Ultrasound Used to Revive Man in Coma

                In a first, US scientists have used low-intensity ultrasound to jump-start the brain of a 25 year old man recovering from coma. The advance may lead to a portable device that can no invasively “wake up” patients in vegetative state. The technique uses sonic stimulation to excite neurons in the thalamus, the brain’s central hub. Until now, the only way to achieve this was a risky surgical procedure known as deep brain stimulation, in which electrodes are implanted inside the thalamus. Researchers used a device about the size of a coffee cup saucer which creates a small sphere of acoustic energy that can be aimed at different regions of the brain to excite its tissue. They placed it by the side of the man’s head and activated it 10 times for 30 seconds each in a 10-minute period. The device is safe because it emits only a small amount of energy.

Now, a Robot That Needs No Battery

                In a first, scientists have created a 3D-printed, octopus-like robot made of soft components and is powered by chemical reactions instead of rigid batteries and circuit boards. The robot, nicknamed Octobot, could pave the way for soft robotics. Electricity and control systems – such as batteries and circuit boards – are rigid and until now soft-bodied robots have been either tethered to an off-board system or rigged with hard components. Through researchers hybrid assembly approach, they were able to 3D print each of the functional components required within the soft robot body, including the fuel storage, power and actuation, in a rapid manner. Octopuses have long been a source of inspiration in soft robotic as they can perform incredible feats of strength and dexterity with no internal skeleton.

Your e-Car Battery Won't Run Out Even When in the Garage

                In a bid to improve on the miles electric cars give per minute of charge, researchers have designed a thin, plastic membrane that stops rechargeable batteries from discharging when not in use and allows for rapid recharging. The technology, applied for patent, controls how charge flows inside a battery, and was inspired by how cell membranes transport proteins in body. It could be applied in “super-capacitors” for electric cars and even help prevent fires that plague some models of hover-boards, researchers said. Researchers hope the “smart” membrane will enable the development of a new category of fast-charging and powerful batteries called “redox transistor batteries” for automobiles that will travel farther on a single charge.

                The best eco-car makers appear to have a hit a performance limit, and the limit is 0.4 miles-less than half a mile of driving per minute of charging, researchers said. Today’s very best eco-friendly cars can travel around 200 miles after an 8-hour charge, while gas-powered cars can cover the same distance after only minute spent at the pump. Researchers hope their technology can provide up to tens of miles per minute of charge. That is still an order of magnitude away from the equivalent measure in gasoline. Researchers are using their invention to develop a new kind of battery in which energy is stored in a liquid electrolyte, which people can recharge or empty and refill as they would refill a gas tank.

An Edible Battery to Power Medicinal Device

                An edible battery that could power medical devices put inside the body to treat diseases has been created using the skin pigment melanin. The researchers said they were able to build a prototype battery that could power a tiny 5 milliWatt device for 18 hours, which would be enough to gradually release a vaccine or to sense changes to bacteria in the gut and release medicine in response. Ordinary batteries, which are much more powerful, are used to power things like pacemakers but are toxic and have to be insulated from the body.

                The batteries makers are believed to be harmless because they are made out of natural materials. For decades, people have been envisioning that one day, awe would have edible electronic devices to diagnose or treat disease. But if you want to take a device every day, you have to think about toxicity issues. That’s when we have to think about biologically derived materials that could replace some of these things you might find in a RadioShack.

                The beauty is that by definition an ingestible, degradable device is in the body for no longer than 20 hours or so. Even if you have marginal performance, which we do, that’s all you need. Various different kind of melanin, which is found in our skin, hair and eyes, absorb ultraviolet light to protect people from its harmful effects. But they also bind and unbind metallic ions, which is essentially what happens in a battery. The researchers experimented with different kinds of batteries using melanin pigments as positive and negative terminals along with other materials such as copper and iron that are also found in the body, they reported.

                Researchers found basically that they work. The exact numbers depend on the configuration, but as an example, we can power a 5 milliWatt device for up to 18 hours using 600 milligrams of active melanin material as a cathode. The researchers are now working on making edible batteries with pectin – a gelling agent used to make jam – and other natural materials. They hope to create packaging that could allow an edible battery to be used in stomach. Researchers envision using the battery for sensing gut micro biome changes and responding with a release of medicine, or for delivering bursts of a vaccine over several hours before degrading.

Coming Soon, a Chip to Detect Hardware Virus

                Scientists, including one of Indian origin, are developing a new chip that can detect malicious circuitry and prevent hardware viruses from sabotaging medical devices, and financial, military or government electronics. The outsourcing of chip design and fabrication is a $350 billion business and bad actors along supply chain have many opportunities to install malicious circuitry in chips. These “Trojan horses” look harmless but can allow attackers to sabotage public infrastructure, Hardware defects are invisible and act surreptitiously. Researchers, are developing a chip with both an embedded module, that proves its calculations are correct, and an external module, that validates the first module’s proofs. This configuration, an example of and approach called “verifiable computing”, keeps tabs on a chip’s performance and can spot telltale signs of Trojans.

Plastic is Passe, Milk to Protect Food in Future

                Much of the plastic packaging we see in the grocery store can be recycled, from egg containers, to milk jugs, to butter tubs. But what about that thin plastic film stretched around wedges of manchego in the cheese bin or the 16-ounce rib-eye in the chiller case? It turns out that kind of plastic is tougher to recycle and might even be adding harmful chemicals to your food. Oh, and it’s not even good at doing what it’s supposed to do: prevent food spoilage.

                Luckily, researchers are investigating alternative forms of food packaging – the kind you can eat. US department of agriculture researchers have discovered that a milk protein called casein can be used to develop an edible, biodegradable packaging film. The casein-based film is up to 500 times better then plastic at keeping oxygen away from food because proteins form a tighter network when they polymerize, the researchers found. It’s also more effective than current edible packaging materials made from starch and protects food products that are sensitive to light.

                Everything is in smaller and smaller packaging, which is great for grabbing for lunch, for school, but then it generates so much waste. Edible packaging can be great for that. Flavorings, vitamins, and other additives can be used to make the packaging, and the food, tastier and nutritious. These films will be more health-enhancing then starches.

Extinct For 200 Yrs, Great Auk to Get New Life Using DNA

                Scientists are planning to bring the extinct Great Auk back from dead, almost 200 years after the penguin-sized, flightless birds disappeared. Researchers discuss reintroducing the flightless marine birds onto the Farne Islands, England. Until the species’ extinction in 19^th century, Great Auks ranged across the Atlantic from northern Europe to Iceland, Canada and the US. Flightlessness made the birds vulnerable to hunting and exploitation for its meat and feathers that reached industrial scale. In 1844, the last birds in final known colony on Iceland Island were killed. Revive and restore, a US based institute, which attempts “genetic rescue” of endangered and extinct species, said it plans to extract Great Auk DNA from fossils or preserved organs and then use data to sequence the animal’s genetic code. The important genes would then be edited into the cells of its nearest living relative, the razorbill. Fertilized embryos would then be implanted into a bird big enough to lay a great auk egg, probably a goose.