Tech

A man—or person—is known by the company he keeps. That old proverb takes on new meaning in the 21st century.

3D movies like "Toy Story" or "Transformers" are based on everyday objects that are able to move like humans. Such 3D characters are created by skilled experts in time-consuming manual work. Computer scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics have now developed two computer programs that can accomplish the same process in mere seconds and can easily be handled even by inexperienced users. The researchers present their unique software for the first time at F34 in Hall 26 at the Cebit from March 6 -10, 2012.

University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has numerous potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealants and self-healing plastics, a team of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers reported March 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have invented a superthin "nanoglue" that could be used in new-generation microchip fabrication.

"The material itself (say, semiconductor wafers) would break before the glue peels off," said Tingrui Pan, professor of biomedical engineering. He and his fellow researchers have filed a provisional patent.

Conventional glues form a thick layer between two surfaces. Pan's nanoglue, which conducts heat and can be printed, or applied, in patterns, forms a layer the thickness of only a few molecules.

A new kind of flexible, transparent pressure sensor, developed at the University of California, Davis, for use in medical applications, relies on a drop of liquid.

The droplet goes in a flexible sandwich of the substance polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS. The sensor acts as a variable electrical capacitor. When the sensor is pressed down, the sensing droplet is squeezed over conductive electrodes, increasing its capacitance.

"There's a huge need for flexible sensors in biosensing," said Professor Tingrui Pan, who led the research project.

Neuroimaging for stroke patients may be unnecessarily costly and redundant, contributing to rising costs nationwide for stroke care, according to University of Michigan research.

The research, published in the Annals of Neurology, found that 95 percent of stroke patients who received magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) also had a computed tomography (CT) scan.

As scientists continue the hunt for energy sources that are safer, cleaner alternatives to fossil fuel, an ever-increasing amount of valuable farmland is being used to produce bioethanol, a source of transportation fuel. And while land-bound sources are renewable, economists and ecologists fear that diverting crops to produce fuel will limit food resources and drive up costs.

The optimum design of bicycle parameters has been explored by many scholars and institutes since bicycles were first invented. Professor Xin-Jun Liu and his group at Tsinghua University established a new way to design bicycle parameters according to the dimensions of the rider's body. They introduced a new perspective of the rider–bicycle system by considering the complete system as a mechanism. The group then established a new method for the optimum design of bicycle parameters from a completely theoretical basis, which may result in a new field of optimum design of bicycle parameters.

Every day, thousands of cargo containers from around the world pass through our nation's sea ports carrying items we need, and possibly some that are not so welcome: drugs, explosives, chemical, biological, or radiological weapons – even human cargo.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A new power scheme for cardiac pacemakers turns to an unlikely source: vibrations from heartbeats themselves.

Scientists working as part of the Metrology for Energy Harvesting Project have developed a new model to deliver the maximum power output for piezoelectric energy harvesters.

Piezoelectric materials convert electrical energy into a strain (or vice-versa). The best known use of piezoelectricity is for medical ultrasound.

Anyone who goes to their doctor for a blood test generally has to wait a few days for the results. But this time of uncertainty can make patients anxious – especially in critical cases, such as a possible HIV infection. The fact that it takes so long for laboratories to analyze samples is in no small part due to all the cumbersome paperwork: Each sample must be accompanied by meticulous records, so lab technicians are obliged to write a lengthy report including the patient's details, the results of the analysis and the testing methods employed.

Philadelphia, PA -- Pass the peas please! How often do we hear our children say this? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey of adolescents, only 21% of our children eat the recommended 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day. So not very many children are asking their parents to "pass the peas," and parents are resorting to other methods to get their children to eat their vegetables.

Grave consequences can result from bad decisions made by people in leadership positions. Case in point: the 2009 Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster. British Petroleum (BP) executives had downplayed potential risks associated with their oil well, claiming that it was virtually impossible that a major accident would ever occur.

That same oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and causing a massive oil spill that's costing BP an estimated $100 billion.

At some point this year, after NASA's rover Curiosity has landed on Mars, a laser will fire a beam of infrared light at a rock or soil sample. This will "ablate" or vaporize a microgram-sized piece of the target, generating a plume of ionized gas or plasma, which will be analyzed by spectrometers to identify the target's constituent elements. Future Mars rovers, however, will be able to do even more. Researchers with the U.S.