Cybernetics News
 | Dr. Sumeet Dua, the Upchurch Endowed Professor of Computer Science and coordinator of information technology research at Louisiana Tech University, has co-edited a new book on computational modeling methods that can help ophthalmologists develop innovative computer systems to provide critical support and better care options for patients. ...> Full Article |
 | Engineers and physicians have made a surprising discovery that offers a target for designing new materials for hip implants that are less susceptible to the joint's normal wear and tear. The team, including engineers from Northwestern University, found that graphitic carbon is a key element in a lubricating layer that forms on metal-on-metal hip implants. The lubricant is more similar to the lubrication of a combustion engine than that of a natural joint. ...> Full Article |
A new study, bringing together an interdisciplinary team of physicians and engineers from the United States and Germany, made a surprising finding about implants used in hip replacement surgery: Graphite carbon is a key element in the lubricating layer that forms on metal-on-metal hip implants. The lubricant has more in common with the lubrication of a combustion engine than that of a natural joint. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
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A new way of manipulating fluids on microscopic levels brings us one step closer to "bottom-up" artificial cell constructs.
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Monitored by scientists at Kessler Foundation, six people with traumatic spinal cord injuries tested Ekso, the robotic exoskeleton from Ekso Bionics that enables wheelchair users to stand and walk. The six participated in one week of preliminary testing in October. Five, paraplegia; one, quadriplegia; age range 27 to 45. In early 2012, the research team, headed by senior research scientist Gail Forrest, Ph.D., will commence a clinical study in collaboration with Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation.
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 | Researchers from North Carolina State University, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of California, San Diego, have developed new technology that uses microneedles to allow doctors to detect real-time chemical changes in the body -- and to continuously do so for an extended period of time. ...> Full Article |
 | It looks like bone. It feels like bone. For the most part, it acts like bone.
And it came off an inkjet printer.
Washington State University researchers have used a 3D printer to create a bone-like material that can be used in orthopedic procedures, dental work, and to deliver medicine for treating osteoporosis. Paired with actual bone, it acts as a scaffold for new bone to grow on and ultimately dissolves with no apparent ill effects.
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New hip implants appear to have no advantage over traditional implants, suggests a review of the evidence published on bmj.com today.
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Coating the surface of an implant such as a new hip or pacemaker with nanosized metallic particles reduces the risk of rejection, and researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, can now explain why: they fool the innate immune system. The results are presented in the International Journal of Nanomedicine.
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 | Computer scientists and engineers at Harvard University have developed and licensed technology that will make it easy to test collective algorithms on hundreds, or even thousands, of tiny robots. Called Kilobots, the quarter-sized bug-like devices scuttle around on three toothpick-like legs, interacting and coordinating their own behavior as a team. ...> Full Article |
A plastic surgery research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and an engineering team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have described a new method of nerve stimulation that reduces electrical threshold by 40 percent, compared with traditional functional electrical stimulation therapy.
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 | Scientists at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the Universidad de Granada have developed a new computer system that allows a machine to automatically recognize the emotional state of a person who is orally communicating with it. ...> Full Article |
To see if a more naturally asymmetric design could improve blood flow, researchers created aluminum models of asymmetric valves, similar in size to the valves of an adult human heart.
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The streaming of real-time information across your field of vision is a step closer to reality with the development of a prototype contact lens that could potentially provide the wearer with hands-free information updates.
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 | Robotics researchers in Munich have joined forces with Japanese scientists to develop an ingenious technical solution that gives robots a human face. By using a projector to beam the 3D image of a face onto the back of a plastic mask, and a computer to control voice and facial expressions, the researchers have succeeded in creating Mask-bot, a startlingly human-like plastic head. ...> Full Article |
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Birds of a feather don't always stick together
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Nature Materials study: Graphene 'invisible' to water
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Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
Energy-saving chaperon Hsp90
'Tiger mothers' should tame parenting approach
Film coatings made from whey
Appropriate activities promote children’s creativity and mathematical learning
Growing US violent extremism by the numbers
Backpacks, not the bombs inside, key to finding DNA
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
New book on computational analysis of human eye
Hips that function better and last longer
Microneedle sensors may allow real-time monitoring of body chemistry
Researchers use a 3-D printer to make bone-like material 
Kilobots are leaving the nest
A computer system allows a machine to recognize a person's emotional state
Mask-bot: A robot with a human face