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A team led by Ki Chon, professor and head of biomedical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), has developed a smart phone application that can measure not only heart rate, but also heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation using the phone's built-in video camera....

An interdisciplinary team of scientists at Vanderbilt University, Cornell University and CFD Research Corporation, Inc., has demonstrated that a computer can analyze raw experimental data from a biological system and derive the basic mathematical equations that describe the way the system operates....

The list of potential applications for ultrasound is impressive, ranging from non-invasive surgery, to pain therapy, to Alzheimer's treatment. Most recently, doctors in Glasgow, Scotland — the city in which ultrasound was pioneered as a diagnostic tool in the 1950s — started using the technology to...

By combining two innovative algorithms developed at MIT, researchers in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) have built a new robotic motion-planning system that calculates much more efficient trajectories...

Developed by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME), new thin-film silicon solar cells are designed to be made from cheaper, low-grade silicon. The nano-structured solar cells can produce a current of 34.3mA/cm2 – a world record for a silicon solar cell of its...

In a first-ever demonstration of a two-way interaction between a primate brain and a virtual body, two monkeys trained at the Duke University Center for Neuroengineering learned to employ brain activity alone to move an avatar hand and identify the texture of virtual objects.Without moving...

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a team from the University of Vienna have collaborated to cool a miniature mechanical object to its lowest possible energy state using laser light — paving the way for the development of exquisitely sensitive...

This week's Question: Steven Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple, died last week at the age of 56. While the company has offered updates to its innovative technologies like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, some have questioned whether new executive leadership will be able to innovate,...

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Alabama have received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) to conduct fundamental research into the ways in which plasmas interact with the walls of the structures containing...

The Army is using a new helicopter simulator, called the Non-rated Crew Member Manned Module (NCM3), to train helicopter crews on the rear of both the CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk. Through specially created virtual reality glasses, which fit the same as night vision goggles, soldiers can practice and...

University of Utah chemists developed a method to design and test new catalysts – substances that speed chemical reactions and are crucial for producing energy, chemicals and industrial products. By using the new method, the chemists also discovered that the sizes and electronic properties of...

Idaho National Laboratory researchers have recently demonstrated a new sample preparation technique that makes it easier to examine irradiated fuel at the nanoscale. This accomplishment revealed material behavior that suggests increased stability of a new type of reactor fuel. Further study and...

The Army, Marine Corps and the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) are working to procure and deliver thousands of small, easily transportable "throwable" robots equipped with surveillance cameras designed to beam back video from confined spaces, buildings, tunnels and other potentially...

At an estimated $105.8 billion, the U.S. medical device market may be the world's largest, but it could do with a healthy boost of innovation.* According to a recent White House blog post, "In trying to understand why the country’s pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device sectors seem to be...

"Create the Future" Design Contest sponsored by PTC®, COMSOL, and Tech Briefs Media attracts over 900 innovative product ideas from engineers and students in 50 countries. New York, NY – A new invention could protect millions from contracting...