Tag: #122

In future, circuit boards for PCs could be made from mushrooms. Now, an EU-financed research team is attempting something even more daring. They are building components for mobile machines from edible materials. People in remote places could be given drones for dessert while other drones deliver vaccinations to endangered animals. Work is already underway to create a sprayable sensor...

Thanks to a small robot, visually-impaired children can be better integrated into conversations. However, young people, and young women in particular, often see more than they bargained for in chat rooms or on social media. Images of male sexual parts, for example. Or hate-filled comments and insulting statements about gender. Which is why a female founder and her Berlin-based...

Anomalies in network traffic can be detected musically. Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) can be devastating too, turning entire coastal areas red and tourists away in the process. Enter a university lecturer in Florida and her data on coral diseases and the impact of HABs on coastal economies. Not for her publishing a series of dull tables and reports. Instead,...

Vaccination patches could be printed locally. Now, a long-term study is offering hope to those who suffer from bacterial urinary infections. Over a 9-year period, a British medical team observed the effects of a spray (containing different types of bacteria) administered under the tongue to 72 women and 17 men. All had suffered previously from UTIs  and took a...

In future, the Zika virus could be detected using mobile phone cameras. Meanwhile, an American research team has been banking on the phone’s magnetometer - not for navigation, but for reading blood sugar levels. First they created a small sensor containing a double-layered hydrogel embedded with tiny magnetic particles. Then they attached it to the smartphone above the magnetometer....

Insoles with fungal spores help prevent bacteria and foot diseases. Now a Canadian-based startup is also using mushroom spores - to produce large quantities of protein-rich, plant-based food. First step: extract the sugar from agricultural waste. The sugar serves as nourishment for a teaspoonful of spores from different edible mushrooms, which are then fermented in large steel tanks. Next,...