Dutch researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht and the Hubrecht Institute have succeeded in growing large numbers of stem cells from adult human hearts into new heart muscle cells. The stem cells are derived from material left over from open-heart operations. Until now, it was necessary to use embryonic stem cells to...

North Carolina State University geneticists have shown that environmental factors play a large role in whether certain genes are turned on or off. By studying gene expression of white blood cells in 46 Moroccan Amazighs, including desert nomads, mountain agrarians and coastal urban dwellers, the NC State researchers and...

For HIV/AIDS patients, a skipped pill could mean the difference between health and hazard for the entire population. A breath monitoring device developed by scientists at the University of Florida and Xhale Inc. could help prevent the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV, by monitoring medication adherence in...

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Army Dugway (Utah) Proving Ground have developed reliable methods, based on DNA analysis, to assess the concentration and viability of anthrax spores after prolonged storage. Because traditional methods to extract DNA from Bacillus...

Dye-sensitized solar cells are more flexible, easier to manufacture, and cheaper than existing solar technologies. Current lab prototypes are about half as efficient as the silicon-based cells used in rooftop panels and calculators. By using a popcorn-ball design - tiny kernels clumped into much larger porous spheres - researchers at...

Stanford University researchers, led by electrical engineering Professor Abbas El Gamal, are developing a camera built around a multi-aperture image sensor whose pixels measure 0.7 microns, several times smaller than pixels in standard digital cameras. The pixels are arranged in arrays of 256 pixels each, with a tiny lens atop each...

The traditional method to detect a hurricane's strength has been to fly airplanes through the most intense winds into the eye of the storm, carrying out wind-speed measurements as they go. But that approach requires specialized planes priced at $100 million each, with a single flight costing $50,000. Nicholas Makris, associate...

With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation, Virginia Tech researchers are working to create the prototype of a national internet-based geospatial database of underground water pipes. The objective of the water infrastructure research is to improve the decision-making process as it...

Research by two Queen's University scientists, Stan Brown and Alexei Neverov, has resulted in a new method for rapidly and safely destroying toxic agents such as chemical weapons and pesticides. Testing by an independent European defense corporation has shown the researchers' method to be over 99 percent effective when used on...

Although global warming has become a hotbed issue in recent years, the problem has been under investigation for at least 20 to 30 years, according to Dr. Steve Hipskind, Chief of NASA's Earth Science Division, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. Hipskind's group has focused on atmospheric and biospheric science research,...

Engineers at Purdue, Northwestern University, and the University of Southern California have created an active-matrix display using a new class of thin, transparent transistors and circuits. The transistors incorporate nanowires, tiny cylindrical structures assembled on glass or films of flexible plastic that are as thin as...

COMSOL Multiphysics Ten Years of Unlimited Simulation Capabilities! In 1998 COMSOL Multiphysics® made its debut as the first commercial environment to enable scientists, engineers, and researchers to solve any system of coupled physics phenomena in the same simulation. Ever since, users have leveraged the insights of...

Electronic commands passed from machine to machine over data networks increasingly drive today's precisely timed and sequenced manufacturing production lines. However, timing irregularities in the signals from even one machine can result in havoc for manufacturing processes on the plant floor. The timing glitches, called cyclic...

Scientists at U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are working to chemically manipulate algae for production of the next generation of renewable fuels - hydrogen gas. Some varieties of algae contain an enzyme called hydrogenase that can create small amounts of hydrogen gas. Many believe this is used by nature as...

Mercury within dental fillings is not by itself harmful, but when exposed to sulfate- reducing bacteria, the element undergoes a chemical change that turns it into a potent, ingestible neurotoxin. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at Urbana-Champaign have found that mercury particles entering drain...

Iowa State University researchers are integrating thermo-chemical and catalytic technologies to efficiently produce ethanol from plant biomass, overcoming problems with previous conversion techniques. The process would use high-temperature, fast pyrolysis to convert plant biomass into a bio-oil, which in turn would be...

"Generic Spacecraft" is a library of software developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that provides for simulation of a generic spacecraft that can orbit the Earth and land on the Moon (and, eventually, on Mars). The generic-spacecraft simulation serves as a test bed for modeling spacecraft dynamics, propulsion, control...

Genomics analysis software developed by computer scientists at Stanford can go back 20 generations and identify what continent or broad global region an individual's ancestors were from. The HAPAA software compares an individual to all those in the International HapMap database – a genetic record of 270 individuals of Western...

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have estimated that one in six women are at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease in their lifetime, while the risk for men is one in ten. According to the researchers, the greater lifetime expectancy for women translates into a greater lifetime risk of several...

Scientists at the University of California at San Diego have developed a tiny, inexpensive sensor chip able to detect trace amounts of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical used in the most common form of homemade explosives. The scientists believe the sensor could have widespread applications in improving industrial workers’...

A method of topographical mapping of a local solid surface within the range of motion of a robot arm is based on detection of contact between the surface and the end effector (the fixture or tool at the tip of the robot arm). The method was conceived to enable mapping of local...

Simulation Tool for ASCTA Microsensor Network Architecture (STAMiNA) ["ASCTA" denotes the Advanced Sensors Collaborative Technology Alliance.] is a computer program for evaluating conceptual sensor networks deployed over terrain to provide military situational awareness. This or a similar program is...

It has been proposed to place laser or radio transponders at suitably chosen locations on the Moon to increase the accuracy achievable using the Global Positioning System (GPS) or other satellite-based positioning system. The accuracy of GPS position measurements depends on the accuracy of...