Erasmus University Rotterdam

North Star BlueScope Steel, a steel producer for global building and construction industries, today announced that it is applying IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) technology and wearable devices to pioneer novel approaches to help protect workers in extreme environments. The IBM Employee Wellness and Safety Solution, a research project that analyzes data collected from sensors

The damaged Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is a huge environmental disaster that’s said to be gushing anywhere from 5,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil into the ocean per day. BP has deployed a reported 2.5 million feet of oil booms in an effort to contain the slick, as well

Virtual currencies are in the news again with all the discussion around Bitcoins, which is limited in supply and can be exchanged anonymously. Our own long experience with another digital currency, Ven, has made us think about the logical conclusion of these activities, and what it means for money at large.  And what it means

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have discovered a rare and powerful type of immune cell in the meninges around the brain, suggesting the cells may play a critical but previously unappreciated role in battling Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, meningitis and other neurological diseases, in addition to supporting our healthy mental functioning. By harnessing

Stanford engineers have developed experimental stickers that pick up physiological signals emanating from the skin, then wirelessly beam these health readings to a receiver clipped onto clothing. It’s all part of a system called BodyNet. We tend to take our skin’s protective function for granted, ignoring its other roles in signaling subtleties like a fluttering

An Army-led research team developed new algorithms and filled in knowledge gaps about how robots contribute to teams and what robots know about their environment and teammates. Dr. Kristin Schaefer-Lay, an engineer with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, is part of a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Army, Carnegie

These results from this study provide hope that a viable alternative to fossil fuels may soon be available. With increasing demands for sustainable energy, being able to cost-efficiently produce biofuels from plant biomass is more important than ever. However, lignin and hemicelluloses present in certain plants mean that they cannot be easily converted into biofuels.

Australian researchers identify a link between itchy skin and gut pain, caused by identical receptors This is big news for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) patients: 11 percent of the world’s population suffers from IBS, but the fight against chronic pain has taken a major step forward with scientists identifying receptors in the nervous system which

A navigational device for the blind that’s built into a shoe Within just the past few years, scientists have developed an impressive number of experimental systems designed to help the blind navigate city streets. These have included devices that mount on the wrist, are incorporated into glasses, are worn as a vest, and that augment

A team of international scientists have created a new form of highly-efficient, low-cost insulation based on the wings of a dragonfly. The material, known as an aerogel, is the most porous material known to man and ultralight, with a piece the size of a family car weighing less than a kilogram. Starting out as a wet