Neuroscientists prove ultrasound can be tweaked to stimulate different sensations
December 6, 2012 2:26 pm | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsA century after the world's first ultrasonic detection device – invented in response to the sinking of the Titanic – Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have provided the first neurophysiological evidence for something that researchers have long suspected: ultrasound applied to the periphery,
TWIE 125: Non-Lethal Missile Knocks Out Electronics
November 28, 2012 4:25 pm | by Engineering.com | Videos | CommentsTWIE 125: Non-Lethal Missile Knocks Out Electronics: This Week in Engineering - Seismologists convicted of manslaughter; finding damaged nuclear cores; power outage missile; robot tightrope-walker; testing bridges with rain; and bricks from cow blood.
Type 6 module includes three independent display interfaces
November 27, 2012 1:09 pm | Product Releases | CommentsADLINK Technology presents its latest COM Express offering, the Express-IB. The Express-IB is a high performance COM.0 R2.0 Type 6 module featuring an Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processor supporting Intel HD Graphics integrated on the CPU with three independent displays.
This watch could save your kid’s life
November 19, 2012 11:35 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | Articles | CommentsIf you’ve ever felt that heart-in-throat, hyperventilating, out-of-body feeling of not being able to find your kid in a park or after school, only to have her reappear after a few seconds of mind-numbing panic, you can understand why someone would want to invent a Lojack for children.
This “smart” traffic light could cut commutes by 60 percent
November 14, 2012 11:08 am | by Kasey Panetta, Associate Editor | Articles | CommentsWere you aware of the fact that you waste one week per year sitting in traffic? One week per year. That is 7 days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes, stuck in traffic. Not only is it a huge waste of time, breathing in the exhaust fumes while you sit and mentally-fume can actually be dangerous to your health
Ultra-low noise mixed-signal chip improves performance in Siemens X-ray computed tomography scanner
November 14, 2012 10:13 am | Product Releases | Commentsams announced that it is supplying a highly integrated ASIC which enables a new Siemens photo-detector module for computer tomography (CT) to deliver higher resolution images at lower X-ray dosages. The ams ASIC, which is part of Siemens’ new Stellar CT photo-detector module, captures and digitizes images of a patient’s body.
Power supply series adds 310-W and 1500-W models with industrial and medical safety approvals
November 13, 2012 12:15 pm | Product Releases | CommentsEmerson Network Power launched two new models in the LCM Series of AC-DC power supplies. With the addition of the LCM300 and LCM1500, rated for 310 W and 1,500 W loads, alongside the existing 600 W LCM600 unit, the series can now provide
Donating in the wake of Sandy gets social with apps
November 12, 2012 2:18 pm | by Natasha Baker, Reuters | News | CommentsPeople eager to support relief efforts following Hurricane Sandy can use apps that provide creative ways of donating to charity and nudge friends to do the same.Budge, an iPhone app released last week, aims to make donating to charity social. Friends can challenge each other in games and activities such as chess or
Pedometers play up every step you take
November 12, 2012 9:04 am | by Dorene Internicola, Reuters | News | CommentsPedometers have ticked off many miles since Leonardo da Vinci sketched his version, essentially a pendulum for walkers, in the 15th century.While step counting will never be a magic fitness pill, experts say this most pedestrian of gadgets can put extra spring in an ambulatory routine. "Just as a watch can't make a person be on time,
Medical devices powered by the ear itself
November 9, 2012 9:24 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsDeep in the inner ear of mammals is a natural battery — a chamber filled with ions that produces an electrical potential to drive neural signals. In today's issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, a team of researchers from MIT, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) and the Harvard-MIT
Do you have what it takes to be a Roundtable expert?
November 8, 2012 11:11 am | Articles | CommentsIn October, we asked you for your words of wisdom for a brand-new design engineer and boy, did you guys have advice in spades. The responses we received were so good in fact, we’ve decided to open up our December Roundtable to our faithful readers in hopes that you can offer more words of wisdom.
Stem cells + nanofibers = Promising nerve research
November 8, 2012 9:00 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsEvery week in his clinic at the University of Michigan, neurologist Joseph Corey, M.D., Ph.D., treats patients whose nerves are dying or shrinking due to disease or injury. He sees the pain, the loss of ability and the other effects that nerve-destroying conditions cause – and wishes he could give patients
Virtual reality could help people lose weight, fight prejudice
November 7, 2012 9:17 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsInternet-based interactive games and social media outlets have become intertwined with the physical realities of millions of people around the world. When an individual strongly identifies with the cyber representation of themselves, known as an avatar, the electronic doppelganger can influence
Eldercare robots
November 6, 2012 5:08 pm | by Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report | Blogs | CommentsIn December, 2003, BusinessWeek Magazine interviewed Joseph Engelberger, the robotics pioneer. The article was entitled "How Robots Lost Their Way." Included in the article was a plea for money to build an eldercare robot which Engelberger thought could be built with then-current technologies...
Is glasses-free 3D ready for industrial/medical applications?
November 6, 2012 4:36 pm | by Dale Maunu, Senior Business Planning Analyst, Renesas Electronics America | Articles | CommentsHarking back to the good-old-days, before social media, before texting, before mobile phones – all the way back to when we (not me literally) received news from the wireless (radio), this new-fangled invention came along called the TV and sat down in living rooms everywhere.
LED drivers suit large industrial displays
November 6, 2012 1:44 pm | Endicott Research Group | Product Releases | CommentsEndicott Research Group (ERG) has introduced its Large Display Solutions: LED drivers and rails specifically designed for LCDs in the 19” to 27” diagonal range. The series includes the SFDZ, SFDQ and SFDT driver modules. The SFDZ Series driver provides
New mobile app helps migraine sufferers track and analyze pain
November 6, 2012 9:02 am | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsA new iPhone app developed at the University of Michigan lets migraine or facial pain patients easily track and record their pain, which in turn helps the treating clinician develop a pain management plan. Dr. Alexandre DaSilva, director of the Headache & Orofacial Pain Effort (H.O.P.E.) at the U-M School of Dentistry and one of the project developers,
Multiple Code Reading Applications Made Easy
November 2, 2012 11:32 am | by Cognex | White PapersReading more than one barcode at a time is a challenging application for many manufacturing and material handling engineers. In these applications there is a need to read multiple codes of the same symbology as well as multiple codes of mixed symbologies within one field of view (FOV). Even more difficult is reading one or more codes on multiple sides of a package to verify that the codes match or to output both sides’ read results as one piece of data. Laser scanners have difficulty reading codes that are poorly printed, damaged or defective, are at extreme perspectives and that are omnidirectional. They cannot manage when variations occur in part and package positioning. And they cannot read 2-D codes at all, which means that they have no way to compete in two of the four types of multiple code reading applications we commonly see. Image-based code reading technology can handle much more variation in barcode printing than traditional laser scanners and can also read codes presented at any angle or omnidirectionally. Additionally, the life of an image-based scanner, with no moving parts, is longer and more reliable than a mechanical based laser scanner. With this information, image-based barcode reading solutions make a great replacement for laser scanners even when reading single barcodes and are especially exceptional with multiple barcodes of the same or different symbology types
Top 10 must-see posts from October
November 1, 2012 1:49 pm | by The ECN Editors | Articles | CommentsHere’s a rundown of the most read, most popular, most awesome articles on the web. Take a look at what you missed the first time around or check up on an old favorite to see the conversation in the comments. Keep checking out the Lead at www.ecnmag.com and follow us on Twitter @ecnonline for our most up-to-date articles.
Genetic test results for Lynch syndrome improved with new computer program
November 1, 2012 1:33 pm | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsMany patients who have genetic testing for Lynch syndrome, a hereditary predisposition to colon cancer, receive the inconclusive result "variants of uncertain clinical significance." This can be a problem, as people with Lynch syndrome have a much higher probability to develop...
Computational medicine enhances the way doctors detect and treat disease
November 1, 2012 1:21 pm | by Johns Hopkins University | News | CommentsComputational medicine, a fast-growing method of using computer models and sophisticated software to figure out how disease develops–and how to thwart it–has begun to leap off the drawing board and land in the hands of doctors who treat patients for heart ailments, cancer and other illnesses.
Design requirements for automotive displays
November 1, 2012 11:34 am | by Mike Mallory, Electrical Engineer, Ocular LCD | Articles | CommentsTouch panel demand continues to rapidly increase and applications utilizing this advanced technology are expanding into a wide variety of markets. According to DisplaySearch, projected capacitive touch panels have surpassed resistive touch panels in shipments and revenue.
90-W to 105-W medical & ITE AC/DC power adapters tout efficiency and up-to-date agency approvals
November 1, 2012 11:13 am | Product Releases | CommentsTumbler Technologies + TRUMPower launched the TMP105 Series of 90 W to 105 W AC/DC power adapters, which is approved to the latest medical and ITE safety standards. The series comes equipped with
Amputee to climb stairs of Chicago skyscraper using thought-controlled bionic leg
October 31, 2012 9:14 am | by CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer | News | CommentsZac Vawter considers himself a test pilot. After losing his right leg in a motorcycle accident, the 31-year-old software engineer signed up to become a research subject, helping to test a trailblazing prosthetic leg that's controlled by his thoughts. He will put this groundbreaking bionic leg to the ultimate test Sunday when
Study of 20,000 jumps shows how a hopping robot could conserve its energy
October 30, 2012 2:57 pm | by Eurekalert! | News | CommentsA new study shows that jumping can be much more complicated than it might seem. In research that could extend the range of future rescue and exploration robots, scientists have found that hopping robots could dramatically reduce the amount of energy they use by adopting a unique two-part "stutter jump."


