SciTech

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Science In The News Archives

Below are links to “science in the news” from previous years. You will find information on our region’s growth industries and the SciTech focus areas of Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Robotics, Advanced Materials Processes, Environmental Technology and Information Technology.

Biotechnology

12/26/2006	Industry group gives scientists the go-ahead for genetically engineered peanuts - the work could lead to peanuts with enhanced flavor, more vitamins and nutrients, and possibly even nuts that are less likely to trigger allergic reactions
12/18/2006	Gene linked with autism found
12/15/2006	World's first cloned cat has kittens
11/15/2006	Neanderthal DNA sequenced - could assist understanding human evolution
11/14/2006	Scientists study genes, severe injuries
9/25/2006	Ten years later: biotechnology and its future
9/8/2006	New publications, experiments and breakthroughs in biotechnology--and what they mean.
7/18/2006	Eureka! Bacteria Have the Midas Touch
7/14/2006	Biotech crop growers moving into clothing industry
5/31/06	Evolution seen in a yogurt cup
5/22/2006	Stem cells - a cure for incontinence?
4/26/2006	2nd DNA test to free man jailed in 1988 slaying near Kennywood
4/3/2006	The first complex organ, the bladder, has been rebuilt in seven patients from living tissue cultivated in the lab
3/27/2006	Scientists bring home the bacon with healthy pig fat
3/26/2006	Mouse testicle cells behave like stem cells
3/4/2006	A new collaboration for regenerating tissue lost in battle includes the military, Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, the McGowan Institute.
3/1/2006	Why We Have Sex: It Cleanses Our Genes
2/22/2006	Chickens can be grow teeth when their genes are tweaked!
2/16/2006	Stem Cells multiplied from your own blood to strengthen your own heart? (picture #10)
2/14/2006	Biotech's Current Harvest
1/17/2006	Custom-Made Microbes, at Your Service
12/26/2005	International team including Penn State reps recovered DNA from a woolly mammoth. Study also served as a proof-of-principle exercise for a new gene sequencing technology, developed by Carnegie Mellon University graduate.
12/20/2005	Korean scandal - the possibility that cloning experiments were faked threatens to undermine confidence in stem-cell research.
10/23/2005	Scientists aim for clone cure to bird flu
7/2005	The Stem Cell Divide
6/24/2005	In Pitt study, adult stem cells show potential for therapeutic use
4/3/2005	Genetic patch treats 'bubble-boy' disease
10/25/2004	The Battle Over Stem Cells (Newsweek)

Nanotechnology

12/4/2006	Nanotechnology - in my toothpaste...?
10/23/2006	Hip chip uses nanotechnology to monitor healing
10/23/2006	Nanotechnology saves Renaissance masterpieces, Mayan wallpaintings, and old shipwrecks
10/16/2006	Nanoparticle Sheets Form Spontaneously
10/5/2006	Nanotechnology: Sold in a Store Near You
3/13/2006	Plugging gaps in their injured brains - Nanotech Restores Vision in Hamsters
2/17/2006	New Nano-Probe Works Like a Microphone
2/17/2006	Fruit of the Nano-Loom New textiles tap polymer science to both trap and kill toxins -- all while wicking away sweat.
1/11/2006	Nanotechnology May Need Regulation
9/2005	Nano-Nano: From golf balls to fuel cells, the promise of nanotechnology isn't from out of this world, but some place better - Pittsburgh!
8/17/2005	Nanotechnology Driving Sports to New Lengths
7/31/2005	The solar-powered soldier
5/15/2005	'Programmable matter' one day could transform itself into all kinds of look-alikes real Shape shifting!
3/31/2005	Artificial Retina Gets Diamond Coating
1/12/2005	Top Ten Nanotech Products
11/13/2004	EPA moves to determine safety of new, invisibly tiny materials

Robotics

11/20/2006	SciTech speaker, Chris Urmson, on the CMU robot car that is facing urban traffic challenges
11/16/2006	New Robot Adapts to Injuries
10/12/2006	Watch and Listen to RuBot II Robot Solving a Rubik's Cube!
10/4/2006	Physician performs state's first heart valve repair using robotics
8/23/2006	Robotics team rolls out Ballbot at Carnegie Mellon
8/9/2006	'Nana tech' aimed at the elderly - includes use of robotics, informations teachnology and more!
7/18/2006	MIT engineers and scientists are working on a strategy that could unleash a swarm of baseball sized robots onto the surface of Mars. (click & scroll down)
6/27/2006	Robocup 2006: CMU robots are world soccer champs
6/16/2006	Developed on Our North Side, Fast-food assistant 'Hyperactive Bob' is an example of robots' growing role
5/8/2006	Robots manipulating animal behavior
4/28/2006	Watch this robot go! This robot shatters speed walking record.
4/25/2006	We're learning from robots about ourselves
4/20/2006	Robot Hall of Fame Inductions
4/19/2006	Undersea robotic surgeries controlled by doctor 1300 miles away (see image #12)
4/12/2006	Industry breakthrough for CMU Snake-like robots made to aid in rescues
3/27/2006	PBS Documentary chronicles CMU's contestants in race of the robots
3/17/2006	US Military - Cyborg Bug Armies?
2/16/2006	Quirky Android (picture #2)
11/2005	Robot ride breaks through coaster limitations (see page 22)
6/9/2005	Battlefield Robots Saving Lives in Iraq
6/7/2005	A Better Robot, With Help From Roaches
6/7/2005	The �first ever� robotic pitch takes place in a Pirates/Orioles Game!

Advanced Materials Processes

11/1/06	If polymers are the building blocks of creative science, then a Carnegie Mellon University professor and his research team are genies who can make consumer wishes come true.
10/30/06	Seagate to encrypt data on hard drives - the entire industry will benefit!
7/19/2006	Power Up: CMU team develops technology to make the energized bunny run farther
6/28/2006	'Science of Superman' breaks down his strengths
6/26/2006	Smart Pill to Report from Inside the Body
5/9/2006	Windshields that display information for the driver and...
3/22/2006	Plastics get faster, thinner - and it's a radically different manufacturing process!
3/17/2006	The VeinViewer
3/7/2006	Military Plans Cyborg Sharks
3/1/2006	Computer Technology Opens a World - software lets a blind person use keyboard not mouse to navigate a program, voice synthesizers turn text into speech and mouse alternatives for people with limited use of their arms.
2/27/2006	Geneva auto showing off new ways to use technology - like holographic brake lights, voice-controlled music systems and Web-based diagnostic services, to improve the driving experience.
2/27/2006	Neuromodulators, the New Neurological Technology
2/23/2006	Super-Repellent Plastic With GE's new plastic, self-washing buildings, cheap diagnostic chips, and free-flowing honey jars are possible.
2/20/2006	Moore's Law - Advanced Materials uses Nanotech - Super chips on the Horizon!
2/15/2006	U.S. Ski Suits Straight Out of Science Fiction
1/9/2006	High-Tech Rollers: For serious players with the latest equipment, it's a whole new game!
11/2005	Sprayable "concrete" builds shelters fast
8/01/2005	Silicon lasers could lead to affordable light-based systems that harness photons instead of electrons to shuttle huge amounts of data swiftly--at multigigabit-per-second rates.
7/7/2005	Deep sea sponges - source for new ideas for materials science & engineering
6/22/2005	Alcoa Forecasts Climate-Neutral Aluminum Industry by 2017
6/18/2005	Has new technology found an earth-like planet?
5/2005	The (Mostly Improbable) Materials Science and Engineering of the Star Wars Universe
5/27/2004	Pittsburgh Firm, Agentase, Wins Army Award

Environmental Technology

12/18/2006	Carnegie Mellon students propose plan to green up city's vacant lots
12/13/2006	The Future of energy - a debate...and you can enter your opinion!
2006	An Inconvenient Truth
12/8/2006	City to use Heinz Field grease to fuel its vehicles or French fry fat = biodiesel
12/6/2006	Environmental experts recently ranked former Allegheny County resident Rachel Carson and the author of "Silent Spring" as the world's most influential environmentalist. Centennial events listed.
12/06	Want Fish? Ethics First, Please OR Why we should worry about the upcoming fish apocalypse.
12/12/2006	Small Nuclear War Would Cause Global Environmental Catastrophe
11/08/2006	Nobel prize winner launches campaign to plant 1 billion trees in 2007
11/03/2006	Americans Rank Climate Change as the Top Environmental Problem
10/16/2006	US super-diesel ushers in new clean-air era
7/11/2006	ALL new property developments in Scotland will need to produce some of their own electricity
7/11/2006	Sheetz store in Pleasant Hills first to offer ethanol-based fuel
7/2006	Using sugars, sludge, and the sea floor, can bacteria power the next green-energy alternative?
6/27/2006	Scientists OK Gore's movie for accuracy
6/26/2006	Pittsburgh gets poor air quality ranking. Area continues to have bad traffic congestion.
6/26/2006	Proposed building incentives for eco-friendliness
6/25/2006	Fill 'er up with plant waste Rising oil prices spur hopes for extracting ethanol from biomass
5/26/2006	Water eventually could be an economic influence, possible cause of war
3/24/2006	"Troubled Waters 2006" - Industrial and municipal facilities in Pennsylvania are dumping more pollution into waterways than is permitted by law.
2/15/2006	New technology converts problematic polystyrene waste into useful material.
1/29/2006	New potential engergy source?
12/15/2005	How clean are Pittsburgh's Rivers?
11/25/2005	Ancient gas bubbles back theory of human-related global warming.
11/19/2005	Pandas are part of a captive insurance policy for animals who are in danger of extinction.
11/03/2005	One of 13 buildings in Pennsylvania and 96 nationwide to receive the gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating.
10/15/2005	CMU solar-powered house takes 10th place at competition
10/10/2005	Louisianans plan to protect themselves by protecting the environment first.
8/25/2005	On CMU campus, students build solar-powered house for national competition
7/08/2005	2005 Eco-technology Prize
6/28/2005	Rainforest Provides Cure
6/17/2005	Pittsburgh ranks low! America's Cleanest Cities - five areas: air quality, drinking water quality, airborne toxic material, hazardous waste and the number of workers devoted to recycling activities.
6/11/2003	City Grown Leaded Veggies?

Information Technology

12/18/2006	Virtual reality boosts rehab in Israel
12/13/2006	Pittsburgh's Super Computer's model earthquake data and runs a simulation in real time
11/13/2006	T-shirt turns air guitar into music
10/31/06	Computing, 2016: What Won�t Be Possible?
10/27/2006	PUPILS at a Scots primary school have become the first in the world to pay for their lunches by having their palms scanned rather than by handing over cash.
7/18/2006	Brainy Robots Start Stepping Into Daily Life
5/24/2006	Honda Successfully Develop and ATR New Brain-Machine Interface Creating Technology for Manipulating Robots Using Human Brain Activity
5/19/2006	Serious Games Movement, this genre is "about taking resources of the (video) games industry and applying them outside of entertainment"
5/10/2006	Students tackle health of world's poor with technology
4/25/2006	What brings personal jets to the masses? Lots of computing. There's a lot of new science involved.
2/16/2006	Alaska Volcano Observatory - Data Collection (picture #13)
2/13/2006	Can computer match prized violins' sound?
2/12/2006	Olympic Snowboarding - Fully wired At the Halfpipe
2/10/2006	Stars hum themselves to death
1/02/2006	Over the holidays 50 years ago, two scientists hatched artificial intelligence
1/2006	Tsunami: Scientists and warning centers are now better prepared to forecast
12/09/2005	Pitt School of Medicine gets contract to help create virtual immune system - computer modeling is a tool of growing importance in many areas of science.
10/28/2005	Let's talk! The computer can translate
10/28/2005	A Virtual Holiday in the Virtual Sun
9/28/2005	The University of Pittsburgh is launching a research center dedicated to forwarding technology that uses radio waves to identify objects and people from a distance - RFID Technology.
8/01/2005	CMU helps teach computers to see
7/20/2005	Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center debuts high-end computer
3/14/2005	Alzheimer's Seen in the Living Brain
3/2005	Science & Technology website for teenage girls initiated

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