#Now, aircraft wings that can'self heal'on the fly Even the researchers involved in the project describe it as"verging on science fiction".
which could soon produce self-healing nail polish and a cure for cracked mobile phone screens. A team at the University of Bristol has been quietly developing the technology for the past three years.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent on Sunday, its leader, Professor Duncan Wass, said he expected self-healing products to reach consumers in the"very near future".
"His team specialises in modifying carbon fibre composite materials, the strong but lightweight substances used increasingly widely in the manufacture of everything from commercial aircraft wings to sports racquets and high-performance bicycles.
Professor Wass and his team have been working with aerospace engineers at the university, who wanted to know
if there was a way of preventing the tiny, almost undetectable cracks that form in an aircraft's wings and fuselage.
"Professor wass said.""We've not evolved to withstand any damage -if we were like that we'd have a skin as thick as a rhinoceros
Professor wass said. The technology could also make airline safety checks far cheaper as a dye could be added to the healing agent causing any damage to an aircraft to stand out like a bruise.
Professor wass said a bruise was a"good analogy "-but accepted that the dye would need to be tweaked to cater for nervous fliers."
"Professor wass said. The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council's UK Catalysis Hub, a collaborative project between universities and industry.
This week's conference, entitled Catalysis Improving Society, will be one of the first events at
Professor Richard Catlow of the University of London one of the organisers of the meeting, said the research showed that catalysis
"The Bristol team's advances could be applied to all kinds of carbon fibre composite materials-meaning that self-healing golf clubs, tennis racquets,
fishing rods and bike helmets could be just around the corner. The cosmetics firm L'oreal has contacted also the team to register its interest in self-healing nail varnish.
but Professor wass said the general principle would remain the same.""We're definitely getting to the stage where in the next five
or 10 years we're going to see things like mobile phone screens that can heal themselves
when researchers at the University of Illinois in the US created a plastic capable of repairing itself
Last year, the same team created a polymer, inspired by the human blood-clotting system, which patched holes up to 3cm wide.
How the technology is being used Professor Wass's team at the University of Bristol has been focusing on the creation of self-healing versions of carbon fibre composite materials
*The BMW i8 electric sports car has a carbon fibre passenger compartment to make up for the weight of its heavy battery.
The material is already attractive to car manufacturers as it is 30 per cent lighter than aluminium -and self-healing technology would make it safer too.*
*The Airbus a380 passenger jet has a carbon fibre reinforced plastic fuselage for a lower fuel consumption. The researchers claim the new technology would allow wings to fix themselves in mid-flight,
*Offshore wind turbines could also benefit from self-healing technology, as they are damaged often by bird strikes.
The carbon composite blades are 100 feet in the air, so maintaining them is notoriously expensive and difficult.*
*Sports equipment such as tennis racquets, fishing rods and golf clubs are made often from carbon fibre composites for the same reasons.
which could soon produce self-healing nail polish and a cure for cracked mobile phone screens. A team at the University of Bristol has been quietly developing the technology for the past three years.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent on Sunday, its leader, Professor Duncan Wass, said he expected self-healing products to reach consumers in the"very near future".
"His team specialises in modifying carbon fibre composite materials, the strong but lightweight substances used increasingly widely in the manufacture of everything from commercial aircraft wings to sports racquets and high-performance bicycles.
Professor Wass and his team have been working with aerospace engineers at the university, who wanted to know
if there was a way of preventing the tiny, almost undetectable cracks that form in an aircraft's wings and fuselage.
"Professor wass said.""We've not evolved to withstand any damage -if we were like that we'd have a skin as thick as a rhinoceros
Professor wass said. The technology could also make airline safety checks far cheaper as a dye could be added to the healing agent causing any damage to an aircraft to stand out like a bruise.
Professor wass said a bruise was a"good analogy "-but accepted that the dye would need to be tweaked to cater for nervous fliers."
"Professor wass said. The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical sciences Research Council's UK Catalysis Hub, a collaborative project between universities and industry.
This week's conference, entitled Catalysis Improving Society, will be one of the first events at
Professor Richard Catlow of the University of London one of the organisers of the meeting, said the research showed that catalysis
"The Bristol team's advances could be applied to all kinds of carbon fibre composite materials-meaning that self-healing golf clubs, tennis racquets,
fishing rods and bike helmets could be just around the corner. The cosmetics firm L'oreal has contacted also the team to register its interest in self-healing nail varnish.
but Professor wass said the general principle would remain the same.""We're definitely getting to the stage where in the next five
or 10 years we're going to see things like mobile phone screens that can heal themselves
when researchers at the University of Illinois in the US created a plastic capable of repairing itself
Last year, the same team created a polymer, inspired by the human blood-clotting system, which patched holes up to 3cm wide.
How the technology is being used Professor Wass's team at the University of Bristol has been focusing on the creation of self-healing versions of carbon fibre composite materials
*The BMW i8 electric sports car has a carbon fibre passenger compartment to make up for the weight of its heavy battery.
The material is already attractive to car manufacturers as it is 30 per cent lighter than aluminium -and self-healing technology would make it safer too.*
*The Airbus a380 passenger jet has a carbon fibre reinforced plastic fuselage for a lower fuel consumption. The researchers claim the new technology would allow wings to fix themselves in mid-flight,
*Offshore wind turbines could also benefit from self-healing technology, as they are damaged often by bird strikes.
The carbon composite blades are 100 feet in the air, so maintaining them is notoriously expensive and difficult.*
*Sports equipment such as tennis racquets, fishing rods and golf clubs are made often from carbon fibre composites for the same reasons s
#World's first'feeling'leg prosthesis offers new hope to amputees The world's first artificial leg capable of simulating the feelings of a real limb
and fighting phantom pain will be unveiled by researchers in Vienna on Monday. The innovation is the result of a twofold process,
developed by Professor Hubert Egger at the University of Linz in northern Austria. Surgeons first rewired remaining foot nerve endings from a patient's stump to healthy tissue in the thigh,
placing them close to the skin surface. Six sensors were fitted then to the foot sole of a lightweight prosthesis
and linked to so-called stimulators inside the shaft where the stump sits.""It's like a second lease of life,
The former teacher, who lost his right leg in 2007 after suffering a blood clot caused by a cerebral stroke,
has spent the last six months testing the new prosthesis.""It feels like I have a foot again.
the small sensor devices send signals to the brain.""In a healthy foot, skin receptors carry out this function
"The sensors tell the brain there is a foot and the wearer has the impression that it rolls off the ground when he walks.
which the user directed with motor neurons previously connected to the lost limb. For the artificial leg, the principle remains the same except that the process works in reverse:
information is guided from the prothesis to the brain, rather than the other way around. In addition to increasing balance and safety, the prosthesis provides another remarkable function:
it has helped eradicate the excruciating pain Rangger had experienced for years following his amputation.""I was barely able to walk with a conventional prosthesis,
didn't sleep for more than two hours a night and needed morphine to make it through the day,
"Plus the amputation is tied often to a traumatic experience like an accident or illness, and the mind keeps reliving these memories,
The advantage of the"feeling prosthesis"is that the brain once again receives real data and can stop its frantic search."
"Importantly, post-surgery recovery is quick and there are no known health dangers associated with the intervention,
and start building the prosthesis to help bring down the market price. At the moment, a high-tech foot model costs between 10,000 euros ($11, 240) and 30,000 euros.
Egger believes his latest project could vastly improve quality of life for amputees, including in developing countries."
and fighting phantom pain will be unveiled by researchers in Vienna on Monday. The innovation is the result of a twofold process,
developed by Professor Hubert Egger at the University of Linz in northern Austria. Surgeons first rewired remaining foot nerve endings from a patient's stump to healthy tissue in the thigh,
placing them close to the skin surface. Six sensors were fitted then to the foot sole of a lightweight prosthesis,
and linked to so-called stimulators inside the shaft where the stump sits.""It's like a second lease of life,
The former teacher, who lost his right leg in 2007 after suffering a blood clot caused by a cerebral stroke,
has spent the last six months testing the new prosthesis.""It feels like I have a foot again.
the small sensor devices send signals to the brain.""In a healthy foot, skin receptors carry out this function
"The sensors tell the brain there is a foot and the wearer has the impression that it rolls off the ground when he walks.
which the user directed with motor neurons previously connected to the lost limb. For the artificial leg, the principle remains the same except that the process works in reverse:
information is guided from the prothesis to the brain, rather than the other way around. In addition to increasing balance and safety, the prosthesis provides another remarkable function:
it has helped eradicate the excruciating pain Rangger had experienced for years following his amputation.""I was barely able to walk with a conventional prosthesis,
didn't sleep for more than two hours a night and needed morphine to make it through the day,
"Plus the amputation is tied often to a traumatic experience like an accident or illness, and the mind keeps reliving these memories,
The advantage of the"feeling prosthesis"is that the brain once again receives real data and can stop its frantic search."
"Importantly, post-surgery recovery is quick and there are no known health dangers associated with the intervention,
and start building the prosthesis to help bring down the market price. At the moment, a high-tech foot model costs between 10,000 euros ($11, 240) and 30,000 euros.
Egger believes his latest project could vastly improve quality of life for amputees, including in developing countries."
#Copper and its alloys destroy'stomach flu'virus Metal surfaces containing copper can destroy human norovirus, one of the causes of gastroenteritis or'stomach flu,
Copper vessels or utensils made from brass and bronze and even doorknobs or handrails with such surfaces could help kill off the virus
which is a global scourge. The study was published online in Applied and Environmental microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology."
"Human norovirus is an unusually infectious microbe that causes stomach flu, including copious vomiting and diarrhea.
It is a major problem on cruise ships, in restaurants, and in elder care homes, where the disease is transmitted easily by environmental contamination,
"said Clyde Manuel, a doctoral student of North carolina State university, Raleigh.""This is the first study to demonstrate copper's destructive powers against human norovirus,
"said Manuel. Several earlier studies have established that copper is very effective against a host of bacteria that cause a variety of human diseases including stomach ailments, pneumonia,
meningitis, skin infections etc. But this is the first study to record copper's action against a virus. In the study,
the authors obtained five different copper alloys, and stainless steel as a control surface, cutting these into coupon-sized pieces."
"We deposited either human fecal samples containing infectious virus, or virus-like particles onto each coupon,
and then tested survival of virus at various time points,"said Manuel. Virus-like particles are the shells of viruses,
whereas the virus was very stable on stainless steel surfaces.""The copper acted quickly. Ten minutes'exposure was sufficient to virtually abolish the receptor-binding ability of human norovirus virus-like particles,
an effect that was observed not on the stainless steel surfaces. Specifically, the copper surfaces destroyed both the virus'genome,
and its capsid, or protein shell.""Perhaps these copper surfaces can be used on high touch surfaces, like door knobs, hand rails, and so forth,
He notes that a hospital intensive care unit that recently replaced other materials in high touch surfaces with copper reduced the overall infection rate by half.
Many ancient societies used utensils made of copper or its alloys for food and water.
In modern times, copper use in kitchens and food keeping has fallen as stainless steel or even synthetic materials have become available e
#New sensor to detect cancer, HIV, hepatitis Researchers have developed a highly sensitive nanomechanical sensor that can detect cancerous tumours as well as viral disease markers for HIV,
hepatitis and herpes. Researchers from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) developed the ultracompact nanomechanical sensor for analysing the chemical composition of substances and detecting biological objects.
The sensor can detect viral disease markers, which appear when the immune system responds to incurable
or hard-to-cure diseases, including HIV, hepatitis, herpes, and many others. The sensor will also enable doctors to identify tumour markers,
whose presence in the body signals the emergence and growth of cancerous tumours. The highly sensitive sensor will allow for diagnosing diseases long before they can be detected by any other method,
which will pave the way for a new-generation of diagnostics, researchers said. Calculations done by the researchers,
Dmitry Fedyanin and Yury Stebunov, showed that the new sensor will combine high sensitivity with a comparative ease of production
and miniature dimensions, allowing it to be used in all portable devices, such as smartphones, wearable electronics, etc.
One chip, several millimetres in size, will be able to accommodate several thousand such sensors, configured to detect different particles or molecules,
researchers said. The device, described in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, is an optical or,
more precisely, optomechanical chip.""We've been following the progress made in the development of micro
-and nanomechanical biosensors for quite a while now and can say that no one has been able to introduce a simple and scalable technology for parallel monitoring that would be ready to use outside a laboratory,
"So our goal was not only to achieve the high sensitivity of the sensor and make it compact,
but also make it scalable and compatible with standard microelectronics technologies, "researchers said d
#New sensor to detect cancer, HIV Researchers have developed a highly sensitive nanomechanical sensor that can detect cancerous tumours as well as viral disease markers for HIV,
hepatitis and herpes. Researchers from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) developed the ultracompact nanomechanical sensor for analysing the chemical composition of substances and detecting biological objects.
The sensor can detect viral disease markers, which appear when the immune system responds to incurable
or hard-to-cure diseases, including HIV, hepatitis, herpes, and many others. The sensor will also enable doctors to identify tumour markers,
whose presence in the body signals the emergence and growth of cancerous tumours. The highly sensitive sensor will allow for diagnosing diseases long before they can be detected by any other method
which will pave the way for a new-generation of diagnostics, researchers said. Calculations done by the researchers,
Dmitry Fedyanin and Yury Stebunov, showed that the new sensor will combine high sensitivity with a comparative ease of production
and miniature dimensions, allowing it to be used in all portable devices, such as smartphones, wearable electronics, etc.
One chip, several millimetres in size, will be able to accommodate several thousand such sensors, configured to detect different particles or molecules,
researchers said. The device, described in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, is an optical or,
more precisely, optomechanical chip.""We've been following the progress made in the development of micro
-and nanomechanical biosensors for quite a while now and can say that no one has been able to introduce a simple and scalable technology for parallel monitoring that would be ready to use outside a laboratory,
"the researchers said.""So our goal was not only to achieve the high sensitivity of the sensor
and make it compact, but also make it scalabile and compatibile with standard microelectronics technologies, "researchers said. MOSCOW:
Researchers have developed a highly sensitive nanomechanical sensor that can detect cancerous tumours as well as viral disease markers for HIV,
hepatitis and herpes. Researchers from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) developed the ultracompact nanomechanical sensor for analysing the chemical composition of substances and detecting biological objects.
The sensor can detect viral disease markers, which appear when the immune system responds to incurable
or hard-to-cure diseases, including HIV, hepatitis, herpes, and many others. The sensor will also enable doctors to identify tumour markers,
whose presence in the body signals the emergence and growth of cancerous tumours. The highly sensitive sensor will allow for diagnosing diseases long before they can be detected by any other method
which will pave the way for a new-generation of diagnostics, researchers said. Calculations done by the researchers,
Dmitry Fedyanin and Yury Stebunov, showed that the new sensor will combine high sensitivity with a comparative ease of production
and miniature dimensions, allowing it to be used in all portable devices, such as smartphones, wearable electronics, etc.
One chip, several millimetres in size, will be able to accommodate several thousand such sensors, configured to detect different particles or molecules,
researchers said. The device, described in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, is an optical or,
more precisely, optomechanical chip.""We've been following the progress made in the development of micro
-and nanomechanical biosensors for quite a while now and can say that no one has been able to introduce a simple and scalable technology for parallel monitoring that would be ready to use outside a laboratory,
"So our goal was not only to achieve the high sensitivity of the sensor and make it compact,
but also make it scalabile and compatibile with standard microelectronics technologies, "researchers said d
#Woman uses her ovary frozen at 13, gives birth LONDON: In a medical breakthrough, a 28-year-old woman has become the first person in the world to give birth to a baby using ovarian tissue that was removed
and frozen in her childhood. Previous successful transplants resulting in pregnancies have used frozen ovary tissue removed from adult women,
but in this case it was taken from a girl when she was just 13 years and 11 months old.
The breakthrough, described in the journal Human Reproduction, gives hope to thousands of young cancer victims who face treatments such as chemotherapy which can damage the ovaries
had received a transplant of her brother's bone marrow to treat her sickle-cell anaemia which needed chemotherapy to disable the immune system
Doctors removed her right ovary just before she turned 14 and froze tissue fragments. Puberty and breast development had begun
and when she was 15 doctors began hor mone replacement therapy (HRT) to induce menstruation.
and doctors, led by Isabelle Demeestere, a gynaecologist and research associate at Erasme hospital, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, stopped the HRT
The doctors said the woman should be able to have more children and that a second transplantation was possible
In a medical breakthrough, a 28-year-old woman has become the first person in the world to give birth to a baby using ovarian tissue that was removed
Previous successful transplants resulting in pregnancies have used frozen ovary tissue removed from adult women, but in this case it was taken from a girl
The breakthrough, described in the journal Human Reproduction, gives hope to thousands of young cancer victims who face treatments such as chemotherapy which can damage the ovaries
had received a transplant of her brother's bone marrow to treat her sickle-cell anaemia which needed chemotherapy to disable the immune system
Doctors removed her right ovary just before she turned 14 and froze tissue fragments. Puberty and breast development had begun
and when she was 15 doctors began hor mone replacement therapy (HRT) to induce menstruation.
and doctors, led by Isabelle Demeestere, a gynaecologist and research associate at Erasme hospital, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, stopped the HRT
The doctors said the woman should be able to have more children and that a second transplantation was possible
Cure for untreatable wounds BEIJING: Chinese scientists have claimed successfully growing muscle stem cells in a test tube,
a breakthrough that could potentially save the careers of top athletes besides cure untreatable injuries caused from accidents and surgeries due to cancer."
"It can generate enough stem cells to heal permanent wounds, especially those caused externally,"said Hu Ping, a cell biologist with the Shanghai Institute for Biological science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences."
"Muscle stem cells are the ultimate way to cure muscle-related wounds or diseases, "Hu said,
who served as lead author of a paper on the subject published in the latest issue of the journal Cell Research,
but also address a wide range of medical issues such as treatments for people involved in car accidents,
those who have had surgery for cancer, or sufferers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).""This technology could cure (recently retired Chinese hurdler) Liu Xiang's injury,
"Hu said, referring to Asia's first Olympic gold medallist in the 110-metre hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics who also ranks as the continent's first world champion hurdler.
A nagging tendon injury caused the Shanghai native to limp off the track when Beijing hosted the Summer Games in 2008.
blaming his longstanding injury. Now scientists from his hometown believe they have found a way to restore him to full health,
along with millions of other patients bearing muscle-related injuries. By transplanting the stem cells from the test tube back into the patient's body
large wounds require large numbers to be dragged over from healthy parts of the patient's body,
which included professor Wang Hongyan, managed to harvest 10 trillion muscle stem cells from a pool of just 10,000 original stem cells taken from the host.
which were able to stimulate the growth of the cell in an artificial environment. If a patient loses more than 20 per cent of the tissue in a functioning area,
adding that no cure was available-until now. The professor said a similar method could be used to grow tendon stem cells to treat injuries like Liu's. She added that
although tests on mice showed that the test tube-generated cells were almost identical to the natural cells,
such as mutations that could lead to tumours. Such trials are crucial as safety is of paramount importance.
The team has contacted hospitals in China about conducting human trials but has struggled to find volunteers,
partly due to financing and partly because Chinese are interested less in sport than people in Western countries,
"Most people in China don't care about muscle injuries until they find they cannot walk,
#Amsterdam to get 3d printed bridge LONDON: Will you dare to cross a deep canal on a"printed"bridge?
You may get a chance to try that soon. A 3d printing company based in Amsterdam has developed a revolutionary robotic 3d printer that can'draw'structures in the air.
functional objects in almost any form,"wrote the firm MX3D on the project web page.""Printing an intricate, ornate metal bridge for a special location to show what our robots and software engineers,
craftsmen and designers can do.""The bridge will be designed by artist and designer Joris Laarman, who helped develop the robotic 3d printer that combined the MX3D-Resin with a welder to be able to"draw"fast-setting metal structures.
In this technique, small increments of molten metal are welded to the existing structure, creating lines of steel
and the same is used to print the bridge out of steel. By printing multiple lines, the printer will be able to create a strong,
complex structure that spans the canal-printing its own supports along the way so that it can operate autonomously.
The construction of the bridge is scheduled to begin in September this year. ians LONDON: Will you dare to cross a deep canal on a"printed"bridge?
You may get a chance to try that soon. A 3d printing company based in Amsterdam has developed a revolutionary robotic 3d printer that can'draw'structures in the air.
The developers are now planning to build a bridge over a canal in the city, CNET reported."
"We research and develop ground-breaking, cost-effective robotic technology with which we can 3d print beautiful,
functional objects in almost any form,"wrote the firm MX3D on the project web page.""Printing an intricate, ornate metal bridge for a special location to show what our robots and software engineers,
craftsmen and designers can do.""The bridge will be designed by artist and designer Joris Laarman, who helped develop the robotic 3d printer that combined the MX3D-Resin with a welder to be able to"draw"fast-setting metal structures.
In this technique, small increments of molten metal are welded to the existing structure, creating lines of steel
and the same is used to print the bridge out of steel. By printing multiple lines, the printer will be able to create a strong,
complex structure that spans the canal-printing its own supports along the way so that it can operate autonomously.
The construction of the bridge is scheduled to begin in September this year. ian n
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