The NANOEFFECT “Nanocomposites with High Colouration Efficiency for Electrochromic Smart Plastic Devices” project, led by the Fraunhofer-Institut Silicatforschung (ISC), is designing new electrochromic devices that are totally plastic and flexible, capable of changing colour on the simple application of an electric current. The main result of the project will be a new nanohybrid material with great electrochromic efficiency, to be integrated into plastic electrochromic devices with excellent char
It is common to see banks or inclines on the roadside or at the side of railway cuttings. They are formed when a side of a mountain or other earth feature is cut through for the construction of various infrastructure. As they are unstable zones, many problems are created and, in the case of the Basque Country, the problems are aggravated by a number of factors: the complex orographic terrain, the high rainfall and the area being abundant in sedimentary material.
Risk and consequences
When ESA experts wanted to see what the ion engine designed for the SMART-1 mission to the Moon would finally look like, they contacted a French start-up company: News’UProduction. The new technique they came up with is now being further developed in ESA’s European Space Incubator.
Jean-Luc Atteleyn, photographer and CEO of News’UProduction says: “We managed to produce high quality and realistic images and animations of the engine based upon classical 3D design drawings. This was
Imperial College London has received a £4.9 ($8.6) million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a simple, affordable and rapid test to measure the health of the immune system in HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries.
The ‘CD4 Initiative’ will develop an easy to use device which can measure CD4+ T-lymphocytes in HIV+ patients. The CD4 cell count measures the number of these critical disease-fighting cells in the blood, a figure which health care workers need
Imagine a home hi-fi system where music was automatically categorised according to preferences, where you could read the lyrics as you listen, summon up a favourite tune by humming it, and play along with your favourites. It may sound farfetched, but all these functions and more have already been achieved.
The SemanticHIFI project, coordinated by the Paris-based music technology institute, Ircam, is unique. It represents a quantum leap in home music technology, in which access to
Manufacturing competition
A new study of nearly 650 Georgia manufacturing companies underscores the importance of innovation as a competitive strategy – at a time when international outsourcing continues to impact Georgia’s manufacturing community.
The 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey shows that companies basing their competitive strategies on the development of innovative products or processes enjoy higher returns on sales, pay better wages and have less to fear
Counting calories isn’t the best way to lose weight, according to a new Brigham Young University study that suggests that an approach toward food called “intuitive eating” is better at producing lower cholesterol levels, body mass index scores and cardiovascular disease risk.
“The basic premise of intuitive eating is, rather than manipulate what we eat in terms of prescribed diets — how many calories a food has, how many grams of fat, specific food combinations or anything like t
Viagra® (sildenafil citrate), known for improving erectile dysfunction (ED), also effectively treats the prostate and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated with prostate enlargement that often occur with ED, a Northwestern University study has found.
Kevin V. McVary, M.D., professor of urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, led the study, which he presented at a meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America on Nov. 21 in New York.
NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) fired its one billionth laser shot earthward on Nov. 18, to obtain elevations from objects on the land, sea and in the air.
ICESat measures the Earth’s polar ice sheets, clouds, mountains and forests with three lasers. Crisscrossing the globe at nearly 17,000 miles per hour, ICESat provides unprecedented accuracy in mapping Earth’s vertical characteristics, enabling scientists to see objects on Earth in three
Technique shows that injection accuracy is critical, but not perfect
By using MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles, an international research team for the first time has successfully tracked immune-stimulating cells implanted into cancer patients for treatment purposes.
“In four of the eight patients, MRI revealed that the implanted cells weren’t where they needed to be to be effective for treatment,” says Jeff Bulte, Ph.D., an associate p
Researchers have identified a fear factor – a protein the brain uses to generate one of the most powerful emotions in humans and animals. The molecule is essential for triggering both the innate fears that animals are born with – such as the shadow of an approaching predator – as well as fears that arise later in life due to individual experiences. Eliminating the gene that encodes this factor makes a fearful mouse courageous. The finding, the researchers say, suggests new approaches for drugs
Researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Institute for Cell Engineering (ICE) have discovered a protein that could be the best new target in the fight against Parkinson’s disease since the brain-damaging condition was first tied to loss of the brain chemical dopamine.
Over the past year, the gene for this protein, called LRRK2 (pronounced “lark-2”), had emerged as perhaps the most common genetic cause of both familial and unpredictable cases of Parkinson’s disease. Until n
More than one third of 7 million cancer deaths are caused by 9 avoidable risk factors
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and a network of collaborators estimated mortality for 12 types of cancer linked to nine risk factors in seven World Bank regions for the year 2001. They found that of the seven million deaths worldwide that year from cancer, 35 percent were attributable to the nine well-known behavioral and environmental risk factors. The researchers al
A means for controlling single-molecule switches by engineering their design and surrounding environment has been developed by a research team led by scientists at Penn State, Rice University, and the University of Oregon. The research demonstrates that single-molecule switches can be tailored to respond in predictable and stable ways, depending on the direction of the electric field applied to them–while some switches were engineered to turn on, others were engineered to turn off in response to th
Duke University biomedical engineers have devised a potentially patentable method to arrest toxic leakages of genetically engineered viruses that have plagued attempts to use gene therapy against cancerous tumors. The problem has been that viruses carrying anti-tumor genes have tended to leak from tumors, proving toxic to other body tissues.
The researchers have developed a biocompatible polymer that briefly changes from a liquid at 39 degrees Fahrenheit to a gel at body temperat
Permanent magnets are important in a broad variety of commercial technologies, from car starters to alternators for wind power generation to computer hard drives. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have found new clues into ways to make those magnets longer-lasting and more powerful.
Using the Western Hemisphere’s most powerful X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne, the researchers were able to see new details of r
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