November 29, 2006, 5:02 AM CT

Predicting Outcome of Child Heart Surgery

Georgia Tech and Emory University scientists have developed an innovative new technology that will help pediatric cardiac surgeons design and test a customized surgical procedure before they ever pick up a scalpel. With a better understanding of each child's unique heart defect, surgeons could greatly improve the likelihood that children with complex defects requiring multiple surgeries over a period of several years could have smoother recoveries and an improved quality of life after their operations.

The technology, known as image-based surgical planning and developed with the help of pediatric heart specialists and pediatric surgeons at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Emory University, creates a three-dimensional model of the child's heart with data from the child's MRI scans at different times in the cardiac cycle, also called a 4D MRI. The models allow surgeons to visualize the direction of blood flow and determine any energy loss in the heart. So if a surgeon were planning a certain correction to an area of a child's heart, a model created by the system would show the surgeon how well blood would flow through the newly configured heart.

The goal of the Georgia Tech/Emory project is to create a complete system that allows surgeons to get a detailed look at the child's heart functions with the new MRI system, design surgical procedures for optimum post-operative performance and evaluate the heart's performance with a sophisticated blood flow computer simulation.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 28, 2006, 8:18 PM CT

First ever Gamma Ray Clock

Astronomers using the H.E.S.S. telescopes have discovered the first ever modulated signal from space in Very High Energy Gamma Rays - the most energetic such signal ever observed. Regular signals from space have been known since the 1960s, when the first radio pulsar (nicknamed Little Green Men-1 for its regular nature) was discovered. This is the first time a signal has been seen at such high energies - 100,000 times higher than previously known - and is reported today (24th November) in the Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The signal comes from a system called LS 5039 which was discovered by the H.E.S.S. team in 2005. LS5039 is a binary system formed of a massive blue star (20 times the mass of the Sun) and an unknown object, possibly a black hole. The two objects orbit each other at very short distance, varying between only 1/5 and 2/5 of the separation of the Earth from the Sun, with one orbit completed every four days.

"The way in which the gamma ray signal varies makes LS5039 a unique laboratory for studying particle acceleration near compact objects such as black holes." Explained Dr Paula Chadwick from the University of Durham, a British team member of H.E.S.S.

Different mechanisms can affect the gamma-ray signal that reaches Earth and by seeing how the signal varies, astronomers can learn a great deal about binary systems such as LS 5039 and also the effects that take place near black holes.........

Posted by: Brooke      Permalink         Source

November 28, 2006, 7:45 PM CT

World's Smallest Piano Wire

Scientists from Delft University of Technology and FOM Foundation have successfully made and 'tuned' the world's smallest piano wire. The wires are made of carbon nanotubes that measure approximately 2 nanometers in diameter. The scientists have published an article on the subject this week in the scientific journal Nano Letters.

The scientists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft and the FOM Foundation (Fundamental Research on Matter) made the small wires from carbon nanotubes, measuring approximately 1 micrometer long and approximately 2 nanometres in diameter. The tubes were attached to electrodes and initially placed above a layer of silicon oxide. This layer of silicon oxide was then partially etched away with acid, which caused the tubes to detach and hang.

A layer of silicon is contained beneath the silicon oxide. A strong and frequently variable alternating current is applied to this layer, which causes the hanging nanotubes to vibrate. The suspended tube is alternately attracted and repelled. The largest measured deviation for one tube was 8 nanometres. The distance of the nanotubes to the layer of silicon influences the electrical capacity to the layer of silicon. The movement of the nanowires is derived from these changes in capacity.

When the frequency of the applied current approaches the level of the suspended tube's eigenfrequency, it begins to vibrate more powerfully. The order of magnitude of these frequencies amounts to a few tens of MHz. By varying the strength and frequency of the applied current, the research group led by Professor Herre van der Zant succeeded in transposing the wire from a freely suspended state, to a state in which it is taut and vibrates. Van der Zant: "And as such it is like tightening a piano wire or guitar string. You can, as it were, tune the wire".........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 28, 2006, 5:06 AM CT

Smarter inventory control of spare parts

Smarter storage of spare parts is now possible thanks to a new inventory model, based on extensive cooperation between different warehouses. This method ensures the integration of inventory control for all parts in stock at several warehouses. This way both the number of parts in stock and the waiting time for spare parts can be reduced, with theoretical savings of up to 50%. This is possible thanks to fundamental mathematical models developed by PhD candidate Bram Kranenburg MSc. With his research Kranenburg hopes to obtain a doctorate from the Technical University Eindhoven (TU/e) on Thursday 23 November.

Big Business

The storage of spare parts is big business in the Netherlands, involving billions of euros every year. Every branch of industry or service that works with complex machinery needs spare parts. Just think of electronics, hospitals, industrial machinery, and the car industry. One small, defective part can put a complete machine out of operation for quite some time. That is why there have always been strict requirements for stocking and distributing spare parts.

Pooling storage facilities

A great deal of research has already been done to optimize the entire logistic process. Still, inventory control is commonly done separately for each warehouse. ASML approached the TU/e to find out if there was not a smarter way to do this and this question became a central theme in Kranenburgs PhD research. Kranenburg: "The crux of my model is the pooling of different warehouses. If a local warehouse does not have a certain part in stock, it can contact another local warehouse instead of the central warehouse. If you want to do this on a structural basis, there is much to be won by planning your inventory control around this. But if you want to do this right, it becomes very complex mathematically to work this all out. That is the problem I worked on in my PhD research and ASML has been able to implement my model and algorithms right away.........

Posted by: Jim      Permalink         Source

November 27, 2006, 4:35 AM CT

MSI M677 - Laptop with Crystals

If the Gold USB Hub got your attention, this laptop with crystals should probably have the same effect.

On the outside the MSI Crystal M677 has 120 pieces of Austrian crystal located on the laptop lid, while on the inside there is an AMD Turion 64 x2 processor that can handle 2GB of RAM memory. The whole package includes a built-in 1.3megapixel camera, a 15.4-inch screen, a DVD burner, a GeForce Go 7600 video card, and bluetooth + Wi-Fi on the connectivity sections.

It seems like the creators aren't only worried about the outside aspect and beauty, the performance is important too. On a serious note, I find it very silly how people waste money on gadgets that have jewelry, it is not suppose to be that way but since money falls of the trees to the rich personas, they are free to do whatever they want. At least this product combines top notch specifications with luxury instead of low quality specs.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 23, 2006, 5:29 AM CT

On the cutting edge: Carbon nanotube cutlery

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) have designed a carbon nanotube knife that, in theory, would work like a tight-wire cheese slicer. In a paper presented this month at the 2006 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition*, the research team announced a prototype nanoknife that could, in the future, become a tabletop tool of biology, allowing researchers to cut and study cells more precisely than they can today.

For years, biologists have wrestled with conventional diamond or glass knives, which cut frozen cell samples at a large angle, forcing the samples to bend and sometimes later crack. Because carbon nanotubes are extremely strong and slender in diameter, they make ideal materials for thinly cutting precise slivers of cells. In particular, researchers might use the nanoknife to make 3D images of cells and tissues for electron tomography, which requires samples less than 300 nanometers thick.

By manipulating carbon nanotubes inside scanning electron microscopes, 21st-century nanosmiths have begun crafting a suite of research tools, including nanotweezers, nanobearings and nano-oscillators. To design the nanoknife, the NIST and CU researchers welded a carbon nanotube between two electrochemically sharpened tungsten needles. In the resulting prototype, the nanotube stretches between two ends of a tungsten wire loop. The knife resembles a steel wire that cuts a block of cheese.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 22, 2006, 5:08 AM CT

Rensselaer Incubator Company Receives 2006 "Best of What's New" Award

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Incubator Program today announced that Celery LLC has been selected as one of the winners of the 2006 "Best of What's New" award by Popular Science. Each year, the editors of Popular Science review thousands of products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year, breakthrough products and technologies that represent a significant leap in their categories. Celery has developed a mail service device that allows users to send and receive e-mail without the use of a computer.

"Entrepreneurship is ingrained in the Rensselaer culture, and the founders of Celery have had an opportunity to nurture their technological venture as a means of commercializing discovery and innovation within an academic setting," said Michael Tentnowski, director of Rensselaer's Incubator Program. "It is very rewarding for them to receive this recognition from Popular Science as it demonstrates Rensselaer's extraordinary history of fostering discovery and innovation, moving ideas from the lab to the global marketplace. This award is the result of the company's combined vision, analytical capabilities, and entrepreneurial way of thinking to change the world for the better".

The winners were honored during an awards ceremony held in New York City on Nov. 6.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 22, 2006, 4:39 AM CT

NASA Nanotechnology Comes to Market

Finding affordable ways to make technology available to everyone is a common challenge. Now, NASA has done that with the process that creates "nanotubes."

A nanotube is a tiny, hollow, long, thin and strong tube with an outside diameter of a nanometer that is formed from atoms such as carbon. A hair from a person's head is around 50,000 nanometers wide. If you split a hair into 50,000 strands, that would be the width of a nanometer.

Nanotubes are really important in technology, because when they are made a certain way, a nanotube can conduct (allow movement of) electricity as well as copper does. When they are made a slightly different way, nanotubes are electrical semiconductors, which mean they can be switched between insulating from electricity to conducting electricity. Semiconductors make it possible to miniaturize electronic components. Nanotubes can be either semiconductors or conductors depending on how they are made.

Nanotubes are also stronger than steel, so long filaments can be used to create super-tough lightweight materials. To understand how strong a nanotube is, think of a hair holding up a barbell.

Eventhough the carbon nanotubes were discovered 15 years ago, their use has been limited due to the complex, dangerous, and expensive methods for their production.........

Posted by: Kevin      Permalink         Source

November 21, 2006, 8:38 PM CT

Ultra-Intense Laser Blast Creates True 'Black Metal'

"Black gold" is not just an expression anymore. Researchers at the University of Rochester have created a way to change the properties of almost any metal to render it, literally, black.

The process, using an incredibly intense burst of laser light, holds the promise of making everything from fuel cells to a space telescope's detectors more efficient-not to mention turning your car into the blackest black around.

"We've been surprised by the number of possible applications for this," says Chunlei Guo, assistant professor of optics at the University of Rochester. "We wanted to see what would happen to a metal's properties under different laser conditions and we stumbled on this way to completely alter the reflective properties of metals".

The key to creating black metal is an ultra-brief, ultra-intense beam of light called a femtosecond laser pulse. The laser burst lasts only a few quadrillionths of a second. To get a grasp of that kind of speed-a femtosecond is to a second what a second is to about 32 million years.

During its brief burst, Guo's laser unleashes as much power as the entire grid of North America onto a spot the size of a needle point. That intense blast forces the surface of the metal to form and nanostructures-pits, globules, and strands that both dramatically increase the area of the surface and capture radiation. Some larger structures also form in subsequent blasts.........

Posted by: Sarah      Permalink         Source

November 19, 2006, 9:17 PM CT

Shocking Games

The English have an entire line of "Shocking" games (not even going to try and psychoanalyze that). First up, there's the popular "Shocking Liar" based on -- from what I can tell -- lie detector science. Warm up questions are used to regulate your readings. Ready? ZAP! It says you lied. The game measures the 'lie levels," using a sequence of five LEDs going from red to green. Seems you weren't close enough to the truth.

Then there's the "Shocking Arm Wrestling". Let me tell you from experience that the first couple of times it's funny, but no adult is going to want to be shocked three times.

For the masochistic, there's always the classic. Place your finger in one of the four chambers, push the button and await your fate.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source