Baylor University

Image via Wikipedia What if all software was open source? Anybody would then be able to add custom features to Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Apple iTunes or any other program. A University of Washington project may make this possible. “Microsoft and Apple aren’t going to open up all their stuff. But they all create programs

Three per cent of the world’s population suffer from the skin condition known as psoriasis. A Norwegian research-based company is close to developing a treatment that could help millions. The research may also prove beneficial in the treatment of other illnesses. The psoriasis treatment consists of a compound which, when applied to the skin, is

Abandoned items of luggage are frequently found at airports and train stations. This is a case for the emergency services, who have to assume that these items might contain bombs. They must assess the potential threat quickly, avert any possible danger, and preserve evidence for criminal proceedings. In the future, police will have the support

Facial expression recognition to improve learning, gaming A computer algorithm that can tell whether you are happy or sad, angry or expressing almost any other emotion would be a boon to the games industry. New research published in the International Journal of Computational Vision and Robotics describes such a system that is almost 99 percent accurate.

Soldiers are coming back from war having survived injuries no one would have survived before. Actor Gary Sinise’s Building For America’s Bravest is helping to supply them with houses catered to their needs that look like regular houses but are actual high-tech marvels designed to make life as easy as possible. Homebuilders have never had

The SOPCAWIND tool is a piece of software that facilitates the design of wind farms, bearing in mind not only the aspects of energy productivity but also the possible impact the wind farm may have on the environment, radars or other telecommunications systems in the vicinity. It also assesses acoustic noise, the effect of shadow

Men build dams and huge turbines to turn the energy of waterfalls and tides into electricity. To produce hydropower on a much smaller scale, Chinese scientists have now developed a lightweight power generator based on carbon nanotube fibers suitable to convert even the energy of flowing blood in blood vessels into electricity. They describe their

A ‘magic carpet’ which can immediately detect when someone has fallen and can help to predict mobility problems has been demonstrated by University of Manchester scientists. Plastic optical fibres, laid on the underlay of a carpet, can bend when anyone treads on it and map, in real-time, their walking patterns. Tiny electronics at the edges

Study used blood test to identify distinct molecular signatures of disease; paves the way to precision medicine for cystic fibrosis Researchers at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and colleagues, used a blood test and microarray technology to identify distinct molecular signatures in children with cystic fibrosis. These