Science Alert May 26, 2019 While other tactics have focused on reengineering the vaccines or modifying their vectors, new method invented by researchers in Canada is based on the simple addition of sugar. The viruses are mixed and then dried into a sugary film, created from a combination of two FDA-approved food preservatives, called pullulan and trehalose. Suspended in this solution, the vaccines can be transported without the need for constant cooling. To reactive them, local clinicians need only add water before administering them to patients, as fresh as if they came from a fridge. So far, the effectiveness has […]
Tag Archives: S&T Canada
Researchers create washable sensor that can be woven into materials
Science Daily May 16, 2019 Researchers in Canada have developed a low‐cost, tunable, and stretchable sensor fabric based on spandex yarns coated with graphene nanoplatelets through a dip‐coating process. It is wrapped into a stretchable silicone rubber sheath to protect the conductive layer against harsh conditions, which allows for fabricating washable wearable sensors. The covering sheath is tailored to achieve high stretchability beyond the sensing limit of 104%. Adjustable sensitivity is attained by manipulating spandex yarn immersion times. The testing indicates that further improvements in its accuracy could be achieved by fine-tuning the sensor’s material blend and improving its electrical […]
Intel buys into an AI chip that can transfer data 1,000 times faster
MIT Technology Review April 2, 2019 Untether, based in Toronto, Canada, has developed a prototype inference chip which is akin to a chip that runs on a device like a smartphone or a camera. It can transfer data between different parts of the chip 1,000 times more quickly than a conventional AI chip. It uses “near-memory computing” to reduce the physical distance between memory and the processing tasks, which speeds up data transfer and lowers power consumption…read more.
Researchers design ‘smart’ surfaces to repel everything but targeted beneficial exceptions
Science Daily October 24, 2018 Researchers in Canada have developed a new class of lubricant-infused surfaces that offer tunable bioactivity together with omniphobic properties by integrating biofunctional domains into the lubricant-infused layer. They created surfaces highly tunable that bind to particular antibodies while repelling nonspecific adhesion of undesirable proteins and cells not only in buffer but also in human plasma or human whole blood to demonstrate how it is beneficial in biomedical implants. The method creates biofunctional, nonstick surfaces that can be used to optimize the performance of devices such as biomedical implants, extracorporeal circuits, and biosensors… read more. TECHNICAL […]
D-Wave demonstrates first large-scale quantum simulation of topological state of matter
Eurekalert August 22, 2018 Researchers in Canada demonstrated a large-scale quantum simulation of this phenomenon in a network of 1,800 in situ programmable superconducting niobium flux qubits whose pairwise couplings are arranged in a fully frustrated square-octagonal lattice. They observed the emergence of a complex order parameter with continuous rotational symmetry, and the onset of quasi-long-range order as the system approaches a critical temperature. According to the researchers the approach of using a quantum processor as a programmable magnetic lattice will find widespread use in the simulation and development of exotic materials…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Enzyme can convert any blood into universally donated type O
Next Big Future August 22, 2018 Researchers in Canada have identified a new, more powerful group of enzymes found in the human gut that can turn any type of blood into the universally usable type O—expanding the pool of potential blood donors and making blood matching safer and easier. Removing antigens from blood effectively transforms it into type O. Scientists hope that one day we can eventually render any type of donated blood, tissues or organs, safe for use by anyone regardless of their native blood type…read more.
Bacteria-powered solar cell converts light to energy, even under overcast skies
Science Daily July 5, 2018 Researchers in Canada have genetically engineered E. coli to produce large amounts of lycopene that is particularly effective at harvesting light for conversion to energy. The pigment‐producing cells are coated with TiO2 nanoparticles and the mixture is applied to a glass surface. With the coated glass acting as an anode at one end of their cell, they generated a current density of 0.686 milliamps per square centimetre — an improvement on the 0.362 achieved by others in the field. According to the researchers the hybrid materials can be manufactured economically and sustainably. With sufficient optimization, […]
Spectral cloaking could make objects invisible under realistic conditions
Phys.org June 28, 2018 Most current cloaking devices can fully conceal the object of interest only when the object is illuminated with just one color of light. Researchers in Canada propose a new conceptual approach enabling the realization of full-field broadband invisibility. This involves a customized and reversible redistribution of the illumination frequency content, allowing the wave to propagate through the object of interest while preventing any interaction between the wave and the object. They demonstrated the concealment of a broadband optical filter from detection with a phase-coherent light pulse of 500 GHz bandwidth, showing full restoration of the complex […]