bit of data by a factor of 10,000.
Boeing launches plans for longer 787 jet
June 18, 2013 5:41 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsBoeing Corp. is starting work on a stretched-out version of its popular 787 Dreamliner jet, in the hope of reigniting interest in the aircraft after battery-related problems. Boeing announced the formal launch of its 787-10 program at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday and says it already has commitments from several customers, including United Airlines.
Court: 'Pay-to-delay' generic drugs can be illegal
June 17, 2013 4:31 pm | by JESSE J. HOLLAND - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsDeals between pharmaceutical corporations and their generic drug competitors, which government officials say keep cheaper forms of medicine off the market, can sometimes be illegal and therefore can be challenged in court, the Supreme Court said Monday. The justices voted 5-3 to allow the government to inspect and challenge what it calls "pay-for-delay" deals or "reverse payment settlements."
A way to detect new viruses
June 17, 2013 2:14 pm | News | CommentsIn recently published research, St. Louis Univ. researchers describe a technology that can detect new, previously unknown viruses. The technique offers the potential to screen patients for viruses even when doctors have not identified a particular virus as the likely source of an infection. In the new approach, scientists use blood serum as a biological source to categorize and discover viruses.
Is artificial sweetener a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
June 17, 2013 11:42 am | News | CommentsMannitol, a sugar alcohol produced by fungi, bacteria and algae, is a common component of sugar-free gum and candy. The sweetener is also used in the medical field. Now a team from Tel Aviv Univ. have found that mannitol also prevents clumps of a protein from forming in the brain—a process that is characteristic of Parkinson's disease.
Printing artificial bone
June 17, 2013 10:23 am | by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering | News | CommentsResearchers working to design new materials that are durable, lightweight and environmentally sustainable are increasingly looking to bone for inspiration. While researchers have come up with hierarchical structures in the design of new materials, going from a computer model to the production of physical artifacts has been a persistent challenge. Now researchers have developed an approach that allows them to turn their designs into reality.
Lilly to take over development of diabetes drug
June 17, 2013 9:16 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsEli Lilly and Co. will pay Canadian drug developer Transition Therapeutics Inc. $7 million and take over the development of a potential diabetes treatment heading into mid-stage clinical testing. Transition said Monday it also could receive up to $240 million in additional payments, plus royalties if the treatment is eventually approved and sold.
Noble gases hitch a ride on hydrous minerals
June 17, 2013 7:43 am | by Kevin Stacey, Brown Univ. | News | CommentsThe noble gases get their collective moniker from their tendency toward snobbishness. The six elements in the family, which includes helium and neon, don’t normally bond with other elements and they don’t dissolve into minerals the way other gases do. But now, geochemists from Brown Univ. have found a mineral structure with which the nobles deign to fraternize.
New synthesis could make biofuel more appealing for mass production
June 17, 2013 7:32 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineers have devised a cheaper way to synthesize a key biofuel component, which could make its industrial production much more cost effective. The compound, known as gamma-valerolactone (GVL), is attractive because of its versatility. It has more energy than ethanol and could be used on its own or as an additive to other fuels.
Modified wheat appears to be isolated
June 14, 2013 5:50 pm | by MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Agriculture Dept. says it has no indications that genetically modified wheat found in the western state of Oregon last month has spread beyond the field in which it was found. No genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming, and the department is investigating how the engineered wheat got in the field.
Microsoft brings Office to iPhone, but not tablets
June 14, 2013 2:24 pm | by ANICK JESDANUN - AP Technology Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsEven as a pared-down version of Microsoft's Office software package arrived on the iPhone, the company is holding out on extending that to the iPad and Android devices as it tries to boost sales of tablet computers running its own Windows system.
Testing method promising for spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis
June 14, 2013 7:49 am | News | CommentsA medical test previously developed to measure a toxin found in tobacco smokers has been adapted to measure the same toxin in people suffering from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, offering a potential tool to reduce symptoms. The toxin, called acrolein, is produced in the body after nerve cells are injured, triggering a cascade of biochemical events thought to worsen the injury's severity.
Can you feel me now?
June 14, 2013 7:31 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsIn the near future, a buzz in your belt or a pulse from your jacket may give you instructions on how to navigate your surroundings. Think of it as tactile Morse code: vibrations from a wearable, GPS-linked device that tell you to turn right or left, or stop, depending on the pattern of pulses you feel.
Unzipped nanotubes unlock potential for batteries
June 13, 2013 4:04 pm | News | CommentsResearchers at Rice Univ. have come up with a new way to boost the efficiency of the ubiquitous lithium-ion battery by employing ribbons of graphene that start as carbon nanotubes. Proof-of-concept anodes built with graphene nanoribbons and tin oxide showed an initial capacity better than the theoretical capacity of tin oxide alone.
Electronic nose nanosensor in development for food safety
June 13, 2013 3:47 pm | News | CommentsThe "electronic nose" sensor developed by a Univ. of California, Riverside engineering professor, and being commercialized by Innovation Economy Crowd (ieCrowd), will be further refined to detect deadly pathogens including toxic pesticides in the global food supply chain, according to a recently signed product development and distribution agreement.
Nanoparticle opens the door to clean-energy alternatives
June 13, 2013 1:57 pm | News | CommentsCheaper clean-energy technologies could be made possible thanks to a new discovery. A Penn State Univ. research team has found that an important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water is effectively triggered—or catalyzed—by a nanoparticle composed of nickel and phosphorus, two inexpensive elements that are abundant on Earth.
