Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee achieved a rare look at the inner workings of polymer self-assembly at an oil-water interface to advance materials for neuromorphic computing and bio-inspired technologies. Results published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society provide new insights on the way molecules pack and order themselves into “tunable”…
Creating the heart of a quantum computer: developing qubits
Written by Shannon Brescher Shea A computer is suspended from the ceiling. Delicate lines and loops of silvery wires and tubes connect gold-colored platforms. It seems to belong in a science-fiction movie, perhaps a steam-punk cousin of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. But as the makers of that 1968 movie imagined computers the size…
Stabilizing freeze-dried cellular machinery unlocks cell-free biotechnology
Researchers at California Polytechnic State University have developed a low-cost approach that improves cell-free biotechnology’s utility for bio-manufacturing and portability for field applications. Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is a biotechnology that harnesses active cellular machinery in a test tube without the presence of living cells, allowing researchers to directly access and manipulate biochemical processes. Scientists…
Scientists learn more about the first hours of a lithium-ion battery’s life
By: Tom Rickey, PNNL The first hours of a lithium-ion battery’s life largely determine just how well it will perform. In those moments, a set of molecules self-assembles into a structure inside the battery that will affect the battery for years to come. This component, known as the solid-electrolyte interphase or SEI, has the crucial…
DISCUS Software chooses Adaptive Corporation as first authorized partner in the U.S.
DISCUS Software Company, headquartered in Columbus, OH, has announced a premier authorized partnership agreement with Adaptive Corporation. Adaptive will sell and support DISCUS’ First Article Inspection (FAI) software solutions to businesses operating in aerospace, defense, automotive, medical and various other manufacturing industries that have stringent quality requirements. DISCUS specializes in automation of the first article…
Instrument may enable mail-in testing to detect heavy metals in water
Lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals are increasingly present in water systems around the world due to human activities, such as pesticide use and, more recently, the inadequate disposal of electronic waste. Chronic exposure to even trace levels of these contaminants, at concentrations of parts per billion, can cause debilitating health conditions in pregnant women,…
Identify, track, capture
Sandia National Laboratories robotics experts are working on a way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight. They successfully tested their concept indoors with a swarm of four unmanned aircraft systems that flew in unison, each carrying one corner of a net. Acting as a team, they intercepted the flying target, trapped it in air…
SwRI delivers ultraviolet instrument for ESA’s Jupiter mission
An ultraviolet spectrograph (UVS) designed and built by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is the first scientific instrument to be delivered for integration onto the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft. Scheduled to launch in 2022 and arrive at Jupiter in 2030, JUICE will spend at least three years making detailed observations in…
Turbomachine expander offers efficient, safe strategy for heating, cooling
A new device to help homeowners cut electricity bills also could provide more efficient and safer cooling options for companies and vehicles. Purdue University researchers developed their device to decrease energy consumption of the vapor-compression heat pump cycle, which is commonly used in homes, businesses and vehicles for cooling and heating. The team created a…
Legit unveils a new collaboration software for life sciences
Legit announced today the launch of their new collaboration software geared towards the life sciences. This first of its kind enterprise software allows companies to identify, connect, and collaborate with internal and external experts within the life sciences. The platform’s primary goal is to address the collaboration barriers within the life sciences caused by compliance…
Bubble-capturing surface helps get rid of foam
David L. Chandler | MIT News Office In many industrial processes, such as in bioreactors that produce fuels or pharmaceuticals, foam can get in the way. Frothy bubbles can take up a lot of space, limiting the volume available for making the product and sometimes gumming up pipes and valves or damaging living cells. Companies…
Applied AI technology makes its mark on national suicide monitoring system
A joint project between Monash University and Eastern Health’s Turning Point, are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline the coding of national suicide-related ambulance data to help paramedics respond more effectively and ultimately prevent potential suicide rates. Ambulances are often the first point of contact in a crisis, making ambulance clinical records a unique data…
SwRI’s motion prediction algorithms enhance safety features for automated vehicles
Southwest Research Institute, a leading innovator of machine learning technologies, has developed a motion prediction system that enhances pedestrian detection for automated vehicles. The computer vision tool uses a novel deep-learning algorithm to predict motion by observing real-time biomechanical movements with the pelvic area being a key indicator for changes. “For instance, if a pedestrian…
PicoScope 6000E Series: a smarter scope for faster debug
Pico Technology announces the PicoScope 6000E Series FlexRes oscilloscopes, featuring 8 channels with 500 MHz bandwidth, 16 digital channels, and resolution of 8, 10 or 12 bits. The products work with PicoScope 6 application software, which takes full advantage of the latest PC performance and display capabilities, showing clean, crisp waveforms on screens of any…
Elysium’s solution supports Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE in the digital supply chain
Elysium, the global interoperability solutions provider, has integrated its advanced suite of software to support realizing MBD/MBE with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform to aid users in achieving fast, accurate, compliance-checked transfer of data in multi-CAD environments. The new Elysium integration also ensures that customized quality checks, geometry/PMI/attribute validation, and geometry simplification are done automatically within…
Oncodesign and Servier reach a key first milestone in their strategic partnership
Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company, and Oncodesign, a French biopharmaceutical company, announce reaching an important milestone in their strategic partnership on research and development of potential drug candidates for Parkinson’s Disease. In March 2019, Servier and Oncodesign entered into a research and development partnership involving the LRRK2 kinase inhibitors derived from Oncodesign’s proprietary Nanocyclix…
Cryptographic “tag of everything” could protect the supply chain
Rob Matheson | MIT News Office To combat supply chain counterfeiting, which can cost companies billions of dollars annually, MIT researchers have invented a cryptographic ID tag that’s small enough to fit on virtually any product and verify its authenticity. A 2018 report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates about $2 trillion…
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Lone Star, NASA project nominated for national aerospace achievement award
The National Aeronautic Association announced today that work being done by the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence & Innovation and NASA is among nine aviation and space achievements that will compete for the 2019 Robert J. Collier Trophy for excellence in aeronautics and astronautics in America. “We were flattered when…
How are microbes attracted to an oil spill?
When containing a massive disaster like an oil spill, small microbes play a big role. Arezoo Ardekani, a Purdue University associate professor of mechanical engineering, has published research that describes the complex hydrodynamics of microorganisms at liquid-liquid and gas-liquid interfaces, showing that microbes may flock to areas where surfactant has been applied. On April 20,…
ORNL, TVA sign agreement to collaborate on advanced reactor technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate a new generation of flexible, cost-effective advanced nuclear reactors. Under the agreement, ORNL and TVA will collaborate on ways to improve the economic feasibility of potentially licensing, building, operating and maintaining one or…
SwRI’s virtual screening software Rhodium increases processing power for coronavirus research
Drug discovery software at Southwest Research Institute is expanding the capacity to virtually screen drug compounds for possible treatment of coronavirus and other infectious diseases. SwRI’s Rhodium virtual screening tool recently evaluated 2 million drug compounds in a few days, hoping to identify high-probability drugs that may have efficacy against the coronavirus with minimal adverse…
Rice, Tennessee labs shrink laser-induced graphene for flexible electronics
You don’t need a big laser to make laser-induced graphene (LIG). Scientists at Rice University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT Knoxville) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are using a very small visible beam to burn the foamy form of carbon into microscopic patterns. The labs of Rice chemist James Tour, which discovered the…
Mixed-signal hardware security thwarts powerful electromagnetic attacks
Purdue innovators are at Silicon Valley’s premier chip-design conference to unveil technology that is 100 times more resilient to electromagnetic attacks to secure Internet of Things devices. Security of embedded devices is essential in today’s internet-connected world. Security is typically guaranteed mathematically using a small secret key to encrypt the private messages. When these computationally…
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s advanced analytical instruments recognized through respected industry awards
Thermo Fisher Scientific today announced that several of its analytical instruments and solutions have received industry recognition through multiple respected awards. These award-winning analytical solutions are enabling scientists and organizations to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer by unlocking a greater understanding of the human proteome, advancing the development of novel biotherapeutics and enhancing…
Cooling unit saves half-million gallons of water at Sandia supercomputing center
A cooling unit installed on the roof of Sandia National Laboratories’ supercomputer center saved 554,000 gallons of water during its first six months of operation last year, says David J. Martinez, engineering project lead for Sandia’s Infrastructure Computing Services. The dramatic decrease in water use, important for a water-starved state, could be the model for…