Cornell University graduate student George Lewis is trying to shrink ultrasound devices to make them practical for any hospital or medical research lab. Lewis has developed a palm-sized, battery-powered ultrasound device powerful enough to stabilize a gunshot wound or deliver drugs to brain cancer patients. Current ultrasound devices can weigh 30 pounds and cost $20,000.

Lewis miniaturized the ultrasound device by increasing its efficiency. Traditional devices apply 500-volt signals across a transducer to convert the voltage to sound waves. However, half the energy is lost in the process. In the laboratory, Lewis has devised a way to transfer 95 percent of the source energy to the transducer.

Ultrasound is commonly used as a nondestructive imaging technique in medical settings. Doctors believe the ultrasound technology Lewis is developing could lead to such innovations as cell phone-size devices that military medics could carry to cauterize bleeding wounds, or dental machines that enable the body to instantly absorb locally injected anesthetic.

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A Princeton-led team of researchers has discovered a new mechanism to make common electronic materials emit laser beams. The finding could lead to lasers that operate more efficiently and at higher temperatures than existing devices, and lead to applications in environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics.

The laser in the Princeton study is called a quantum cascade laser. The device, about one-tenth as thick as a human hair and 3mm long, comprises hundreds of layers of different semiconductor materials. In this laser, electrons ‘cascade’ down through the layers as they lose energy and give off synchronized photons. Unlike other lasers, quantum cascade lasers operate in the mid- and far-infrared range, and can be used to detect even minute traces of water vapor, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and other gases that absorb infrared light.

“This discovery provides a new insight into the physics of lasers,” said Claire Gmachl, an electrical engineer and director of the Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE) center, who led the study. Gmachl’s group discovered that a quantum cascade laser they had built generated a second beam with very unusual properties, including the need for less electrical power than the conventional beam.

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A carbon nanotube-coated smart yarn that conducts electricity could be woven into soft fabrics that detect blood and monitor health, engineers at the University of Michigan have demonstrated. Currently, smart textiles are made primarily of metallic or optical fibers, which are fragile and uncomfortable; metal fibers also corrode. The new material is more sensitive and selective, as well as more simple and durable than other electronic textiles. Clothing that can detect blood could be useful in high-risk professions.

To make these e-textiles, the researchers dipped 1.5-millimeter thick cotton yarn into a solution of carbon nanotubes in water, and then into a solution of a special sticky polymer in ethanol. After being dipped just a few times into both solutions and dried, the yarn was able to conduct enough power from a battery to illuminate a light-emitting diode device. The yarn turned black, due to the carbon, but it remained pliable and soft. The researchers added the antibody anti-albumin to the carbon nanotube solution since the antibody reacts with albumin, a protein found in blood.

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#5: Researchers at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany are working on a thermoelectric generator that converts the heat from car exhaust fumes into electricity. The thermoelectric module feeds the energy into the car’s electronic systems, reducing fuel consumption and carbon dioxide from vehicles. Click here.

#4: A silicon surface treated with a new reflective coating developed by researchers at Rensselaer absorbs 96.21 percent of sunlight. The nanoengineered coating also allows those panels to absorb the entire spectrum of sunlight from any angle, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky. Click here.

#3: Ohio State University researchers invented a new material that will make cars even more efficient by converting heat wasted through engine exhaust into electricity. The material, thallium-doped lead telluride, is most effective between 450 and 950 degrees F. Click here.

#2:NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found an answer to a long-standing puzzle by resolving giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. The amount of gas contained in a typical thread is around one million times the mass of our own Sun. Click here.

And the Number 1 story of 2008: University of Maryland researchers created a process to convert large volumes of plant products, from leftover brewer’s mash to paper trash, into ethanol and other biofuel alternatives to gasoline. Scientists estimate the technology could potentially produce 75 billion gallons of carbon-neutral ethanol annually. Click here.

Each month, the editors of NASA Tech Briefs choose a Product of the Month - a new product with exceptional technical merit and practical value for the engineering community. Now is your chance to vote for the one product among those 12 Products of the Month that you feel was the most significant new product in 2008. The product receiving the most votes will be named NASA Tech Briefs’ Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. To cast your vote, visit www.techbriefs.com/poy and fill out your ballot by January 23, 2009.