A monolithic silicon nitride ceramic is densified at temperatures lower than 2000 degrees Celsius, and heat-treated at temperatures greater than 2000 degrees Celsius. This monolithic silicon nitride has a highly acicular microstructure and average apparent aspect ratio greater than 1.8. It also offers excellent damage tolerance...

Researchers at MIT have demonstrated how ordinary spark-ignition car engines can, under certain driving conditions, move into a spark-free operating mode that is more fuel-efficient and cleaner. The new capability could be available in production models within a few years, improving fuel economy by several miles per gallon. Over time,...

Your unique invention could win you $20,000 or other great prizes. Enter your design idea in the 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs. Entries are being accepted in six categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security;...

Composite Absorptive Fiber Substantively Reduces Bulk This technology yields an absorbent, composite fiber for use as a cloth, medical dressing, or clothing. It combines a hydrophobic exterior and a hydrophilic interior for use as an absorbent to capture, or as a reservoir to release, liquids.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, is offering for license its Global Alert Resolution Network (GARNET), an enterprise software application capable of delivering emergency and time-sensitive alerts to affected individuals via a variety of communication channels. Alerts can be delivered within an organization to...

Specialty Lubrication in New Product Design Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 2:00 PM EST Lubricants are often the forgotten components in the design of moving elements. Last-minute redesign and changes can be avoided by considering lubricant performance needs during the design phase. High-performance equipment generates...

Your unique invention could win you $20,000 or other great prizes in the 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs. Innovative design ideas are being accepted in six categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security;...

This monthly review lets you "meet" the new advertisers appearing in NTB and its supplements. Here's a sneak peek at the products, services, and offers available from August's first-time advertisers. Light Machinery (Ottawa, ON, Canada) produces wafers, etalons, prisms, beam splitters, windows, and other flat optic products, as...

A manufacturer is looking for a detector array for the infrared region to detect two-dimensional radiation patterns. The sensor should have 1000 x 1000 pixels (or at least 512 x 512 pixels), which are individually addressable. The detector array is comparable to a high-speed CCD chip, but must have high sensitivity in the...

The qualities that we expect in our cell phones and PDAs -- anytime connection and low-cost, widely available devices -- soon may become common in health-care devices at home and in doctors' offices. The University of Florida (UF) and IBM have developed a new technology that creates a roadmap for widespread commercial...

If you have a unique design idea or invention, you could win $20,000 in the 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs. The contest is open for entries in these categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security; Transportation;...

Molly Brown of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD has created a new method to anticipate food shortages brought on by drought. The model uses data from satellite remote sensing of crop growth and food prices, and could improve the ability for government and humanitarian aid officials to plan and respond to drought-induced...

An eye-movement- tracking system displays a wide-view-angle image while simultaneously displaying a high-resolution image in the vicinity of the viewpoint of the viewer's eye. It is compact enough to be easily mounted on the viewer's head. The wearer can be presented with a highly realistic image even without using monitors with...

University of Virginia Engineering School researchers have developed an advanced imaging algorithm that provides clearer ultrasound images. The teamís method of signal processing can be used with a range of imaging and sensing systems such as ultrasound, radar, sonar, telecommunications, and some optical imaging...

Your unique invention could win you $20,000 or other great prizes. Enter your design idea in the 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs. Entries are being accepted in six categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security;...

Nanoscale, Robotic Actuators This technology achieves high work output per unit volume in micro-robotic actuators; in particular, TiNi actuators for powering nano-robotic movement and manipulation of structures at near molecular scale.

Researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have uncovered a molecular mechanism that governs the formation of fears stemming from traumatic events. The work could lead to the first drug to treat the millions of adults who suffer from debilitating fears, including hundreds of soldiers with post-traumatic...

The 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs, is now open for entries in these categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security; Transportation; and Sustainable Technologies.

Two University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professors, Erica and Rich Halverson, are studying fantasy sports leagues to understand how expert and novice players approach the game, and what it can teach us about how we learn. Fantasy baseball is the model for a game that Erica calls "competitive fandom," a growing area of...

Technologies for highly effective personal care products are sought. The products should address niche applications, where the efficacy can be clearly demonstrated. Product areas of interest include skin care, foot care, ear care, sleep disorder remedies, and hair care. Products should ideally be topically applied and should...

Bulky, gas-pressurized spacesuits currently give astronauts a lot of protection, but they weigh about 300 pounds, exerting both mass and pressure that limit mobility. Dava Newman, MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics, has designed a sleek, form-fitting suit that will allow superior mobility. The spandex and nylon...

The 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs, is now open for entries in these categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security; Transportation; and Sustainable Technologies.

Hewlett-Packard's HP Labs has developed a color-matching technology that could change the way people shop for products that require color coordination, such as clothing and cosmetics. Consumers use their mobile phones to take pictures of themselves or objects, and then send the pictures to HP servers. Within seconds, the consumer...

Powerful atomizers are made using high-output rotary discs with output of 20,000 to 24,000 droplets per second, without altering the droplet size and disc parameters. Assembly of several discs in a row on a rotary shaft produces powerful aviation- and ground-based atomizers. The atomizers can be used in agriculture as an orchard...

Researchers at Temple University's School of Medicine have developed a new biosensor that "sniffs out" explosives and could one day be used to detect landmines and deadly agents such as sarin gas. The sensor is made of a genetically engineered yeast strain with mammalian (rat) olfactory-signaling machinery that was genetically...

The 2007 Create the Future Design Contest, presented by SolidWorks Corp. and NASA Tech Briefs, is open for entries in these categories: Machinery, Equipment, and Component Technology; Consumer Products; Medical; Safety and Security; Transportation; and Sustainable Technologies.

New Method of Agile Reduction of Radar Cross-Section Using Electromagnetic Channelization This technology will become a more versatile and cost-effective supplement to the existing stealth technology currently deployed. It might turn into the most effective radar defensive technology available for all branches of the...

At the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego, Caltech computational seismologist Jeroen Tromp can give the public movies that tell the story about earthquakes in a language that's easy to understand, revealing waves of ground motion spreading out from the earthquake. He can deliver...

Specialty Lubrication in New Product Design Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 2:00 PM EST Lubricants are often the forgotten components in the design of moving elements. Last-minute redesign and changes can be avoided by considering lubricant performance needs during the design phase. High-performance equipment generates...