Brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their thoughts. Now, University of Florida researchers have devised a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement, but also to evolve with the brain as it...

While cataloging cultivatable microbes from the airborne biological diversity of the atmosphere of the Regenerative Enclosed life-support Module Simulator (REMS) system at Marshall Space Flight Center, two strains that belong to one novel bacterial species were isolated. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing...

An apparatus denoted a swab device has been developed as a convenient means of acquiring samples of contaminants from surfaces and suspending the samples in liquids. (Thereafter, the liquids can be dispensed, in controlled volumes, into scientific instruments for analysis of the contaminants.) The swab...

Special-purpose hand-held radio- transceiver units have been proposed as means of short-range radio powering and interrogation of surgically implanted microelectromechanical sensors and actuators. These units are based partly on the same principles as those of the units described in “Printed...

The use of a form of remote sensing to aid in the management of large turfgrass fields (e.g. golf courses) has been proposed. A turfgrass field of interest would be surveyed in sunlight by use of an airborne hyperspectral imaging system, then the raw observational data would be preprocessed...

A team led by Jun Ye, a physicist at JILA - a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder - demonstrated an optical technique for simultaneously identifying tiny amounts of a broad range of molecules in the breath, potentially enabling a fast, low-cost...

An improved apparatus has been invented for use in determining the osmotic second virial coefficient of macromolecules in solution. In a typical intended application, the macromolecules would be, more specifically, protein molecules, and the protein solution would be pumped through a...

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a method to detect and destroy proteins, including dangerous ones such as anthrax, using light. The process exposes the proteins to invisible, near-infrared light, rendering them harmless. The technique lends itself to creating new antibacterial and...

Abdominal obesity is a known independent risk factor for heart disease. Based on results of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer cohort study (Epic-Norfolk), researchers have found that using the waist-hip ratio rather than waist measurement alone is a better predictor of heart disease risk. The research was based on...

The world's most powerful medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine at the University of Illinois at Chicago has passed safety tests and will soon offer doctors a real-time view of biological processes in the human brain. The MRI, called the 9.4 Tesla (9.4T), will allow physicians to observe metabolic processes in real...

A method and apparatus for remote sensing of parasitic nematodes in plants, now undergoing development, is based on measurement of visible and infrared spectral reflectances of fields where the plants are growing. Initial development efforts have been concentrated on detecting reniform nematodes...

A group of collagenlike recombinant proteins containing high densities of biologically active sites has been invented. The method used to express these proteins is similar to a method of expressing recombinant procollagens and collagens described in U. S. Patent 5,593,859, “Synthesis of human procollagens and...

A process, and a benchtop-scale apparatus for implementing the process, have been developed to detect proteins associated with specific microbes in water. The process and apparatus may also be useful for detection of proteins in other, more complex liquids. There may be numerous potential applications, including...

Neuroscientists have advanced brain- machine interface (BMI) technology to the point where severely handicapped people who cannot contract even one leg or arm muscle can now independently compose and send e-mails and operate a TV in their homes. They are using only their thoughts to execute these actions. Cutting-edge...

A tiny sensor that can detect magnetic field changes as small as 70 Femtoteslas — equivalent to the brain waves of a person daydreaming — has been demonstrated at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The sensor could operate on a single AA battery and reduce the costs of non-invasive biomagnetic...