Tech

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a device that allows people who are blind to monitor their guide dogs, in order to keep tabs on the health and well-being of their canine companions.

HOUSTON - (Nov. 16, 2015) - Though they're not quite ready for boarding a lá "Fantastic Voyage," nanoscale submarines created at Rice University are proving themselves seaworthy.

Each of the single-molecule, 244-atom submersibles built in the Rice lab of chemist James Tour has a motor powered by ultraviolet light. With each full revolution, the motor's tail-like propeller moves the sub forward 18 nanometers.

November 16, 2015 - Appropriate use of antibiotics is a critical step toward controlling the ongoing epidemic of health care-related Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), according to a special article in the November issue of Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice.

Trane Commercial Systems and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have coaxed 20 percent greater performance out of a baseline commercial rooftop air conditioning unit with the potential for even better efficiency by switching refrigerants.

Through a cooperative research and development agreement, ORNL and Trane conducted an exhaustive technologies survey to select energy-efficient and cost-effective components, said Bo Shen, who led the project for ORNL.

High-resolution imaging of materials produces complex, copious data. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a visual analytics system that could essentially "look over a scientist's shoulder," learning from human actions and improving its predictions of what the scientist thinks is interesting.

The approach combines computational data analytics with interactive data visualization--human intuition and knowledge. "Humans are very good at visual processing and intuition tasks that are hard to do with a computer," ORNL's Chad Steed said.

BOSTON - November 13, 2015 - A clinical trial among more than 300 patients has found that the drug ranibizumab (Lucentis) is highly effective in treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), a complication of diabetes that can severely damage eyesight. The results, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, demonstrate the first major therapy advance for the condition in nearly 40 years.

A clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that the drug ranibizumab (Lucentis) is highly effective in treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The trial, conducted by the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net) compared Lucentis with a type of laser therapy called panretinal or scatter photocoagulation, which has remained the gold standard for proliferative diabetic retinopathy since the mid-1970s. The findings demonstrate the first major therapy advance in nearly 40 years.

As smartphones become people's primary computers and their primary cameras, there is growing demand for mobile versions of image-processing applications.

Image processing, however, can be computationally intensive and could quickly drain a cellphone's battery. Some mobile applications try to solve this problem by sending image files to a central server, which processes the images and sends them back. But with large images, this introduces significant delays and could incur costs for increased data usage.

Lasers could heat materials to temperatures hotter than the centre of the Sun in only 20 quadrillionths of a second, according to new research.

Theoretical physicists from Imperial College London have devised an extremely rapid heating mechanism that they believe could heat certain materials to ten million degrees in much less than a million millionth of a second.

The method, proposed here for the first time, could be relevant to new avenues of research in thermonuclear fusion energy, where scientists are seeking to replicate the Sun's ability to produce clean energy.

Researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne have helped crack the code to ultra-secure telecommunications of the future in an international research project that could also expedite the advent of quantum computing.

A team co-led by RMIT MicroNano Research Facility Director Professor David Moss has added a new twist to create photon pairs that fit on a tiny computer chip.

The breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, heralds the next-generation of integrated quantum optical technology, being compatible with current technology and secure communications.

BOULDER, Colo. - Einstein was wrong about at least one thing: There are, in fact, "spooky actions at a distance," as now proven by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Researchers at the University of York have revealed computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) is likely to be ineffective in the treatment of depression.

Published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Professor Simon Gilbody from York's Department of Health Sciences and the Hull York Medical School led the REEACT trial. The study was funded by the National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Programme.

If you add quantum dots - nanocrystals 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair - to a smartphone battery it will charge in 30 seconds, but the effect only lasts for a few recharge cycles.

However, a group of researchers at Vanderbilt University report in the Nov. 11 issue of the journal ACS Nano that they have found a way to overcome this problem: Making the quantum dots out of iron pyrite, commonly known as fool's gold, can produce batteries that charge quickly and work for dozens of cycles.

Prairie gardens offer Midwestern suburban dwellers an alternative option to the traditional grass lawn. Their combination of native grasses, like tall and wispy bluestem and sideoats, and forbs, such as the colorful yellow and purple coneflowers, are a welcome addition to any lawn.

They also attract beneficial bees and other insects, as well as beautiful butterflies. The prairie plants are native to the Midwest and once established can require fewer resources, such as water, fertilizer, and time to maintain.

BOSTON --. New research led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) helps explain the role of an immunosuppressive pathway associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a condition that develops in genetically susceptible individuals when the body's immune system overreacts to intestinal tissue, luminal bacteria or both.

The findings, published online in the journal Nature Communications, offer novel insights into the expression of the ecto-enzyme CD39 on immune cells and further illuminate the role of purinergic signaling in IBD.