Genetic barcodes can ensure authentic DNA fingerprints

“Researchers propose a way of ensuring that genetic samples taken in the field for DNA fingerprinting arrive at the laboratory unaltered” Source: DUKE UNIVERSITY DURHAM, N.C. – Engineers at Duke University and the New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering have demonstrated a method for ensuring that an increasingly popular [..]

Compact electronic nose to identify human lung diseases

“This device is designed as flexible electronics that can analyze exhaled air, as well as identify pathologies of the respiratory tract and organs.” Source: SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH) Researchers from Russia and Italy have proposed a compact sensor system that can implement the functionality of the electronic [..]

A soft touch for robotic hardware

“Combined muscles and sensors made from soft materials allow for flexible robots” Source: UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO Robots can be made from soft materials, but the flexibility of such robots is limited by the inclusion of rigid sensors necessary for their control. Researchers created embedded sensors, to replace rigid sensors, that offer [..]

Peptides that can be taken as a pill

“This new method help to identify those peptides that binds a disease target of interest and survive enzymes of the gastrointestinal tract.” Source: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE Peptides are short chains of amino acids that occur in our body, in plants or bacteria to control diverse functions. Several peptides [..]

A closer look at superconductors

“A new measuring method helps understand the physics of high-temperature superconductivity” Source: Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf From sustainable energy to quantum computers: high-temperature superconductors have the potential to revolutionize today’s technologies. Despite intensive research, however, we still lack the necessary basic understanding to develop these complex materials for widespread application. “Higgs spectroscopy” [..]

2D oxide flakes pick up surprise electrical properties

“Rice University lab detects piezoelectric effects in nanosheets due to defects” Source: Rice University News Rice University researchers have found evidence of piezoelectricity in lab-grown, two-dimensional flakes of molybdenum dioxide. Their investigation showed the surprise electrical properties are due to electrons trapped in defects throughout the material, which is less [..]

AI new tool for cardiac diagnosis

“Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a tool in healthcare to interpret ECG and detect diseases affecting the heart.” Source: UPPSALA UNIVERSITY Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a tool in healthcare to interpret ECG and detect diseases affecting the heart. Researchers at Uppsala University, together with cardiac specialists in Brazil, have developed [..]

Technique could enable cheaper fertilizer production

“Chemical engineers take a step toward generating ammonia with small-scale, electrochemical reactors.” Source: Anne Trafton | MIT News Office Most of the world’s fertilizer is produced in large manufacturing plants, which require huge amounts of energy to generate the high temperatures and pressures needed to combine nitrogen and hydrogen into [..]

How many jobs do robots really replace?

“MIT economist Daron Acemoglu’s new research puts a number on the job costs of automation.” Source: Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office This is part 1 of a three-part series examining the effects of robots and automation on employment, based on new research from economist and Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu. [..]

Nanostimulators boost stem cells for muscle repair

“Nanostimulators” – nanoparticles seeded with a molecule the body naturally produces to prompt stem cells to heal wounds – can amp up stem cells’ regenerative powers in a targeted limb in mice” Source: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In regenerative medicine, an ideal treatment for patients [..]

New technology revolutionizes 3D metal printing

“LED instead of laser or electron beam” Source: GRAZ UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Selective LED-based melting (SLEDM) – i.e. the targeted melting of metal powder using high-power LED light sources – is the name of the new technology that a team led by Franz Haas, head of the Institute of Production Engineering [..]

New report: Advancing the 2030 Agenda in African cities through knowledge co-production

April 30, 2020 Scipreneur Private Limited 0

“Investment in transdisciplinary research and training for future generations of African scientists is crucial to advancing sustainable development in African cities” Source: INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE COUNCIL The report ‘Advancing the 2030 Agenda in African cities through knowledge co-production’, sheds light on what it takes to co-produce urban knowledge through transdisciplinary (TD) research [..]

Rat spinal cords control neural function in biobots

April 29, 2020 Scipreneur Private Limited 0

“The interaction between a rat spinal cord and an engineered muscle system displays behavior similar to the peripheral nervous system” Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau WASHINGTON, Tuesday, April 28, 2020 — Biological robots, or biobots, draw inspiration from natural systems to mimic the motions of organisms, such [..]