People with diabetes must keep a careful eye on their blood glucose levels, because too much sugar can damage organs, while too little deprives the body of necessary fuel. Most patients must prick their fingers several times a day to draw blood for testing. In one of our previous articles we wrote about hydrogel lenses… »
By combining origami and electrical engineering, researchers at MIT and Harvard are developing a transformable robot. The researchers have developed algorithms that, given a three-dimensional shape, can determine how to reproduce it by folding a sheet of semi-rigid material with a distinctive pattern of flexible creases. To test out their theories, they built a prototype… »
Stanford engineers have found out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil. Unlike photovoltaic technology currently used in solar panels (which become less… »
Within the sludge of wastewater treatment plants is an invisible world teeming with microbes. Here, diverse species of bacteria convert solid and liquid wastes into gases, some of which contribute to global warming. Two Stanford University engineers are developing a new sewage treatment process that would actually increase the production of nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”)… »
The folks from PixelOptics have invented electronic spectacles that can automatically change focus as you lower your head to read a book, thus making bifocal spectacles obsolete. The product, called emPower!, has been under development for 10 years and looks like an ordinary pair of spectacles. Since they are partnering with many frames manufactures, the… »
The Indian government unveiled the world’s cheapest “laptop” computer meant for students – a touch-screen device that costs $35. Developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science, mass production of the computer might begin as soon as next year, claims Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, adding the government… »
Scientists at Fraunhofer FIT have developed a non-contact gesture and finger recognition system that could be used as a future information interaction system. The novel system detects hand and finger positions in real-time and translates these into appropriate interaction commands. Unlike most of the systems we described before, this system does not require special gloves… »
Since most of the procedures in modern surgery are performed with remote controlled tools that can be inserted into the body using only small incisions, laparoscopic surgery skips the need for large incisions and, in turn, usually results in shorter recovery times for patients. An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is… »
