A company seeks methods of joining identical elastic materials. The current method is to use adhesives to bond the elastic components physically, but adhesives lack the strength of a chemical bond or weld. A method of joining or bonding natural or synthetic rubber in a way that can withstand a 25-...

With economic survival foremost in the thoughts of most Americans nowadays, survivability in outer space is the last thing on our minds. But for six scientists in Moscow, all the problems here on earth won’t matter for the next 105 days. Today, the first stage toward realization of the Russian-led Mars-500...

The economy and the Internet have combined to hit newspapers hard. Between fewer advertisers and the proliferation of online news sites, the traditional printed newspaper is suffering a reduction in both revenue and subscribers. But that could change with the help of a Bala Cynwyd, PA-based company. The answer, it says, is...

The next time you gaze up into the heavens and imagine the International Space Station orbiting high above the Earth, think of Stephen Colbert. Seriously. Fans of “The Colbert Report” star made “Colbert” the number-one choice to become the name of the newest wing of the International Space Station. In a NASA...

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging - which takes place today, March 24th, 2009 - to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born in 1815, the only child of Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella. Now known simply as Ada Lovelace, she wrote a description of Charles...

Last week, President Barack Obama announced the availability of $2.4 billion to provide much-needed funding to produce next-generation hybrid-electric vehicles and the advanced battery components used in them. Under the measure, the Department of Energy will offer $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. companies to produce...

I’m sure many engineers would agree that the worst part of the whole design process is prototyping a new printed circuit board. It’s like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle in the midst of a scavenger hunt. The problem with prototyping is that it’s more of an art than a science. Unfortunately engineers are, by their nature,...

Even after nine months soaking in the watery, warm environment of a womb, a newborn’s skin is smooth – unlike an adult’s in the bath. A natural, protective cream called Vernix caseosa (VC) covers the fetus and the newborn, aiding in the growth of skin. VC provides "waterproofing" in utero, allowing skin to grow in wet...

As someone who’s been thin most of his life, I’ve never felt the need to monitor my caloric consumption. But go to any fitness club or jogging trail and you’ll see lots of sweating bodies intently eyeing pedometers to see how many steps they’ve taken and how many calories they’re burning. Now, a group of...

These days, all you ever hear about are economic stimulus packages. Each day seems to bring a new one and to be honest with you, most leave me scratching my head, wondering what — if anything — we’re getting for our money. I understand the need to prop up our financial institutions and save homeowners from losing...

Dementia is a crippling disease that not only makes it difficult for the affected person to perform everyday tasks, but also poses myriad challenges for caretakers, whether they are family members or hired health care personnel. This is a situation I’m somewhat familiar with, as my 92 year-old grandmother has...

For many of us on Earth, the Internet is a vital part of our everyday lives. Rapid advances in developing high-bandwidth networks make it possible to communicate with family, friends, and business associates worldwide and rapidly search for and retrieve information, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But in outer...

As an editor, I spend most of my time providing our readers with information. Occasionally it’s interesting to find out what the readers think about things. Like the new products and technology we tell them about, for example. In every issue of Photonics Tech Briefs (PTB), we select one product from the...

An instrument that functions mainly as a particle-image velocimeter provides data on the sizes and velocities of flying opaque particles. The instrument is being developed as a means of characterizing fluxes of wind-borne dust particles in the Martian atmosphere. The instrument could also...

A computer program processes the digitized outputs of a set of downward-looking video cameras aboard an aircraft flying over the ocean. The purpose served by this software is to facilitate the detection of large drift nets that have been lost, abandoned, or jettisoned. The development of this...