A breath monitor could soon be used to detect the flu
The materials science and engineering professor used existing medical research into the biomarkers in a patient’s breath when they have a particular medical condition. For example, people who have asthma have a higher concentration of nitric oxide in their breath. Gouma then built the flu device using nitric acid and ammonia sensors to pick up on the virus. What’s more, this breath-testing gadget could detect the flu just...
Mozilla shutters its connected devices division
“IoT is clearly an emerging technology space, but it’s still early. We have shifted our internal approach to the IoT opportunity to step back from a focus on launching and scaling commercial products to one focused on research and advanced development, dissolving our Connected Devices initiative and incorporating our IoT explorations into an increased focus on Emerging Technologies.This is much like our approach to Quantum...
Comcast employees around the US protest Trump’s immigration ban
The protest was planned to last about an hour and started outside Comcast’s offices before making its way to nearby city hall. Philadelphia was one of four cities where Comcast has offices that took part in today’s demonstration; Philly.com says that others were planned for Washington DC, New York, Silicon Valley Philadelphia suburb West Chester. According to Pennsylvania news site Billy Penn, the action was organized...
Gel-based robot hand can grab and release fish
To prove that the breakthrough works, the team devised an unusual experiment: namely, catch-and-release fishing. The gel-based hand could quickly close around a fish without hurting it, and let it go just as easily. The underwater test also showed that a hydrogel robot takes on the visual and acoustic properties of its environment, helping it blend in where virtually any other bot would stand out.Of course, the technology isn’t...
Oculus to pay $500 million after ZeniMax lawsuit ends
Neither side is going to be all that happy with the results. ZeniMax had been asking for $4 billion in compensation and damages — it’s only getting an eighth of that. Oculus, meanwhile, won’t be pleased at having to pay anything. It maintained its innocence from the start, and has long characterized the lawsuit as both a cash grab (to take advantage of all that Facebook money) and a sign of jealousy after losing a...
