Tag: Research

A lamp recognises epilepsy attacks. But WiFi light bulbs can be used for different purposes. Enter a US-based IT security technician and his prototype for an online library. His vision? To grant users access to banned books (recently forbidden in America: a children's book by a Hollywood icon). By adapting the software, he made the lamp into a WiFi...

Donor blood could soon be in greater supply. When patients bleed heavily - like during heart operations - they need additional blood platelets. Currently platelets are stored at room temperature and enjoy a 5-7 day shelf life. Enter a university research team’s four-year study across 27 different sites in the US and Australia. While the team investigated whether the...

The lamprey fish has already inspired gripping technology. Meanwhile a Japanese research team has taken its lead from the tip of an elephant’s trunk (similar to others before) and equipped its automatic gripping arm with an internal eye in the form of a fisheye camera, embedded directly into the gripper. Upon contact with sensitive objects, the camera not only...

An innovative powder staunches heavy bleeding. Meanwhile, a British research team has developed a double-impact dressing from plant-based polymers to reduce wound infections. To do so, they created two very similar nanofibres from furan polyamide. One fibre received two additional carbon atoms to make it water-repellent, while an antibiotic was incorporated into the second fibre. Both were woven into...

Alternatives to single-use plastic are available - thanks to spider’s silk. Meanwhile, a US research team has been inspired by jumping spiders’ vision to create a highly efficient 3D camera. Thanks to their multi-layered retina, the spiders can compute distances very quickly. The camera, like the spiders’ retina, takes two images of the same area, each with a different...

Pharmaceutical residues can be removed from effluent using pine bark. Now, a Singapore-based research team is looking to pomegranate peel to remove 4-nitrophenol from water. The toxin is used when producing dyes, pesticides and analgesics. The pomegranate peel is converted to biochar at 600° before being ground to nanoparticles through ultrasound treatment. The particles’ surface attracts the nitrophenol, which...

Some have turned to chickpeas as a coffee alternative. An invigorating espresso, however, remains hard to replace. Now, an Australian research team has come up with the next best thing: espresso prepared using 75% less energy than before. The trick lies in the use of ultrasound waves rather than boiling water. A transducer attached to the side of the...

In future, edible drones could be used to reach inaccessible locations. Now a Danish research team wants to equip large sea vessels with fully autonomous drones. If someone falls overboard, the drone is immediately dispatched complete with an inflatable life jacket that sends a GPS signal. This improves the person’s survival chances and enables lifeboats to locate them quickly....