Baltimore Urban Spectrum

Technology

Makers Design Helpful Devices For People With Disabilities

By: Naama Barak

By Naama Barak Five-year-old Shani loves drawing and playing, but she has disabilities that make these typical childhood activities difficult. A team of volunteer makers called “Drawing Dreams” created a 3D-printed hand support enabling her to draw, play and eat independently. It worked so well that Shani’s special-ed kindergarten in...

By: Martin M Barillas

By Martin M Barillas A team of scientists reports they have discovered a new form of biological reproduction and have applied it to create the world’s first self-replicating living robots. The team previously built the world’s first living robots, called Xenobots, named after the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis whose...

By: Abigail Klein Leichman

By Abigail Klein Leichman It is not by chance that 40 percent of all private cyber investments in the world are invested in Israeli companies, and that a third of the world’s unicorn cyber companies — private startups worth at least $1 billion — are Israeli. “Cybermania: How Israel Became a...

By: Abigail Klein Leichman

By Abigail Klein Leichman In a ransomware attack, a piece of malicious software paralyzes your computer until you pay the demanded sum. It’s a scary situation that will cost you money and time. When a ransomware attack hits a hospital, it can even cost lives: A recent lawsuit in Alabama...

By: Martin M Barillas

By Martin M Barillas Two scientists have harnessed strains of bacteria that feast on glucose (a type of sugar) and turn it into olefins, a type of hydrocarbon that is a component of gasoline, posing the possibility of a new way to fuel vehicles. “Making biofuels from renewable resources like...

By: Peter Barker

By Peter Barker A massive sculpture designed with the help of artificial intelligence and being built by robots has its roots in the past, drawing inspiration from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The research team that designed the 73-foot (22.5-meter) tall sculpture, named “Semiramis” after Queen Amytis, for whom King...

By: Brian Blum

By Brian Blum An October oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach, California, drove home the ongoing potential for ecological disasters stemming from leaky, malfunctioning, corroded and sometimes even sabotaged oil and gas pipelines. The answer to preventing leaks and spills is constant monitoring. But keeping your eyes on...

By: Naama Barak

By Naama Barak Israeli renewable energy company HomeBiogas, whose system converts organic waste into clean cooking gas and biofertilizer, recently won a United Nations tender to supply refugee camps in several African countries. HomeBiogas products channel food leftovers or toilet waste into a tank where bacteria digest and convert them...

By: Abigail Klein Leichman

By Abigail Klein Leichman What is the recipe for meat and dairy without cows? Snacks and sauces with less sugar and salt? Long-lasting fresh produce and compostable food wrappers? A fast-growing, climate-threatened world is hungry for such recipes. Appropriately enough, the search began in the kitchen — or rather, The...

By: Brian Blum

By Brian Blum Your phone pings. It’s a message from a friend you met for drinks last night, who just tested positive for Covid-19. Your throat starts feeling scratchy. A short cough sputters out. Is your body temperature rising? You run to take a PCR Covid-19 test. When the results...

By: Abigail Klein Leichman

By Abigail Klein Leichman Diagnosing disease through analysis of bodily fluids, like blood or saliva, is nothing new. Vaginal fluids, too, contain much clinical and biological information, but until now have not been the subject of much research. “Many male researchers don’t even know what they are,” said Dr. Shlomit...

By: Peter Barker

By Peter BarkerA state-of-the-art research boat named after a famed British broadcaster, nature historian and author has set off on its maiden voyage to Antarctica. The RRS Sir David Attenborough was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, England. After undergoing sea trials, it then traveled to Portsmouth, England, to fuel...

By: Peter Barker

By Peter Barker The Mars helicopter Ingenuity’s success in surveying the Red Planet’s terrain and transmitting photos from 26 feet above the Martian surface on its previous mission has NASA excited about the next one scheduled for November 20. Video of the Sept. 4 test flight shows the 19-inch-tall mini-helicopter...

By: Martin M Barillas

By Martin M Barillas Researchers in Germany have gotten the go-ahead to commercialize a product that provides sustainable, environmentally friendly building insulation: popcorn Conventional insulation, made of mineral fiber or plastics, occupies approximately 90 percent of the market. Plastic, however, is made from petroleum and contributes to pollution. Researchers at...

By: Abigail Klein Leichman

By Abigail Klein Leichman Researchers from Israel say they detected 73 percent of the lies told by trial participants based on the contraction of their facial muscles — achieving a higher rate of detection than any known method. The study at Tel Aviv University discovered that some people activate their...

By: Martin M Barillas

By Martin M Barillas Researchers have developed microrobots shaped like fish, crabs and butterflies that can be directed by magnets to deliver powerful chemotherapy drugs directly to areas where cancer cells grow, reducing the side effects of current cancer therapy. Published in the journal ACS Nano, a proof-of-concept study revealed...

By: Martin M Barillas

By Martin M Barillas The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an innovative incisionless surgery for debilitating Parkinson’s disease that offers an outpatient alternative to invasive deep-brain surgery. Insightec’s Exablate Neuro ultrasound device was successfully tested at the University of Virginia health system, which is now one of only...

By: Peter Barker

By Peter Barker In a new video, U.S. space agency NASA detailed how its experts are able to predict the weather on Mars, allowing the Curiosity Rover and Ingenuity Helicopter to carry out their exploration missions. Seasons change on Mars, and this has a profound effect on how missions on...