innovation – Page 11 – TechieTonics

Neuroprosthetic Devices on Deep Brain Simulation Technology: Implants to Restore Memories

May 31, 2014June 18, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

A new initiative by the US military program focuses around treating defense personals from the after effects of being into war. In majority of cases, soldiers who come back from battle zones develop adjustment problems or psychiatric disorders to be more specific. For instance, combatants were diagnosed with “shell shock” during the era of WW I, “battle fatigue” during WW II and in Vietnam War, it was PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Backed up by President Obama’s brain initiative, DARPA has received a funding of $70 million from the US to…

Learning Process helps Survival of New Neurons: Using Brain at Optimal Levels

May 28, 2014May 31, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

In an interesting study in the field of neuroscience, researchers have postulated that learning during the early ages of life helps in the survival of brain cells. Early learning also influence the functioning of brain cells after puberty claimed the same team. An experiment on rats demonstrated that brain cells that were exposed to learning survived with respect to the brain cells in animals that were not allowed to master a particular task. In addition, it was observed that the latter set of animals died quickly too.

Internal Monitoring System Responsible for Neural Self-Regulation: The Most Complex Machinery

May 27, 2014May 31, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Parts of any machinery can be replaced, modified or tampered with only when the machine is in an off mode. It is nearly impossible to fiddle around with any operational part while it’s functioning. However, the same principle does not apply for our biological process, especially when we are talking about a nerve cell. This continuous rebuilding without affecting the overall operations has always been neuroscience’s biggest questions. Many theories have been put forward but none of them has ever reached any concrete census. Lately, Eve Marder, the Victor and…

Nano- Bots to Enter into the Arteries for Delivering Drugs: High-Performing Nanomotors

May 27, 2014May 27, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Very soon, we would be witnessing a 3D world on microchips. During the beginning of this year, researchers at Penn State University demonstrated the movement of nanomotors in controlled manner inside living cells. And now, experts at the University of Texas Austin have developed one of the fastest spinning and relatively longer shelf life nanomotor. The newly fabricated nanomotor has an ability of spinning continuously for nearly 15 hours with a speed of 18k rpm. This is an innovative product in the league where the existing nanomotors display an efficiency…

Stimulating Neurons can modify Human Learning: Curbing the Addictive Behaviors

May 14, 2014May 31, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania have put forth a research as per which excitation of a set of dopamine-sodden neurons within the brain has substantial chances of altering the learning process. These neurons are present in substantia nigra, the grey matter in the midbrain. Stimulating this patch of the brain has resulted in altered learning by swaying people to reiterate physical actions leading to positive reinforcement producing immediate reward. For the experiment, eleven individuals who were going through deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment for Parkinson’s disease were taken into…

Right Enzymes Replicated the Semi-Synthetic DNA: Expanded-DNA Biology

May 9, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Scientists always dig deeper into the functioning of nature in order for their better understandings. At times, these trials and errors have given rise to serendipity or accidental discoveries in science, amongst others, recent being how sliding saltwater over graphene generated electricity. While at other times, these experiments go beyond the natural order of workings even at the miniscule level.

Farm Bots Will Milk the Cows: Robotics in the Ranch

May 2, 2014 Neha Shukla

Robots are quickly making entry into almost all aspects of human work from household to industries, these machines are just everywhere making work easier and faster too. They have also entered in dairy farms, which were so far managed by humans.

Predictive Power of Brain: Similar Activity Patterns are Exhibited amid Speakers and Listeners

May 1, 2014September 18, 2020 Neha Shukla

At times, won’t we experience that while conversing with someone, the other person just say what were thinking or were about to spill out the same topic. And then we mutter, “what a coincidence” or as I say, “great minds thing alike” 🙂 well, this actually is not the case, neuroscientists have discovered new findings about the role of the brain during a communication. They say that people often predict what the speaker is about to say, because the brain activity of the listener is similar to the speaker.

Heatmaps Reveal Correlation Between Emotions and Body Sensations

April 28, 2014April 28, 2014 Wa'd Abuzurayk

Science has proven times and times again that emotions cannot be separated from our physical well-being. Various emotional conditions play an important role in our biology. Brain activity and hormones and examples of things that are affected by one’s various emotional states. A recent study demonstrated that different emotions are judged to correlate with different body parts. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, was conducted by a team of bio-medical engineers, with 700 participants from three countries, those being Finland, Sweden and Taiwan. The…

X-Ray Triggered Nanoparticle Photosensitizer: Photodynamic Therapy

April 19, 2014April 18, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

While working upon new security-related radiation detection, researchers at the University of Texas, Arlington discovered an advance in photodynamic cancer therapy. Wei Chen, professor of physics at the UT Arlington, noticed an odd luminescence emitted by copper-cysteamine (Cu-Cy) nanoparticles when while working on an experiment where he was exposing the nanoparticles to X-rays. Upon further investigation, he found out that the luminescence was the byproduct of lost energy that the particles were diffusing. The same byproduct is also utilized in photodynamic cancer therapy to destroy cancer cells.

Production of Blood Now on an Industrial Level: Artificial Blood from Stem Cells

April 17, 2014April 17, 2014 Neha Shukla

The advancement in science and technology have made possible for humans to tackle life-threatening diseases to highly intricate surgeries. Medical science has reached a mark where it has potential to create artificial organs for transplant, saving millions of lives. And now researchers have discovered a way to create human blood, using stem cells.

Photovoltaic Panels and Agave Cultivation: A New Model for Solar Farms

April 15, 2014April 15, 2014 Neha Shukla

“Agrivoltaics” is relatively a new concept that involves cultivating plants like agave in the spaces between and beneath the photovoltaic panels which allow solar plants to use sunlight for electricity generation and also providing crops for biofuels. It offers optimal solutions for problems that are associated with large solar plants. The solar plants located in the arid regions require constant cleaning of its panels from dust, sand particles or bird droppings. The process of cleaning requires water, which apart from cleaning the panels, dampen the soil to suppress the dust…

Human Heart with 3-D Printer: A Blend of Natural and Artificial

April 15, 2014 Neha Shukla

In recent years, 3D bio printing technology is being widely used by biotechnology firms and academia in tissue engineering applications with the help of inkjet techniques to create organs and other body parts. Using the innovative 3D bio printing technology, researchers have already created functional splints, valves and a human ear and are now trying to create a functional human heart for transplant, employing the patient’s cells. However, it would take years before one of these 3D printed hearts can be actually implanted in the human body.

Living Computers inside Alive Cockroaches to Deliver Drugs: DNA Installed Nano-Robots

April 13, 2014April 13, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

In an attempt to study complex programs and to identify and cure certain diseases, researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Bar Ilan University in Israel, have come out with a breakthrough that involves DNA-based nanobots. Researchers were able to embed these nanobots into a living cockroach. These origami robots bear fluorescent markers that allow the scientists to predict about their location within the insect. By interacting with each other, these nanobots were seen performing simple logical operations as well claimed the researchers.

Spare your Health: Sleep Tight

April 12, 2014April 12, 2014 Wa'd Abuzurayk

The Hiffington post has recently gathered evidence from a growing body of literature which offers insight into what happens to one’s body when missing out on the usually recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Frightening results have been published in the Huffington’s piece indicating that sleep is not just good for your beauty. Although the term “beauty sleep” is proven correct scientifically, it is merely one of the various result (and possibly one of the least significant) in comparison to everything else one can develop due to…