newsobserver.com blogs -- science

NCSU researchers make a see-through breakthrough

matthewfortner — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:01:57 -0400

Researchers at N.C. State University have developed a breakthrough that could have far-reaching impact on industrial and consumer electronics.

The chair of materials science and engineering, Dr. Jay Narayan, and his team at NCSU have developed a thin film that can handle more power and withstand more extreme conditions than solid state silicon electronics that have been in use for decades.

Better heat and radiation resistance makes it more suitable for automotive applications and space technology.

But there is another fascinating property of these oxide films. "These materials are also transparent," Narayan says, "so this makes transparent electronics possible."

Transparent displays, solar cells and embedded biocompatible medical devices are examples of where this technology could be used.

The material is the first functional oxide thin film that can be used efficiently in electronics.

This is the first time that researchers have been able to produce positively charged (p-type) conduction and negatively charged (n-type) conduction in a single oxide material. Using lasers, the team is able to precisely create the crucial positive-negative junctions resulting in greater efficiency.

Oxide films could be used to create higher voltage switches for the power grid, allowing more power to be transmitted on the existing infrastructure. This could make power transmission less expensive.

For more information read the press release from N.C. State.

Powerful 3 minute documentary on 'beatless' artificial heart

matthewfortner — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:09:32 -0500

Here is a quick, but powerful take on the story of a new continuous-flow artificial heart.

Heart Stop Beating | Jeremiah Zagar from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Study finds cellphones nasty

matthewfortner — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:40:34 -0400

Forget about cellphone radiation, it's the bacteria users need to worry about.

In addition to all those apps and music, a study reveals that many mobile phones are contaminated with fecal matter.

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London shared the results to highlight Global Handwashing Day. The research conducted in Britain found that more than hands of one in seven users and one in six phones were contaminated with hazardous e. coli bacteria which is found in feces .

That is something to think about the next time you lend or borrow a phone.

Glow-in-the-dark cats …shed light... on AIDS research

matthewfortner — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:39:44 -0400

A team of scientists genetically modified cats resulting in felines that glow in the dark.

Researches inserted a feline AIDS resistant gene. So the cats with the AIDS resistant trait could be more easily identified, they also inserted the gene for the fluorescent effect. Both genes were injected into feline eggs.

The research may raise the hair on the backs of some animal advocates, but it seems glow-in-the-dark cats have an even more endearing effect online.

From the BBC to HuffPo, this story has gone viral.

Jupiter making closest approach in nearly 50 years

matthewfortner — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:57:21 -0400

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Better catch Jupiter next week in the night sky. It won't be that big or bright again until 2022. Jupiter will pass 368 million miles from Earth late Monday, its closest approach since 1963. You can see it low in the east around dusk. Around midnight, it will be directly overhead. That's because Earth will be passing between Jupiter and the sun, into the wee hours of Tuesday.

The solar system's largest planet already appears as an incredibly bright star - three times brighter than the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. The only thing brighter in the night sky right now is our moon. Binoculars and telescopes will dramatically improve the view as Jupiter, along with its many moons, rises in the east as the sun sets.

"Jupiter is so bright right now, you don't need a sky map to find it," said Tony Phillips, a California astronomer under contract with NASA. "You just walk outside and see it. It's so eye-catching, there it is."

Phillips has never seen Jupiter so bright. "To an experienced observer, the difference is notable," he said Friday.

Coincidentally, Uranus also will make a close approach the same night. It will appear close to Jupiter but harder to see with the naked eye. Through a telescope, it will shine like an emerald-colored disk less than one degree from Jupiter.

Jupiter comes relatively close to Earth about every 12 years. In 1999, it passed slightly farther away. What's rare this time is Uranus making a close appearance at the same time, Phillips said. He called it "a once-in-a-lifetime event." While seen right next to Jupiter through a telescope, Uranus actually will be 1.7 billion miles from Earth on Monday night.

Phillips urges stargazers not to give up if it's cloudy Monday night. Jupiter will remain relatively close for many weeks, he noted, providing good viewing opportunities for some time. And for those who are early risers instead of night owls, Jupiter will be visible setting in the west just before sunrise.

US face transplant patient promotes organ donation

matthewfortner — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:51:23 -0400

By MEGHAN BARR Associated Press Writer

There is an initial shock upon first glance at Connie Culp, the woman who received the nation's first face transplant nearly two years ago. She taps her way through the hospital waiting room, feeling along the floor with a cane and smiling hesitantly at a visitor, even though she can only make out shadows and shapes.

Her face is wide and square-jawed. It is altogether too large for her diminutive frame, and therein lies the jolt of surprise: Up close, it's clear that this face does not belong to that body.

Her nose is long and straight. Her skin is cream-colored and smooth. She's wearing a soft gray shirt with a rhinestone brooch pinned to the collar. Ever since her husband shot her in the face in 2004, Culp doesn't concern herself with what other people think of her appearance.

"It don't matter what you look like, somebody's gonna find fault with you," she says, waving a hand dismissively. "Either the way you talk or something, you know? Nobody's perfect."

Life is on the upswing for Culp, 47, who underwent her final surgery in July. In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic, Culp discussed her plans to become an advocate for organ donation. It was the choice of one anonymous donor that spared her from a life of eating and breathing through a tube, she says.

"My whole family had a hard time even coming around me because of the way I looked," she says. "We're closer than ever now." She stops, looking uncomfortable. "I mean, I hate to say that about my family. But it's hard."

The most recent surgery - essentially a face-lift - removed the flaps of skin that hung from her cheeks and chin, which weighed down her face and caused frequent headaches. The result, to her delight, is a face that's much thinner and more shapely. She can smile more easily now. She can feel the lips of her 3-year-old grandson when he kisses her on the cheek. And she recently ate a steak for the first time in years.

"This is still swelling from the surgery," she says, touching her round lower cheeks, "so this will eventually go down, too."

Her voice is muffled and slurs a bit, owing to the slow movement of her jaw. The nerve endings in her face are still growing back, so some patches of skin are more sensitive than others. Part of her recovery involves facial exercises that teach her face how to move again.

In photographs taken before the transplant, Culp's face was gnarled. Her nose was destroyed. All vision in her right eye was gone. The blast shattered her cheeks, the roof of her mouth, her lower eyelids, her upper jaw and her palate. All that remained were her upper eyelids, forehead, lower lip and chin.

Thirty operations later, she still couldn't eat solid food or breathe on her own. Doctors had installed metal screws where she was supposed to get new teeth.

"I never received the teeth," she says. "So I kind of looked like I was a dragon or something. I had this nose that come down straight with the little holes in them. I looked pretty bad."

It was difficult for her family to see her that way, knowing they could do nothing to ease her pain, Culp says.

Then, in December 2008, she was told that doctors at the clinic had found a donor: a woman about her age who had recently died. That's all Culp ever learned about her donor.

In an operation that took 22 hours, a team of doctors used that woman's face to replace 80 percent of Culp's, using the bone, muscles, nerves, skin and blood vessels. It was the world's fourth face transplant. Without that donor, Culp says, she might have waited years more for another match. The surgery gave her the freedom to eat solid food, drink from a cup, smell, taste, breathe on her own and smile.

"Just one person can make a difference by donating your organ," she says.

Earlier this week, Culp spoke at an event organized by LifeBanc, a nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization in northeast Ohio. In this new phase of her life, she plans to do more advocacy work on behalf of organ donation. She already had signed up to be an organ donor on her driver's license before she was shot.

During the interview with the AP, she frequently refers to that time "before" - before her husband shot her, then turned the gun on himself. Her husband, who is serving seven years in prison for attempted aggravated murder, is set to be released in October 2011.

She prefers not to answer questions about him, yet speaks of him as if he might be waiting for her outside.

"Oh, I used to cut wood and everything with my husband," she says. "We'd have fun out in the woods."

Together they ran a painting business in the small town of Unionport, near the Pennsylvania state line. They painted everything from fast-food restaurants to schools, their children often pitching in to help. Later, they bought a tavern.

"We should've stuck to painting," she says.

She misses that. And she misses being able to read and mow the lawn, one of her favorite things to do when her eyesight was clear.

But she can play with her grandson, Maddox, a little boy who never knew his grandmother before her face was destroyed, when she was a pretty brunette with high cheek bones and a wide smile.

After her most recent surgery, Culp pulled down her face mask and showed Maddox the changes. He said, "OK Grandma," and happily climbed onto the bed next to her.

"Don't you wish all people was like kids?" she says.

She still gets headaches sometimes, usually when it's very hot or very cold. In the years to come, she will continue taking immune-suppressing drugs and having regular checkups at the hospital.

As Culp ambles down the corridor, heading for the elevator, doctors and nurses stop to hug her. Here, she is a celebrity, a symbol of the marvels of modern medicine. Someday she would like to meet Isabelle Dinoire, a French woman who underwent the first partial face transplant in 2005.

"I haven't really met anybody that had transplants yet," she says. "I'm looking forward to it."

Home computers aid in discovery of neutron star

matthewfortner — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:00:00 -0400

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer

Ordinary computers like those folks use to send e-mail or surf the Internet are being credited with finding a previously unknown neutron star.

Home office computers in Ames, Iowa, and Mainz, Germany, were cited Thursday in the discovery of fast-rotating pulsar called PSR J2007+2722.

It was the first scientific discovery for the project, known as Einstein(at)Home, that uses spare computer power donated by 250,000 volunteers in 192 countries, according to Bruce Allen, director of effort.

"This is a thrilling moment for Einstein(at)Home and our volunteers. It proves that public participation can discover new things in our universe," said Allen, who is director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany and adjunct professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The finding of the new pulsar was reported Thursday in Science Express, the online version of the journal Science.

Data collected by the giant radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico are divided among the home computers for analysis and the results are fed back researchers based at the Cornell Center for Advanced Computing, the Albert Einstein Institute in Hannover, Germany and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Einstein(at)Home is one of several scientific research projects using home computers that people make available. The research programs run in the background, using spare computing power that otherwise would go unused.

The data sent to home computers is tagged with an identifying number so the researchers can determine which one first makes any actual discovery.

In this case the pulsar was first identified June 11 by a computer owned by Chris and Helen Colvin of Ames, Iowa, and was confirmed three days later on the computer of Daniel Gebhardt of Mainz, Germany.

The Colvins work in information technology for private businesses while Gebhardt works on computerized music at the University of Mainz.

Because the work is done in the background on their machines, neither the Colvins nor Gebhardt realized they were part of a discovery until they were informed by Allen.

Allen said that, since this discovery, the project has also found a new paired star system, but hasn't learned enough about it to discuss in detail. That find, he said, was made by home computers in the United Kingdom and Russia.

Einstein(at)Home is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Max Planck Institute.

Blinded by the science of whippin' it

dmenconi — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:28:00 -0400

Sometimes, with apologies to Devo, you really do just have to whip it:

Solar-powered flight takes off

paigemaxwell — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:43:37 -0400

An experimental solar plane took off today for a 24-hour test flight, with the goal of having it fly day or night without fuel. Read more about it here.

NCSU steps up to develop next generation hazmat boots

matthewfortner — Fri, 28 May 2010 07:30:58 -0400

North Carolina State University hopes its research will develop a better hazmat boot.

Current rubber boots that emergency personal wear at scenes where hazardous materials are involved are functional, but apparently are slippery and uncomfortable.

Rubber is easy to clean and decontaminate. More comfortable leather boots absorb liquids making them ill-suited Researchers from the university's school of Textile Engineering Chemistry and Science are confident they can develop a solution.

“We’re currently in the process of creating prototypes of this new hazmat boot. We have been exploring options like providing a finish to the leather that would reduce chemical absorption, while making it easy to clean and decontaminate,” says Dr. Roger Barker, the lead researcher. “So we’re not just creating a leather HazMat boot, we’re also designing a simple cleaning method to use on the boot that is readily available to onsite emergency personnel.”

The university is also testing the prototype boots for comfort, ergonomic function, traction and stability.

“We’ll be doing tests by visiting fire departments and getting first responders to wear the different prototypes while performing activities such as walking up and down steps, on different terrains, and through a simulated task routine, ” Barker says.

Once the design is final, the next phase is certification through the National Fire Protection Association.

via NCSU Press Release, Caroline Barnhill

Recycling cigarette leftovers put butts to work

matthewfortner — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:00:43 -0400

Researchers claim they have devised a viable means to make recycling cigarette filters worth the cost.

Chinese scientists say they have developed a recycling process to extract chemicals from cigarette butts which can be used to make highly effective anit-corrosive compounds for a type of steel used in the oil industry. Replacing rusting pipes and components are costly maintenance for oil companies.

Cigarette butts can survive in the sea for up to 15 years and 4.5 trillion are disposed of every year.

via BBC

Ultrasound tested as male contraceptive

matthewfortner — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:01:07 -0400

Researchers think ultrasound doses administered twice a year may be effective birth control for males.

Funded by $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of N.C. study thinks it could be the best means of male contraception. Non-hormonal and cheap, a treatment would last up to six months.

The hope is to develop just a convenient means, but an effective, low-cost form of birth control that could be implemented from developing nations and wealthy nations.

Walgreen to sell genetic test kits | Video

matthewfortner — Thu, 13 May 2010 07:00:59 -0400

Walgreen will start selling genetic testing kits at many of its stores later this month, according to Pathway Genomics, which makes the kits.

Pathway said Tuesday that Walgreen will sell saliva swab kits that are used to determine predisposition for chronic diseases, and response to common drugs like Plavix, Tamoxifen and Coumadin.

They can also be used to determine if a person carries a gene for diseases like Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, and Tay-Sachs disease.

The tests will be available at Walgreen stores starting in mid-May, it said.

The company said the testing kits will cost $20 to $30 each and will include a saliva collection kit and a postage-paid envelope that customers can use to send their saliva sample to the Pathway laboratory.

Customers can then go Pathway's Web site and order tests. Pathway says the tests - for drug response, "pre-pregnancy planning" and "health conditions" - start at $79 and run up to $249 for all three.

State and federal public health officials, however, have urged consumers to be skeptical, noting that related research is in its earliest stages and doctors have little training in interpreting the results.

Is climate tweaking the answer?

paigemaxwell — Mon, 10 May 2010 07:52:12 -0400

Geoengineering is a hot topic in the science world, but can it be a shortcut to combat global warming? Read more on what local scientists have to say about the ramifications of deliberately altering the Earth's atmosphere here.

Laser used to create clouds, future of rainmaking

matthewfortner — Tue, 04 May 2010 08:15:57 -0400

Lasers are used in more applications than we had ever thought. They are found in operating rooms, computers and even make good cat toys. Swiss scientists have shown lasers also have the potential to make rain.

Via NewScientist

The scoop on soda

matthewfortner — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:00:05 -0400

How much soda do Americans drink? Did you know Pepsi tried a yogurt flavored variety? That is not the worst of it either. Soak up these soda stats and scientific facts.

Click to enlarge.

Via: Online Schools

Scientific Tuesday: Fun with milk

matthewfortner — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:45:16 -0400

With milk, food coloring and dish detergent, you can make your milk magically swirl with color.

Fun facts on ...yes, flatulence

matthewfortner — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:31:32 -0400

Termites top the list of most flatulent offenders. What foods bring on gas? Are they flammable?

Via: Online Schools

Video: Atlas V blasts off

matthewfortner — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:46:56 -0400

The Atlas V rocket launched Thursday from Cape Canaveral for a space mission shrouded in secrecy. The U.S. Air Force will only say that the unmanned rocket is carrying a test vehicle that will conduct various experiments over the next several months.

Video: Final spacewalk of Discovery mission

matthewfortner — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:21:02 -0400

Astronauts install and activate a cooling tank at the International Space Station this week.