Dytran Instruments’ 3234A series IEPE accelerometer is available in three versions with varying sensitivities and range. Model 3234A1 is rated 10mV/g, Model 3234A2 is 100mV/g, and Model 3234A3 is 500mV/g.

Thomas Products Div. (Sheboygan, WI) has introduced a brushless DC WOB-L(R) air compressor and vacuum pump for medical and other applications requiring a small-size and lightweight pump with variable output. The 250 Series pump measures 4.25 x 4.54 x 3.02 in. and weighs only 1.9 lbs.

Wearing an implantable pacemaker or cardiac defibrillator equipped with wireless technology can make life a lot simpler for heart patients. Wireless technology gives physicians the ability to perform remote device checks, freeing the patient from time-consuming and potentially costly office visits. However, according to a...

Nanotechnology has taken another significant step toward someday revolutionizing the computer industry. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently used Rensselaer’s Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, the world’s most powerful university-based supercomputer, to measure the...

Tests on the influence of a stress-related hormone in ground squirrels could have an impact on understanding how it influences human learning, according to Jill Mateo, a University of Chicago researcher. The squirrels learn more quickly if they have a modest amount of cortisol - a hormone produced in response to stress - than those...

The Marshall Space Flight Center is working on the use of controlled illumination by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to treat mucositis and to accelerate healing of wounds. The basic idea is to illuminate the affected area of a patient with light of an intensity, duration, and wavelength chosen to produce a therapeutic effect while...

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered how a genetic circuit in HIV controls whether the virus turns on or stays dormant, and have succeeded in forcing the virus towards dormancy. Further studies are under way on the feasibility of using this approach for anti-HIV...

Scientists from Penn State University and the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom have developed a process to grow a single-crystal semiconductor inside the tunnel of a hollow optical fiber. The device adds new electronic capabilities to optical fibers, whose performance often is degraded at the...

University of Maryland researchers have 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. Developed by University of Maryland professors Steve Hutcheson and Ron Weiner, the technique, called the Zymetis process, produces...

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a touch-based, or haptic, interface that could allow people to realistically feel textures and shapes of 3-D designs created on computers. The system involves a single lightweight moving part that floats on magnetic fields. Magnetic levitation eliminates the need for mechanical...

About 46 million people suffer from arthritis in the United States alone. The worst cases require painful surgeries to drill holes in and reinforce joints. Now, researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are studying an unusually pliant, yet strong, synthetic cartilage replacement in hopes...

A powerful plant toxin widely feared for its bioterrorism potential may one day be tamed using findings about how the toxin attacks cells. The findings may also help scientists combat food poisoning episodes. According to biotechnology researchers at Rutgers University, ricin, extracted from castor beans, tricks a cell into turning off...

Computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University hope to solve the growing problem of chip patent infringement through a cryptography scheme that assigns each chip a unique lock and key. Called EPIC for Ending Piracy of Integrated Circuits, the technique relies on established cryptography methods, adding...

Integrated microbatteries have been proposed to satisfy an anticipated need for long-life, low-rate primary batteries, having volumes less than 1 cubic millimeter, to power electronic circuitry in implantable medical devices. In one contemplated application, such a battery would be incorporated into a tubular hearing-aid device to be...

If there was any doubt that cell phones distract drivers, one needs to look no further than a study by Carnegie Mellon University scientists that concludes that drivers engaged in cell phone use commit some of the same driving errors that can occur under the influence of alcohol. The study examined 29 volunteers using a...

According to Edward Austin, Science and Mission Operation Project Manager for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), there are a lot of things that are obscured in the galaxy that we would want to see. We can use infrared technology, but a lot of the infrared spectrum is actually blocked by water vapor in...

Researchers at North Carolina State University have demonstrated that Janus particles - microscopic "two-faced" spheres whose halves are physically or chemically different - will move like little submarines when an alternating electrical field is applied to the liquid surrounding them. The micrometer-sized particles convert...