Monthly Archives: April 2013

Make A Foldable Mini-Spectrometer For Your Phone

"What we perceive as a single color consists of multiple blended colors- just as green paint can be made from mixing yellow and blue paint. A spectrometer is a device that splits light into the various colors it is composed of, which we otherwise cannot distinguish with the naked eye. By viewing a substance through a spectrometer, one can distinguish the exact mixture of colors, which correspond to specific wavelengths of light. These can be compared to other spectra to help identify the sample." Continue reading →

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Biofuel breakthrough turns virtually any plant into hydrogen

"Researchers at Virginia Tech announced Thursday that their latest breakthrough in hydrogen extraction technology could lead to widespread adoption of the substance as a fuel due to its ease of availability in virtually all plant matter, a reservoir previously impossible to tap. The new process uses a cocktail of 13 enzymes to strip plant matter of xylose, a sugar that exists in plant cells. The resulting hydrogen is of an such a 'high purity' that researchers said they were able to approach 100 percent extraction, opening up a potential market for a much cheaper source of hydrogen than anything available today." Continue reading →

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6-meter tall KamerMaker to 3D print Amsterdam house by year’s end

"It is surely now but a matter of time before we are reporting on the completion of the first 3D-printed house. Amsterdam-based DUS Architects is the latest company to show its hand, and has developed its own 3D printer, the 6-meter (20-foot) tall KamerMaker (literally, RoomMaker), with the intention of 3D printing a house before the end of the year. The intention is that the KamerMaker will print building components on site. The machine can print components, fabricated from polypropylene, up to 2.2 by 2.2 by 3.5 meters (7.2 by 7.2 by 11.5 feet) in size. It's hoped that in future the KamerMaker will be able to print objects from recycled plastic." Continue reading →

Continue Reading6-meter tall KamerMaker to 3D print Amsterdam house by year’s end

Scientists use 3D printer to make tissue-like material

"British scientists have used a custom-made 3D printer to make living tissue-like material that could one day serve medical purposes, according to findings released Thursday. The material is made up of thousands of connected water droplets, encapsulated within lipid films, that can carry out some of the functions of human cells. These 'droplet networks' could be the building blocks of a new technology used to pass on drugs and, down the road, could even replace damaged tissue, said a statement from Oxford University, where the scientists are based. Their findings were published in Friday’s issue of the US journal Science." Continue reading →

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Scientists used modified T-cells to wipe out childhood leukemia in a little girl

"US researchers on Monday reported encouraging success with a new type of immune cell therapy that wiped out leukemia in a young girl by using her own modified T cells to fight the cancer. The case study of Emily 'Emma' Whitehead, age 7, offers hope for a new path against a stubborn form of leukemia, known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), maybe even replacing the need for chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants someday. An attempt at T cell reprogramming in another child who did not survive pointed to the need for more research to improve on the therapies being tested." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScientists used modified T-cells to wipe out childhood leukemia in a little girl

Science Fiction Comes Alive as Researchers Grow Organs in Lab

"Since a laboratory in North Carolina made a bladder in 1996, scientists have built increasingly more complex organs. There have been five windpipe replacements so far. A London researcher, Alex Seifalian, has transplanted lab-grown tear ducts and an artery into patients. He has made an artificial nose he expects to transplant later this year in a man who lost his nose to skin cancer. Sir Roy Calne, an 82-year-old British surgeon, figured out in the 1950s how to use drugs to prevent the body from rejecting transplanted organs. Now, with the quest to build a heart, researchers are tackling the most complex organ yet." Continue reading →

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NASA slams spending cuts that put Earth at risk of undetected killer asteroids

"A trio of experts testified before the House Science Committee of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday and warned that the detection and early warning of approaching Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and other threats from space is imperiled by current political wrangling over the national budget. Holdren, Shelton and Bolden emphasized that while odds of a devastating strike from an object from space are small, the consequences could be enormous. While dozens of objects a meter or more in size strike the Earth’s atmosphere every year, most burn up harmlessly in the upper limits of the stratosphere." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNASA slams spending cuts that put Earth at risk of undetected killer asteroids

White House confirms NASA plan to ‘lasso’ and bring asteroid near Earth

"President Barack Obama’s administration will seek $100 million in funding for a mission to tow an asteroid closer to Earth for the purpose of helping future expeditions to Mars. NASA’s mission proposal, adapted from a scenario (PDF) designed by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, calls for a robotic probe to grab an asteroid measuring approximately 500 tons and 25 to 35 feet in width in 2019 and bringing it into orbit near the moon, which would shorten future asteroid expeditions by months, on top of providing access to the asteroid’s natural resources." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House confirms NASA plan to ‘lasso’ and bring asteroid near Earth

Sonic ‘lasso’ catches cells and moves them around

"Academics have demonstrated for the first time that a 'sonic lasso' can be used to grip microscopic objects, such as cells, and move them about. The researchers have shown experimentally how tiny particles, such as cells, or any small objects can be trapped by a spinning ultrasonic, or sonic, vortex. The vortex acts as a lasso that can be controlled and moved, catching the microscopic particles and enabling their careful positioning. This new technology makes possible applications such as assembly human tissue from a collection of cells and assembling nano materials." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSonic ‘lasso’ catches cells and moves them around