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Soft robotic device stimulates muscles, sparks hope for ALS and MS patients
Harvard researchers see a potential remedy for muscle atrophy in a new "mechanically active adhesive" that stretches and contracts the muscles of those unable to do so themselves.
Tesla ordered to recall 12,300 Model X EVs over a loose trim issue
Germany's motor vehicle regulator said the problem could cause trim pieces to fall off.
Researchers create a fast-sealing surgical 'glue' for closing wounds
Closing up wounds typically calls for sutures or staples, but neither are able to create a complete seal. And when it comes to internal injuries that are harder to get to and wounds on organs that move a significant amount, such as lungs, treatment becomes even more difficult. Sealants offer a solution to those problems, but none of those available meet all of the requirements of an effective surgical tool. However, researchers have just developed a new type of sealant that may actually check all of the boxes. Their work was published this week in Science Translational Medicine.
Researchers make biomedical adhesive inspired by slug slime
Being able to repair internal tissue with adhesives would be incredibly useful in the medical world. As of now, those kinds of repairs are limited to sutures and staples, which are far from ideal and while external wounds can be closed with certain glues, they don't work for internal surfaces. First, the insides of our bodies are really wet -- not great for glues. And many of the strongest adhesives we have are either toxic to cells or too stiff to work on squishy, moving organs. But researchers have created a new class of adhesives that get around all of these problems, and they were inspired by slug slime.
ICYMI: Submersible sticky situations and elongating elastomer electrodes
Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers from Purdue University and the Office of Naval Research teamed up to develop a new kind of glue that even works underwater. The synthetic compound is derived from proteins used by muscles to keep themselves attached to rocks. The man-made adhesive is 17 times stronger than its source material and could one day hold US Navy ships together. We also take a look at a stretchable electrode developed at Stanford University. Leveraging the same kind of molecule that commercial kitchens use to thicken soups, the Stanford researchers were able to develop an electrical conductor that can be easily deformed while actually conducting better as it is stretched. And finally, this is what happens when you hook a watermelon up to a car battery. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Shellfish-inspired glue stays sticky underwater
Even the strongest human-made glue tends to fail when you dunk it underwater. Purdue researchers, however, think they have a simple solution to this: imitate nature. They've developed a polymer adhesive that's based on the proteins mussels use to cling to rocks. The team's synthetic creation takes advantage of compounds inside the proteins' amino acids to bind directly to an intended surface, rather than interacting with water on the surface. The result is a material that not only outperforms the glue you see in the hardware store, but is 17 times stronger than the shellfish's own adhesive -- and that has scientists scratching their heads.
Sticker company warns against skinning the Nintendo Switch
Given the portability of the Nintendo Switch, owners may be tempted to personalize theirs. The only problem is that according to dbrand, a company that makes covers for devices like phones and laptops, the system and its controllers don't react well to vinyl wraps. As described in a Reddit post and a series of tweets, the company indicates that it tested a few options with a pre-release console and a retail model, and found that its screen-printed coating has peeling issues.
ZTE crowns its crowd-sourced Project CSX winner
Since the start of September, phone manufacturer ZTE has been running a crowd-sourced contest slash internet brainstorming session to figure out what features its customers want most in their next phone. Well, the results are in and ZTE has announced the grand prize project of that contest: it's an "eye-tracking, self-adhesive phone". Sure, why the heck not.
Science: No, you can't be Spider-Man
We hate to crush your childhood dreams, but we have to be blunt: you're never going to be Spider-Man... not without some technical help, anyway. University of Cambridge researchers have determined that wall crawling isn't naturally feasible for any animal larger than a gecko, since you'd need inordinately large hands and feet to support yourself on the way up. If humans wanted to achieve these gravity-defying feats, they'd need sticky pads across 40 percent of their body surfaces -- try making that superhero movie, Sony.
Sticky sensors will monitor your body's organs
Health sensors that attach directly to your organs to are potentially very useful, since they can measure miniscule electrical signals and other details that might otherwise fly under the radar. There's just one problem: actually sticking those devices on to something that soft and squishy is tough. However, a team of Japanese researchers may have a solution. They've developed gel-based sensors that monitor electrical activity and strain while adhering to just about anything, including the gooey wet insides of your body. The key is the gel itself, which is made of the polyvinyl alcohol you might find in protective gloves or eye drops; it allows a grid of sensors to make contact without peeling or slipping off.
Hawken employees genderflip CEO's sexy lady poster, have a laugh
Hawken publisher Meteor Entertainment has a handle on the gender equality gig, with ladies making up a solid half of its executive branch, according to a female employee's post on The Hawkeye Initiative. "Our gender awareness standards, compared to the industry at large, are top shelf," she writes. "We are talking Amelia Earhart in Atlantis, at a five star resort, getting a mani-pedi from Jensen Ackles. I have it good." But CEO Mark Long (a dude, if that wasn't apparent) had a penchant for the sexy lady poster above (on the left, if that wasn't apparent), and the writer didn't particularly care for it. It was blown up to poster size and placed in his office so that it was the first thing the writer – and all visitors – saw upon entering, and the last thing when leaving. "This little lady's undermeats have been the open- and close-parens to my work world for the last six months," she described. "I loathe this picture." So she did something about it. The writer roped in a co-worker and artist, Sam Kirk, to whip up a gender-swapped version of the poster, which they named Brosie the Riveter. They blew it up to the same poster size, and on April 1, they swapped it with the female one in their CEO's office. When Long saw the poster, he flipped. But then he came up to the writer and said something truly touching: "That was a brilliant prank. You called me on exactly the bullshit I need to be called on. I put up pictures of half-naked girls around the office all the time and I never think about it. I'm taking you and Sam to lunch. And after that, we're going to hang both prints, side by side." And so they did. The end.
Hawken launches in open beta today, prep your mechs
Hawken, one of the more flamboyant and high-profile indie games this year, launches today in open beta as a free-to-play mega-mech battle for PC. Don't believe us? Check out the super-sweet cinematic launch trailer above.Adhesive Games' parent company Meteor Entertainment raised $10 million for Hawken's development and marketing, and part of that went into a series of closed betas leading to today's open launch. Adhesive producer Jason Hughes sums up some changes and patch notes that resulted from the closed trials, noting that there will be no server browser at launch. Eventually Hawken will have that, clan support, dedicated servers and more social features, but not today. That's why this is an "open beta," after all.
Hawken deploys second closed beta tomorrow
Hawken's second closed beta is scheduled to attack November 8 - 13. This expands on the first beta round, which ran October 26 - 29.To celebrate the second beta, pre-sale bundles of items and customization perks will be on discount for $5, $15, $30 and $60, and if purchased will be in players' garages once the game launches in open beta on December 12. Sign up to play Hawken on the game's main site.
New Hawken gameplay teaser doesn't look like an indie game
Hawken, the free-to-play, first-person mech shooter from indie studio Adhesive Games, keeps looking better and better, especially now that its videos have lost the "this is a work in progress" warning. We guess raising $10 million will do that to a game. The latest teaser shows off gameplay during an intense battle from the inside of a mech suit that makes two things occupy our thoughts: rails guns and rockets.Watch the teaser above and enlist in the Hawken beta right here.
IBM and 3M join forces to fab 3D microchips, create mini-silicon skyscraper valley
3D hype is fast wearing out its welcome, but there's at least one area of industry where the buzzed about term could usher in true innovation. Announced today as a joint research project, IBM and 3M will work towards the creation of a new breed of microprocessors. Unlike similar three-dimensional semiconductor efforts by Intel, the two newly partnered outfits plan to stack up to 100 layers of chips atop one another resulting in a microchip "brick." Under the agreement, IBM will contribute its expertise on packaging the new processors, while 3M will get to work developing an adhesive that can not only be applied in batches, but'll also allow for heat transfer without crippling logic circuitry. If the companies' boasts are to be believed, these powerhouse computing towers would cram memory and networking into a "computer chip 1,000 times faster than today's fastest microprocessor enabling more powerful smartphones, tablets, computers and gaming devices." That's a heady claim for a tech that doesn't yet exist, but is already taking swings at current faux 3D transistors. Official presser and video await you after the break.
Climbing robot can scale walls on a supersonic stream of air, won't leave fingerprints behind
There are plenty of wall climbing robots roaming the Earth, but few can scale heights as gracefully as this little guy can. Developed by researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, this bot can wind its way across any glass, metal or cloth terrain, without even touching its pods to the surface. The secret lies in Bernoulli's Principle, which states that as the speed of a fluid increases, its pressure decreases. This phenomenon also applies to streams of air, which, when moving at high speeds around of a circular gripper, can create a vacuum strong enough to hold things without actually touching them. In this case, air shoots out of the robot's feet at more than 2,000 miles per hour, creating enough pressure to lift the craft, while holding it close to the wall. The technology isn't new, but rarely can it support the weight of an entire device -- let alone the extra cargo that this climber's non-contact adhesive pads can hold. Researchers say the supersonic grippers will be available in "some months" and will probably cost "a few hundred dollars." As for the bot itself, Canterbury's engineers envision it being used for industrial inspections -- though the more we think about it, the more we realize just how dirty our windows are. Video after the break.
The fix for your iPhone 4 display blotching problem: Wait
Just yesterday, we reported that many tipsters were coming to us with proof that the Retina displays on their new iPhone 4s were exhibiting strange, discolored "blotching" issues. Since then, many more people have come forward, noticing the same issue on their own phones. According to an AppleInsider forum post that claims to be from a person closely connected to the company that sold Apple and/or Foxconn the glass bonding adhesive for the iPhone, this is to be expected. Well, it's to be expected for a device shipped very quickly from the factory, where the bonding material (known as Organofunctional Silane Z-6011) hasn't had time to dry. Apparently, all you need to do is wait a few more days & use the screen normally to allow the adhesive to dry, and your iPhone should be cured from its case of the measles ... or whatever the heck you want to call it. [via MacRumors]
HTC EVO suffering from glass separation issues?
Potential bad news for EVO owners: we're seeing plenty of reports from folks having issues with the lower portions of their screens. Conspiracy theories say that the adhesive holding the glass is failing, causing the screen to peel up a bit and embark on a very slow journey to capacitive independence. This separation is causing excessive light leakage from below, a problem that we noted in our review but apparently gets continually worse as users spend more time massaging their screens -- even those not being as hard on theirs as this guy was. No official response from HTC yet and we're not sure just what a fix could be, but we have seen people do some wonderful things with duct tape. Update: Still no word from HTC, but Troy, a Sprint employee, e-mailed us to say he's not seen any phones being brought in for this issue at his store. He also indicated the phone is a "repairable device" so, if indeed this is something HTC deems worthy of repair it could be something able to be fixed without requiring a replacement. Here's to hoping... [Thanks, Brandon; image courtesy of Ryan/Selfdestruct]
KARVT wooden MacBook skins -- because sometimes aluminum just isn't enough
Is the Apple logo on your MacBook not brash enough for everyone in the coffee shop to see? Is that streamlined aluminum appearance too Pro for you? Time to enter the newly opened KARVT online store, where unabashed Apple fans can finally add the sophistication of "100% real authentic wood" to their beloved machines. Most popular tastes can be accommodated, with different shades of cherry, bamboo, pine, and walnut on offer, and there's even an artists' section where some design flair is added to your timberrific purchase. The skins will fit on any recent Apple laptops, and prices are $35 for the wood grain or $50 for the artsy ones, with deliveries starting on May 1. Bargain or what? %Gallery-89975%
Adhesive feet for the careful gamer
Gametech has created another head-scratching Wii accessory (in that it's baffling, not that it scratches your head for you). This time, it's the Taore na Sheet W (Collapsing Sheet W): a set of adhesive rubber feet that secure your Wii stand and sensor bar to their locations, and, just to be sure, secure the Wii to its stand.With no controller cords to trip over, we had to think about who the target audience for this product was. Well, we didn't have to think about it for too long before one of our cats knocked a picture frame off of the coffee table. This product makes a lot of sense for cat owners![Via GAME Watch]
