Tech Briefs

Tiny Solar Cells Deliver Big Power

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created microscale solar cells that could power a multitude of personal devices, including wearable medical sensors, smartwatches, and autofocusing contact...

Biodegradable Polymer Is Stronger and Longer Lasting

Polylactic acid, or PLA, is a biodegradable polymer commonly used to make a variety of products, from disposable cups to medical implants to drug-delivery systems. A team of Brown University...

Gaming Camera Aids MS Treatment

A device commonly found in living rooms around the world could be an inexpensive and effective means of evaluating the walking difficulties of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The Microsoft Kinect is a 3D...

Dust-Sized Sensors Could Create “Electroceuticals”

University of California, Berkeley engineers have built the first dust-sized, wireless sensors that can be implanted in the body, bringing closer the day when a Fitbit-like device could...

NIST Illuminates Transfer of Nanoscale Motion Through Microscale Machine

As U.S. industry develops smaller mechanical systems, they face bigger challenges — microscopic parts are more likely to stick together and wear out when they make...

Electrochemical Etching Improves 3D printing of metals

Researchers at Arizona State University have made potentially game-changing progress in the emerging realms of 3D printing and additive manufacturing — an advance that could have a...

“Smart” Sutures Collect Diagnostic Data

Implantable diagnostic devices and smart wearable systems that are capable of in situ sample collection and integration with the complex 3D structure of biological tissues offer significant...

Ankle Exoskeleton Aids or Enhances Mobility

Clutches can be used to enhance the functionality of springs or actuators in robotic devices. A research team headed up by Steve Collins, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie...

Pulse Sensor Measures Artery Health

Checking the state of arterial health could become as simple as monitoring a patient’s blood pressure. New technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory...

Film Helps Implant Bond with Bone

Researchers have developed a technique for coating polymer implants with a bioactive film that significantly increases bonding between the implant and surrounding bone in an animal model. The advance could...

Eye Tracking with a Cellphone Camera

Eye-tracking technology, which determines where in a visual scene people are directing their gaze, has been widely used in certain areas of medical and scientific research, but cost issues have kept it from...

Tiny Robot Chains Work Inside the Body

A group of Drexel University researchers used a rotating magnetic field to show how multiple chains of microscopic, magnetic bead-based robots can link up to reach impressive speeds swimming through a...

Therapeutic Window to the Brain

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) are bringing their idea for a “Window to the Brain” transparent skull implant closer to reality through the findings of two recently published...

3D Breast Imaging with Less Radiation

Preliminary testing shows that a new device may enable existing breast cancer imagers to provide up to six times better contrast of breast tumors, while maintaining the same or better image quality and...

Wearable System Predicts Asthma Attacks

Researchers have developed an integrated, wearable system that monitors a user’s environment, heart rate, and other physical attributes to help predict and prevent asthma attacks. The system, called the...

Cybersecurity Standards for Medical Devices

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and UL (Underwriters Laboratories) announced a signed Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) program to create medical device cybersecurity...

Electric Mesh Helps Heart Beat

A research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Seoul National University has developed a new electric mesh device that can be wrapped around the heart to deliver...

Software Simplifies Use of Online Data

The fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) consists of millions of sensing devices in buildings, vehicles, and elsewhere that deliver reams of data online. However, this wide-ranging resource involves so...

CMOS Technology Makes Electronic Nose Affordable

A team of engineers at the Texas Analog Center of Excellence (TxACE) at UT Dallas is working to develop an affordable electronic nose that can be used in breath analysis for a wide range of...

Interface Improves Artificial Limb Control

Being able to manipulate virtual fingers, or even fingers attached to a functioning prosthetic device, is not the same as feeling like the device is part of your own body. Researchers at Arizona State...

Developing Mini Artificial Lungs

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM What if there were a way to test how lungs react to toxins without actually putting a subject at risk? That’s what scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory...

Soft Tissue Robotic Surgery Outperforms Standard Surgery

Children’s National Health System, Washington, DC Surgeons and scientists at the Children’s National Health System’s Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation have...

Creating Super Stretchy Artificial Muscles

Chemical engineers at Stanford University discovered that a new elastomer synthesized there had too much elasticity for the testing equipment the lab possessed. In fact, the clamping machine typically...

How Sensors Can Help Save Preterm Babies

“Preterm labor is related to high morbidity, high mortality, and significant cost,” said Rubin Pillay, MD, PhD, assistant dean for global health innovation at the UAB School of Medicine. “If we can...

Finding Flaws in 3D-Printed Titanium

Titanium found its initial use in aircraft because it is strong but light. Today, it’s found everywhere, from eyeglass frames and jewelry to sports gear, tools, surgical and dental implants, and...

Electroluminescent Skin for Healthcare Robots

A team of Cornell University graduate engineering students say that they envision a future where a healthcare robot could display a patient’s temperature and pulse, and then read and react to a...

Recycling Carbon-Fiber into New Material

A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado has determined that carbon-fiber composites, which are stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum, can be easily and cost-effectively recycled...

NASA Designs New Heart Pump for Children

Dr. Mark Rodefeld, a pediatric heart surgeon at Indiana University, has spent decades helping to fix children’s hearts. He found one problem particularly vexing, leading to years of his own research...

Advancing Optoelectronics with Monolayer Semiconductors

In a study led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), epitaxy, or growing crystalline film layers that are templated by a crystalline substrate, is a...