Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Scientists use inkjet to print scaffolds for growing bones | News | The Engineer


Scientists use inkjet to print scaffolds for growing bones | News | The Engineer

Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/medical-and-healthcare/news/scientists-use-inkjet-to-print-scaffolds-for-growing-bones/1011092.article#ixzz1fCEBlaiu

Washington State University (WSU) researchers have used a 3D printer to create a bone-like material.

The inkjet printer is reportedly able to generate structures that can be used in orthopaedic procedures and dental work. These same structures could also be used to deliver medicine for treating osteoporosis.

The authors report on successful in vitro tests in the journal Dental Materials and say they’re already seeing promising results with in vivo tests on rats and rabbits.

Susmita Bose, co-author and a professor at WSU’s school of mechanical and materials engineering, said that it’s possible that doctors will be able to custom order replacement bone tissue in a few years.

Monday, November 28, 2011

New state of matter seen on cheap


The state of matter is a plasma like those in conventional nuclear fusion tests, but at higher densities.
The professor behind the demonstration says it can be achieved for a mere £10.

In fact, it's just a water-hammer effect, an impact that shatters the liquid column, creating a trail of bubbles that are clearly visible in daylight. "When the bubbles collapse," Professor Sella explains, "they generate incredibly high temperatures - 10 thousand degrees. That's twice the temperature of the surface of the Sun."

Professor Putterman is emphatic: "We have not yet succeeded - no-one has yet succeeded - in generating nuclear fusion inside these bubbles. However, we're looking around for that trick that could boost our parameters by a factor of 10, to get it to the region of fusion." "I can't wait to tell my nuclear physicist friends, that for a cost of around £10, I'm up in the region that they do for the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. It's very exciting."

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Portable breast cancer detector | Ubergizmo


Portable breast cancer detector | Ubergizmo

Nihon University’s exhibit is tipped to be further refined so that it will see action by being used to perform easy cancer tests at just about anywhere, be it at home or at a public area.

Researchers over at the Nihon University used a technology known as “phase shift method”, where light-emitting and light-receiving elements which rely on LEDs were formed on the surface so that it can be applied to the breast. A light with a wavelength of 850nm is emitted, where light reflected from the breast will be detected. As a cancerous part will reflect a slightly different color, it will be easier to detect any cancer in its early stages.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

BBC News - Bionic contact lens 'to project emails before eyes'


BBC News - Bionic contact lens 'to project emails before eyes'

A new generation of contact lenses that project images in front of the eyes is a step closer after successful animal trials, say scientists.

The technology could allow wearers to read floating texts and emails or augment their sight with computer-generated images, Terminator-syle.

Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible.

A new generation of contact lenses that project images in front of the eyes is a step closer after successful animal trials, say scientists.

The technology could allow wearers to read floating texts and emails or augment their sight with computer-generated images, Terminator-syle.

Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible.

But there are still wrinkles to iron out, like finding a good power source.

Currently, their crude prototype device can only work if it is within centimetres of the wireless battery.

And its microcircuitry is only enough for one light-emitting diode, reports the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.
Continue reading the main story
“Our next goal is to incorporate some predetermined text in the contact lens”

Lead researcher Professor Babak Praviz

But now that initial safety tests in rabbits have gone well, with no obvious adverse effects, the researchers have renewed faith about the device's possibilities.

They envisage hundreds more pixels could be embedded in the flexible lens to produce complex holographic images.

For example, drivers could wear them to see journey directions or their vehicle's speed projected onto the windscreen.

Similarly, the lenses could take the virtual world of video gaming to a new level.

They could also provide up-to-date medical information like blood sugar levels by linking to biosensors in the wearer's body.
Delicate materials

Lead researcher Professor Babak Praviz said: "Our next goal is to incorporate some predetermined text in the contact lens."

He said his team had already overcome a major hurdle to this, which is getting the human eye to focus on an image generated on its surface.

Normally, we can only see objects clearly if they are held several centimetres away from the eye.

The scientists, working with colleagues at Aalto University in Finland, have now adapted the lenses to shorten the focal distance.

Building the end product was a challenge because materials used to make conventional contact lenses are delicate.

Manufacturing electrical circuits, however, involves inorganic materials, scorching temperatures and toxic chemicals. Researchers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometres thick, about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and constructed light-emitting diodes measuring one third of a millimetre across.

Dr Praviz and his team are not the only scientists working on this type of technology.

A Swiss company called Sensimed has already brought to market a smart contact lens that uses inbuilt computer technology to monitor pressure inside the eye to keep tabs on the eye condition glaucoma.

Friday, November 18, 2011

BBC News - Scientists at MIT replicate brain activity with chip


BBC News - Scientists at MIT replicate brain activity with chip

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have designed a computer chip that mimics how the brain's neurons adapt in response to new information.

There are about 100 billion neurons in the brain, each of which forms synapses - the connections between neurons that allow information to flow - with many other neurons.

The MIT team, led by research scientist Chi-Sang Poon, has been able to design a computer chip that can simulate the activity of a single brain synapse.

Neurobiologists seem to be impressed.

It represents "a significant advance in the efforts to incorporate what we know about the biology of neurons and synaptic plasticity onto ...chips," said Dean Buonomano, a professor of neurobiology at the University of California.

"The level of biological realism is impressive," he added.

The team plans to use their chip to build systems to model specific neural functions, such as visual processing.

Such systems could be much faster than computers which take hours or even days to simulate a brain circuit. The chip could ultimately prove to be even faster than the biological process.


Monday, November 07, 2011

Light 'promising' in cancer fight

Light is a "promising" tool in the fight against cancer, say researchers in the US.

A study, published in Nature Medicine, showed how a drug could be created which sticks to tumours, but is then only activated when hit by specific waves of light.

In this study, researchers at the National Cancer Institute, Maryland, used an antibody which targets proteins on the surface of cancerous cells. They then attached a chemical, IR700, to the antibody. IR700 is activated when it is hit by near infrared light. This wavelength of light can penetrate several centimetres into the skin.

Link: BBC News - Light 'promising' in cancer fight