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Sure Frankenstein’s lab had that green guy and Dr. Weird’s housed a gigantic mecha-bunny—but these labs! Oobject brings us the lairs of science’s greatest minds—the researchers who have given the world electricity, television, the Internet, and LSD! More »

Graphene, that microscopic chicken wire made of carbon atoms, has a great many theoretical uses. Among these is to improve Lithium-ion battery technologies, and the big brains at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created a graphene and tin composite material for use in battery electrodes. When it’s baked at 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius) the tin turns into nanopillars that widen the gap between the graphene layers. The greater volume of tin provided by these tiny towers improves electrode performance (read: faster charging), and the flexibility of the graphene prevents electrode degradation. Naturally, current prototypes can only maintain capacity over 30 charge cycles — as opposed to the hundreds required for commercial applications — so some serious improvement has to happen before we see it strut its stuff in any phones or EVs. This leaves us, once again, extolling the virtues of graphene, but lamenting its exclusively academic application.

Continue reading Researchers use graphene and tin sandwich to make better battery electrodes

Researchers use graphene and tin sandwich to make better battery electrodes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Many simpler forms of life on this planet, including some of our earliest ancestors, don’t have proper brains. Instead they have networks of neurons that fire in response to stimuli, triggering reactions. Scientists from Caltech have actually figured out how to create such a primitive pre-brain using strands of DNA. Researchers, led by Lulu Qian, strung together DNA molecules to create bio-mechanical circuits. By sequencing the four bases of our genetic code in a particular way, they were able to program it to respond differently to various inputs. To prove their success the team quizzed the organic circuit, essentially playing 20 questions, feeding it clues to the identity of a particular scientist using more DNA strands. The artificial neural network nailed answer every time. Check out the PR and pair of videos that dig a little deeper into the experiment after the break.

Continue reading DNA-based artificial neural network is a primitive brain in a test tube (video)

DNA-based artificial neural network is a primitive brain in a test tube (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bioengineering doctoral student Kate Balaconis shines the iPhone reader against her tattooless arm.

Maybe tattoos aren’t just for Harley riders or rebellious teens after all. In a few years, diabetics might get inked up with digital tats that communicate with an iPhone to monitor their blood.

Instead of the dye used for tribal arm bands and Chinese characters, these tattoos will contain nanosensors that read the wearer’s blood levels of sodium, glucose and even alcohol with the help of an iPhone 4 camera.

Dr. Heather Clark, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Northeastern University, is leading the research on the subdermal sensors. She said she was reminded of the benefits of real-time, wearable health monitoring when she entered a marathon in Vermont: If they become mass-produced and affordable for the consumer market, wireless devices worn on the body could tell you exactly what medication you need whenever you need it.

“I had no idea how much to drink, or when,” said Clark, reflecting on her marathon run. “Or if I should have Gatorade instead.”

Clark’s technology could spell out the eventual demise of the painful finger pricks required for blood tests — assuming users have an iPhone, which Northeastern bioengineering grad student Matt Dubach has customized to read light from the tiny sensors to collect and output data.

Here’s how it works: A 100-nanometer-wide set of sensors go under the skin, like tattoo ink — as for the size, “You can spot it if you’re looking for it,” Clark says. The sensors are encased in an oily agent to ensure the whole contraption stays together.

Within the implant, certain nanoparticles will bind exclusively to specific blood contents, like sodium or glucose. Thanks to an additive that makes the particles charge neutral, the presence of a target triggers an ion release, which manifests as a florescence change. The process is detailed in an article published in the journal Integrative Biology.

Dubach designed the iPhone 4 attachment to use the phone’s camera to read the color shift and translate the results into quantifiable data. A plastic ring surrounding the lens blocks out ambient light while a battery-powered blue LED contrasts with the sensors. The software uses the iPhone camera’s built-in RGB filters to process the light reflected off the sensors.

Why blue? Initial trials with lights that projected other colors were hindered by Apple’s built-in optical filter, but blue light uses the iPhone’s built-in RGB setup to process the data accurately. That blue light, powered by a 9-volt battery attached to the phone, works with the sensors’ red-shifted florescence because red shines well through skin.

As of now, the data collected with the iPhone still requires processing through a secondary machine, but Duboch says using the iPhone to do all the work is not far off, and that an app is likely on the way.

Clark hopes to see the work of an entire clinical analyzer done by nanoparticles interacting with smartphones, which would mean a major step forward for personalized medicine. Diabetics and athletes alike could adapt and measure their own statistics without dependence on big, pricey, exclusive medical equipment.

The testing is still in early stages, and hasn’t been tried on humans yet. Research on mice, who have comparatively thinner skin than humans, has shown promising results.

Readings of blood concentrations show up like this, with different colors indicating different sodium concentrations. Photo Courtesy of Matt Dubach.

When Apple’s next iPhone comes out, the project will benefit, said Dubach, citing rumors that the iPhone 5 will include a more powerful camera sensor.

“I’m holding out for the iPhone 5,” Dubach said. “More megapixels gives you more for the average,” meaning the higher-resolution camera provides more data for analysis. Even bioengineers are waiting for Steve Jobs’ next move.

The technology is still years off, but Clark and Dubach’s developments are bringing medicine closer to a time when diagnostics are minimally invasive. Real-time feedback through subdermal circuits and smartphone cameras means you could know exactly when to slug that water.

Researchers tested the iPhone attachment on this plate reader, which determines the nanosensors' response to the reader. Photo courtesy of Matt Dubach

The cosmological speed limit remains unbroken. A team of researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, led by Du Shengwang, claim to have proven that a single photon is incapable of traveling faster than light. The support for Einstein’s special theory of relativity all but rules out the simplest form of time travel — breaking the universe’s traffic laws to condense time within a vessel. Don’t get freaked out though, this doesn’t mean time travel is impossible, only that it will be much more difficult than firing up a warp drive. General relativity still holds hope for bending and ripping the space-time continuum to meet our eon-hopping desires. Looks like it’s time to get working on our flux capacitor technology.

Scientists prove cosmological speed limit, time travel moves a little further out of reach originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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