Carnegie Mellon-Disney researcher invents 3D printing technique for making cuddly stuff
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Apr 30, 2014 -
Soft and cuddly aren't words used to describe the plastic or metal things typically produced by today's 3D printers. But a new type of printer developed by Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research Pittsburgh can turn wool and wool blend yarns into fabric objects that people might actually enjoy touching.
The device looks something like a cross between a 3D printer and a sewing machin ...
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Research shows smartphone sensors leave trackable fingerprints
Chicago IL (SPX) Apr 30, 2014 -
Fingerprints - those swirling residues left on keyboards and doorknobs - are mostly invisible. They can affirm your onetime presence, but they cannot be used to track your day-to-day activities.
They cannot tell someone in real time that after exercising at the gym, you went to office in a bus and played video games during lunch. But what if our hand-held electronics are leaving real-time ...
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A Glassy Look for Manganites
Berkeley CA (SPX) Apr 30, 2014 -
Manganites - compounds of manganese oxides - show great promise as "go-to" materials for future electronic devices because of their ability to instantly switch from an electrical insulator to a conductor under a wide variety of external stimuli, including magnetic fields, photo-excitations and vibrational excitations.
This ultrafast switching arises from the many different ways in which th ...
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Programming the smart home: 'If this, then that'
Providence RI (SPX) Apr 30, 2014 -
The idea of a smart home sounds promising enough. Who doesn't want a house full of automated gadgets - from light switches to appliances to heating systems - that know exactly when to turn on, turn off, heat up or power down?
But in order for all those devices to do what they're supposed to do, they'll need to be programed - a task the average homeowner might not have the interest or the t ...
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Hydro-power plants partly blamed for deadly India floods: study
New Delhi (AFP) April 30, 2014 -
Hydropower projects in northern India were partly to blame for devastating floods last year that killed thousands, a government report has concluded, in a warning to other Himalayan nations investing in the alternative energy source.
Floods and landslides caused by early monsoon rains tore through the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand last June leaving more than 5,500 people dead or missing, an ...
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Graphene Not All Good
Riverside CA (SPX) May 01, 2014 -
In a first-of-its-kind study of how a material some think could transform the electronics industry moves in water, researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering found graphene oxide nanoparticles are very mobile in lakes or streams and therefore likely to cause negative environmental impacts if released.
Graphene oxide nanoparticles are an oxidized fo ...
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Newly Identified 'Universal' Property of Metamagnets May Lead to Everyday Uses
Charlottesville VA (SPX) May 01, 2014 -
A new physics discovery made by a University of Virginia-led team may lead to more efficient refrigerators, heat pumps and airport scanners, among many possible uses -perhaps within a decade.
The team of physicists and materials scientists have discovered a universal law governing the magnetic properties of metamagnets - metal alloys that can undergo dramatic increases in magnetization whe ...
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