review of scientific instruments
Portable microwave sensors for measuring vital signs
Washington, D.C. (November 9, 2010) — Current medical techniques for monitoring the heart rate and other vital signs use electrodes attached to the body, which are impractical for patients who want to move around. Plasma physicist Atsushi Mase, a s…
Foucault, revisited
Washington, D.C. (November 9, 2010) — Walk into nearly any science museum worth its salt and you’re likely to see a Foucault pendulum, a simple but impressive device for observing the Earth’s rotation. Such pendulums have been around for more than …
LEDs illuminate eye for ocular disease screening
College Park, MD (August 31, 2010) — A new imaging system using six different wavelengths to illuminate the interior of the eyeball (ocular fundus) may pave the way for doctors to easily screen patients for common diseases of the eye, such as age-re…
Australian overturns 15 years of nano-science doctrine
An Australian mathematician has thrown 15 years of accepted scientific practice out the window by discovering a design flaw in a key component of the Atomic Force Microscope. His finding will force a rethink into the design and use of an instrument that has become a cornerstone of scientific measurement and analysis. Dr John Sader, at University of Melbourne’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and Particulate Fluids Processing Centre, used established mechanical principles to prove that the popular V-shaped cantilever inadvertently degrades the performance of the instrument, and delivers none of its intended benefits.