GPS ‘Junk’ Data Reveals Volcanic Plumes
Scientists may be able to track dangerous ash-filled clouds by using information similar to the bars showing signal strength on a cell phone.
The new technique analyzes the GPS’s “signal strength” — the intensity of a GPS signal – as it attempts to cut through a volcanic plume. The research was published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The dangerous particles within these plumes can clog an airplane’s engines and send it plummeting from the sky.
Two years ago this month, Grímsvötn, a volcano in Iceland, erupted, leaving behind a thick column of ash that led to canceled flights all over Europe for days.
June 4th, 2013
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Terahertz Scanner Lets Smartphones See Through Objects
UT Dallas electrical engineers have designed an imaging chip that could let mobile phones peer through walls, wood, plastics, paper and other objects.
Researchers led by Kenneth O, director of the Texas Analog Center of Excellence and an electrical engineering professor, are using new microchip technology to see into the terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelengths that fall between microwave and infrared.
A university announcement says the technology could be used to find studs in walls, to authenticate important documents and money, and for medical imaging and environmental monitoring.
Top Image: Smartphone via Shutterstock.
May 8th, 2013
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RoboBee Maneuvers and Hovers Like a Flying Insect
The buzzing sound coming from one Harvard lab isn’t a fly infestation but rather a tiny, insect-like robot. The approximately penny-sized robot dubbed RoboBee mimics the aerial prowess of houseflies, one of the most agile fliers on Earth. And like a fly, RoboBee features two independently flapping wings that allow it to hover or perform basic controlled flight maneuvers.
“This is the world’s first demonstration of a fully unconstrained flapping wing insect-scale robot,” says Kevin Ma, a doctoral student at the Harvard University Microrobotics Laboratory and lead author of a paper published this week in Science describing the machine. While small helicopters and hummingbird-size flapping robots exist, Ma says, those creations are around ten times the size of the RoboBee.
“We’re very impressed by the maneuverability and agility that [insects] like bees and flies share,” he continues. “One day, a robot like this could afford us that same agility and maneuverability.”
May 3rd, 2013
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Radioactive Metal Hitches Ride on Bacteria to Fight Deadly Cancer
Researchers looking for a novel strategy to fight pancreatic cancer say they have found that radioactive bacteria can attack and kill diseased cells without harming healthy tissue.
With a five-year survival rate of only 4 percent, pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease. The National Cancer Institute predicts more than 45,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed and nearly 38,500 people will die from it this year. The disease is often difficult to fight because it is hard to detect in its early stages., The cancer has typically already spread or metastasized by the time noticeable symptoms appear, and there are currently no effective cures for its advanced form.
Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City were investigating the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes as a potential vehicle to deliver treatments for the cancer. Wild versions of the microbe are responsible for causing a dangerous form of food poisoning, but the researchers were experimenting with a weakened strain of the organism. The idea was to use a genetically modified version of the germ to carry molecules normally seen on tumors around the body so the immune system could recognize cancerous cells as threats — the biological equivalent of passing around wanted posters to police officers.
Unexpectedly, they discovered that even when weakened, Listeria could infect cancer cells.
April 24th, 2013
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