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Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are building a fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial vehicle and support systems to perform missions such as wildlife surveillance around the complex.The aircraft will carry a small camera and be able to capture precise images and statistics...

Today’s parking assistant systems enable drivers to safely park their cars even in the narrowest of gaps. Such sophisticated parking aids – as well as manufacturing robots – that require millimeter-precision control rely on precise all-around radar distance measurement....

Someday, your auto and the roadway will be in constant communication and able to suggest route changes to avoid accidents, construction, and congestion; coordinate your vehicle with signal lights, other vehicles, and lane markers; and let you know where you can park. Right now, a fleet...

University of Michigan engineering researchers are working on a global satellite project that would help predict the intensity of a hurricane while it is developing. In coordination with NASA, Michigan Engineering Professor Chris Ruf is working on the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite...

A new asteroid-deflecting idea proposes that paintballs shot into space could prevent a dangerous asteroid from colliding with Earth. The initial force from the paintballs would veer the asteroid slightly off course. The paint resulting from the splattered pellets would more than double the asteroid's sunlight...

Our thoughts are with those who were affected by Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. The storm's destructive force was felt across the East Coast, but none were more directly impacted than those within the tri-state area—New Jersey, New York, Connecticut. We recognize that the storm's torrential rains, powerful...

While health technology advances provide new ways to improve patient care, some may also create new opportunities for harm. To help minimize the risk of technology-related adverse events, the ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, has released its Top...

A new study shows that many implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), which are designed to detect and correct dangerous heart rhythms, are programmed to too low a setting, delivering painful shocks for heart rhythms that aren’t dangerous. Making a simple change in the way physicians set...

The market for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) used as pressure sensors in medical electronics is likely to grow by 7 percent this year, aided by the use of disposable devices as well as respiratory monitoring, according to iSuppli, El Segundo, CA, a global leader in technology value chain research...

In Brussels, Belgium, the PVCMed Alliance was launched to promote the use and value of PVC in healthcare applications. PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is the third-most widely produced plastic. The PVCMed Alliance is a coalition of PVC resin and plasticizer producers and PVC converters. The Alliance’s...

Engineers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, tested an energy-harvesting device that uses piezoelectricity — an electrical charge generated from motion — to convert energy from a beating heart to provide enough electricity to power a pacemaker. As reported in a study presented at the American Heart...

For the first time, researchers power an implantable electronic device using an electrical potential — a natural battery — deep in the inner ear.The devices could monitor biological activity in the ears of people with hearing or balance impairments, or responses to therapies....

The Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center in Cleveland, OH, has announced its list of Top 10 Medical Innovations that will have a major impact on improving patient care within the next year. The list is made up of devices, including a handheld optical scan for...

Within all polymers, there are structural flaws at the molecular level. In an ideal network, each polymer chain would bind only to another chain. In reality, though, many of the chains bind to themselves, forming floppy loops that can weaken the network. A team of chemical engineers at Massachusetts Institute of...

In a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2012, an experimental device converted energy from a beating heart to provide enough electricity to power a pacemaker. The findings suggest that patients could power their pacemakers — eliminating the need for replacements when...

Diving into a pool from a few feet up allows you to enter the water smoothly and painlessly, but jumping from a bridge can lead to a fatal impact. The water is the same in each case, so why is the effect of hitting its surface so different?

The race is on to develop the most secure solution for storing CO2 in the Earth’s crust. A Norwegian company, Numerical Rocks AS, has developed a method for studying precisely how this greenhouse gas is bound inside rock.

Using a computational model they designed to incorporate detailed information about plants’ interconnected metabolic processes, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified key pathways that appear to “favor” the production of...

Stanford University scientists have built the first solar cell made entirely of carbon, a promising alternative to the expensive materials used in photovoltaic devices today. Unlike rigid silicon solar panels that adorn many rooftops, Stanford's thin film prototype is made of carbon materials that can be...