Science and research

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Since 2006, Maker Faire has offered tens of thousands of people an annual celebration of the best and brightest in the do-it-yourself movement.

But while everyone from individual tinkerers who have built small rockets to two people doing amazing things with Diet Coke and Mentos to paper airplane masters and crafters making magic out of felt has had a venue for the last five years to showcase their innovative projects, there's never been a forum for the growing number of people and companies that are developing the new business platforms that are merging manufacturing and making. … Read more

People lucky enough to be in Southeast Asia and the western U.S. this weekend will have the chance to view the first annular solar eclipse of its kind since 1994, according to NASA. Rather than a complete blocking out of the sun, as seen in a total eclipse, a "ring of fire" will radiate from behind the moon as it passes in front of the fiery globe.

The transformation will begin on Sunday as the moon makes its voyage across the sun; at one point, as much as 94 percent of the sun will be covered, according … Read more

Arrhythmia, a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of Americans every year, can lead to a stroke or even sudden cardiac death, if left untreated. And monitoring a patient's heart rhythm for a few minutes or even hours over the course of a doctor's visit often doesn't provide enough data for accurate diagnosis.

Enter the Zio Patch, a new wireless (and fully recyclable) device that adheres to the chest for up to 14 days of continuous monitoring, and can simply be removed and mailed in for results. "It's like the Netflix of heart care," … Read more

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Alex Yoder's bio below.

We are living in "the age of big data," according to The World Economic Forum. Renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil agrees. I do too.

As the likes of Google, Facebook, Adobe Systems, and IBM embrace big data with gusto, startups are also popping up with the promise to help companies discover what one of the most valuable assets in the world can accomplish for them. No industry is untouched by big data, which is notably transforming the way social networks work today. However, the key factor … Read more

Researchers are tapping into the brain's signals to ease the downsides of multitasking and information overload, a worsening problem in digital lifestyles.

A group of researchers at MIT, Indiana University, and Tufts University last week presented the Brainput computer interface device at last week's Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2012) which explores new human-machine interface designs.

Brainput seeks to address the problem of people getting overloaded when working on machines and to improve people's ability to multitask. It's geared primarily at complex control systems, but its makers say the technique could eventually spill … Read more

The influenza A virus ranks among our planet's least-controlled pathogens, resulting in seasonal epidemics and even global pandemics. The H1N1 virus of 2009 -- a new type of influenza A virus -- caused the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But despite the fast and furious spread of H1N1 that year, it turned out to affect the lungs much in the way the seasonal flu does. Using a new type of test developed at the University of Leeds "might have been a way to identify how lethal … Read more

"Made in USA." That's a designation that President Barack Obama and dozens of American companies, universities, and research labs want to apply to a new generation of high-tech materials, the White House said today.

As part of its Materials Genome Initiative, the Obama administration and partners in business, academia, and national labs are pushing the fast and efficient development and utliization of a wide range of new advanced, American-made materials. The goal is to cut the time it takes to discover, develop, and deploy these new materials in half, the White House said.

The theory behind the … Read more

Workers cut off from office e-mail for five days exhibited more natural, variable heart rates and toggled between screens less frequently than those with e-mail access, according to new research out of the University of California, Irvine, and the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center near Boston.

The "A pace not dictated by electrons" study of 13 civilian employees at the Army center is undoubtedly small, and the results, presented this week at a meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery in Austin, Texas, are only preliminary. Still, researchers say the findings were surprisingly consistent in favor of … Read more

Materials scientists have turned high-tech powders into an electronic nose that could be used for safety and health applications.

U.K.-based Peratech today announced that it has designed a device able to detect harmful chemicals, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It uses a new type of electronically conductive material, made in a powder form, which is also being used to add touch controls to mobile phones and other surfaces.

Called quantum tunneling composite material, it can create an electrical current when it bends or is touched. For the electronic nose, the material can be placed on films and … Read more