Blog

Fluorescent Nanodiamonds Glowing nanodiamonds can be tracked as they move through the body and can reveal the inner workings of cells. Firing a high-energy electron beam through diamonds 100 nanometers wide produces permanent defects in their crystal structure that makes them glow under laser light. These diamonds can...

Purdue University researchers project a 200 to 500 percent increase in the number of dangerously hot days in the Mediterranean by the end of the 21st century if the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions continues. The study found that France would be subjected to the largest increase of high-temperature extremes. The study also...

Engineers at Purdue University are developing robots able to make "educated guesses" about what lies ahead as they traverse unfamiliar surroundings, reducing the amount of time it takes to successfully navigate those environments. The method uses a new software algorithm that lets a robot create partial maps as it travels through an...

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed the next generation of self-healing material that mimics human skin by healing itself time after time. The new materials rely on embedded, three-dimensional microvascular networks that emulate biological circulatory systems. Said Nancy Sottos, Willett...

A technology is sought to indicate that a product packed into a rigid metal container has not been tampered with and/or degraded over time. The solution must incorporate a method of communicating this information to the packager, retailer, or consumer. The container may be subjected to a thermal treatment for some canned...

A University of Colorado at Boulder invention optioned to AgriHouse, a Colorado-based company, may soon enable corn and potato crops to "talk" to farmers about when they need water and how much they need. A tiny sensor clips on to plant leaves and charts their thickness, a key measure of water deficiency and accompanying...

On June 27, 2007, NASA Tech Briefs will present a FREE webinar on "Virtual Testing at the CAD Stage with Simulation Software," sponsored by Noran Engineering. In order to successfully compete in the global marketplace, your product design process needs to be the best in its class, delivering innovative products of the...

Dassault Systemes (Paris, France) offers Version 5 Release 17 of its DELMIA Robotics software that defines and simulates flexible manufacturing devices such as multi-wrist robotic arms. The software offers tooling definition, workcell layout, robot programming, and workcell simulation capabilities. Engineers can plan, simulate,...

The recently released results of the Face Recognition Grand Challenge (FRGC), sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), indicate that the best face-recognition algorithms perform more accurately than most humans. The FRGC was open to researchers and developers in industry, academia, and research...

What are the patterns of human behavior and movement in crowded cities that turn agitated crowds into anti-social mobs? This question, as well as the ability to configure civic areas as defensible spaces, are addressed by an immersive 3D computational model under development by Paul M. Torrens, a geographer at Arizona State...

You've got one day left to sign up for NASA Tech Briefs' FREE webinar, Benefits of PXI Express for Next-Generation Testing, sponsored by Geotest-Marvin Test Systems, tomorrow, June 20, at 2:00 pm EST. Learn the capabilities, benefits, and features of PXI Express as a platform for next-generation test systems and...

Nanotech Briefs® magazine has announced the winners of the third annual Nano 50™ Awards, which recognize the top 50 technologies, products, and innovators that have significantly impacted -- or are expected to impact -- the state of the art in nanotechnology. The winners of the Nano 50 awards are the "best of the...

A surface contamination detection system enables accurate, automated, in-line inspection of metallic and composite panels prior to bonding, coating, painting, or welding. The technology is transferable to any application where surface contamination of metal or composite panels is undesirable, necessitating the need for in-process...

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are using a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a physics-based virtual model that can simulate a patientís breathing in real time. When used in conjunction with existing 3D models, adding the fourth dimension of time could improve the accuracy...

In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast and became one of the largest natural disasters in the history of the United States. It resulted in more than 1,800 deaths and more than $150 billion in damages. Katrina's storm surge measured up to 30 feet along the Mississippi coast, with winds at 127 miles per hour...

This technology dislodges and removes microscopic particles from substrates quickly and efficiently, which is necessary for the manufacture of electronics and all forms of work at the microscopic scale. Click here for more info.

A team from MIT has demonstrated wireless power transfer, which would enable cell phones, MP3 players, laptops, and other portable electronics to charge themselves without being plugged in. Some of these devices may not even need their batteries to operate. The team was able to light a 60W light bulb from a power source...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued its first-ever reference material designed to improve the performance and reliability of experiments to measure the masses and concentrations of peptides in biomolecular samples. The new reference material is expected to be an important tool in the...

Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed an algorithm that could significantly boost the efficiency of kidney exchanges, a mechanism for matching live donors with unrelated recipients. The algorithm makes it possible to create matches for three- and four-way exchanges -- that is, three or four donors matched...

A method is needed that allows for the visual detection of the presence of pathogenic bacteria or microbes on human hands. The method must be safe and preferably performed in one action. The solution must be small in size and possibly disposable. Click here to respond to this Tech Need.

Researchers at Harvard University and Princeton University have made a crucial step toward building biological computers, tiny implantable devices that can monitor the activities and characteristics of human cells. The information provided by these devices -- constructed entirely of DNA, RNA, and proteins -- could eventually...

A group of New York investors will award $1 million a year to the person with the best idea in cancer research, and will share the idea worldwide. The Gotham Prize encourages novel thinking in cancer research and will be selected by a panel of scientists from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Cancer...

Each month, NTB highlights tech briefs related to a particular area of technology in a special section called Technology Focus. Here are some of the technologies featured in the June issue focus on Test & Measurement. Multi-Antenna Radar System for Doppler Rain Measurements A team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is using...

Square leaflet mechanical heart valves allow efficient blood flow with low shear stress because there are no obstructions in the path of blood flow. This patented innovation in mechanical heart valve design is simple, cost-effective, and substantially improves existing mechanical heart valve designs. Rectangular leaflets...

Wind engineers at the University of Florida (UF) have developed the world's largest portable hurricane wind and rain simulator. UF engineers plan to use the machine to blast vacant homes with Category 3 hurricane winds of up to 130 mph, and high-pressure water jets that mimic wind-driven torrential rain. The goal is to learn...

Medical imaging technology has led to quicker diagnoses of conditions that, when caught early, can be treated. Because such devices are large, however, they are impractical in the limited area of a space vehicle. An on-going NASA project to address the issue involves image fusion, where in-orbit ultrasounds would be combined...

Methodology for Providing Secure Time Stamps or Signals for Documents and Other Computer Files The secure time stamps include an externally generated time signal. More information here.

Amnesty International USA is using powerful satellite cameras to monitor highly vulnerable villages in war-torn Darfur -- the first-ever technological capability by human rights defenders to track possible targets of attack, prevent new atrocities, and save lives. Unlike other online projects which only document previous...

A new Web-enhanced version of the most commonly used climate modeling system, TeraGrid, will allow many more scientists to test theories about the Earth's climate. Called the Community Climate System Model (CCSM), the new version is actually a collection of interconnected modeling systems. CCSM contains separate climate models...