R & D articles from May 2002

R & D archives from May 2002

A new kind of R&D. (Editorial).
May 1, 2002... It's hard nowadays to stay focused on one technology. There was a time when technology changed more slowly and you might have one scientific announcement that held the media's attention for several days--it would have, all to itself, its "15...

Postcards from the edge of science. (de facto).(annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, them is a traditional lament among the writers and reporters sent to cover it: There is little news value, because most of the papers are simply highlights of...

Plastic foams get friendly. (Materials).(environmentally friendly foam)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Researchers at Ohio State Univ., Columbus, have found a way to make environmentally friendly dense plastic foam that may some day replace solid plastic. The researchers have developed a dense new foam material reinforced with tiny clay...

Outsourcing gets new respect. (Bulletin).(IT service quality)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... In the past, outsourcing work to e-commerce and/or Web development service providers has received dubious marks for achievement by information technology professionals. This has changed, according to a recent survey by Cutter Consortium,...

Chemical society wins contracts. (Analytical Instruments).(Association of Official Analytical Chemists)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Federal government contracts totaling more than $1.25 million have been awarded to the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) International. Some of these contracts are renewable for up to three years. The largest contract is a...

How to build a lab. (Laboratory Design).(Lab Design 2002 conference and workshop)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... An extensive hand-on conference and workshop, Lab Design 2002, features laboratory design for the scientific community and will bring 17 experts together from Monday, June 24, through Wednesday, June 26, in San Diego. The group will discuss the...

Petro consortium announces name changes. (Laboratory Equipment).(DBR Group of Companies)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Businesses within Canada-based DBR Group of Companies--an international consortium that provides phase behavior and fluid property technology to the petroleum and petrochemical industries--have undergone various name changes: * The...

Beams may shed light on bacteria resistance. (Lasers & Optics).(lasers and antibiotic resistance)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... At a time when current antibiotics are becoming less effective against bacteria, researchers are turning to laser tweezers to aid against antibiotic resistance. Laser tweezers are continuous-wave, low-power laser beams that can optically...

Farmers use biotech seeds to increase crops. (Life Science).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Farmers intend to plant 32% of their corn acreage with varieties developed using biotechnology, according to a recent report released by the US Dept. of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service, Washington, D.C. This number is up...

MEMS sensors find terrorists. (Micro/Nano Technology).(microelectromechanical systems magnetometers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Tiny, wireless sensors being developed by researchers at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), school of engineering could give the military the kind of surveillance necessary to root out terrorists hiding in the caves of Afghanistan or...

High-resolution imaging awarded funding. (Microscopy).(Q3DM receives grant from National Institutes of Health)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. has awarded Q3DM Inc., San Diego, a Phase II, Small Business Innovation research grant valued at more than $1.5 million. Q3EM will use the award to further develop high-throughput,...

New beamlines illuminate crystallography. (Pharmaceutical).(agreement between Argonne National Lab and 2 NIH units)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In what is described as a perfect example of synergy between the health and physical sciences, an agreement between Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., and two of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Md., will create three...

Signal processors to gain insight. (Test & Measurement).(Texas Instruments Inc. announces discussion groups)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, has announced the formation of five discussion groups that will allow designers to directly draw upon the wealth of talent shared by more than 50,000 digital signal processor (DSP) developers. The discussion...

Deposition markets to grow. (Vacuum/Thin Film).(ion implantation equipment, services, and materials)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... The total market for ion implantation equipment, services, and materials is expected to rise to $3.41 billion in 2006, with an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 26.6%. According to a study from Business Communications Co. Inc., Norwalk,...

Flexible HTS facility broadens bayer's research: overhaul of a former production building gives Bayer flexible high-throughput screening power in an award-winning lab. (Renovated: 2002 lab of the year).(Bayer Corp. West Haven campus, Connecticut)
May 1, 2002... Bayer Corp.'s 55-hectare West Haven, Conn., campus--North American headquarters for the company's pharmaceutical division--is on track for an $80 million expansion. Though the centerpiece will be a $53-million chemistry research building, one...

Lab offers a human touch: the Stowers Institute for Medical Research is the compassionate response of two cancer survivors. The human touch this research facility provides works to attract world class researchers to Kansas City's "BioMed Valley." (High Honors: 2002 lab of the year).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... If the saying that "misery loves company" is true, then those who experience the unfortunate effects of cancer are certainly in good company at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The institute, located in Kansas City, Mo., was built...

Rebuilding the past; an East Coast college brings an Ivy League lab building into the 21st century. (Renovated Special Mention Award: 2002 lab of the year).(Dartmouth College's Steele Hall of Fairfield Science Center)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Built in the early 1900s, Dartmouth College's Steele Hall of the Fairfield Science Center, Hanover, N.H., is one of the earliest 20th century lab buildings in New England. Yet the structure was run down, with an unsightly roof and unsafe,...

Old is new again: it's the "new wine in old bottles" theory--but raised to another order of magnitude. (Renovated Special Mention Award: 2002 lab of the year).(Sandia National Laboratories' Z-Beamlet lab)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Turning an old warehouse into a facility that houses one of the most sophisticated scientific instruments in the world is a formidable achievement. Yet it was done with imagination, with controlled yet flexible planning, and represents an...

Where to build your lab and how to do it; an exclusive R&D Magazine reader survey reveals what researchers consider when deciding to build their next lab--and how they decide to do it. (Building The Perfect Lab).
May 1, 2002... More than half of the researchers who recently participated in a survey performed by the editors of R&D Magazine said they plan to build or renovate a new research lab within the next two years. Most of those who anticipate needing new...

Determining construction costs: a recently published report shows that the construction industry will increase moderately in 2002. Companies that are considering building or renovating their lab facility should pay close attention to these estimates. (Building The Perfect Lab).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... The following information is excerpted from a report by HLW International LLP and Accu-Cost, both of New York City. The purpose of the report is to assist those involved in research facility planning design and construction to bracket and...

A laboratory's lifelines are its utilities: plumbing and fire protection in a laboratory facility are not just toilets and sprinklers, but complex systems that must be considered and planned for before the first earth is turned. (Building The Perfect Lab).
May 1, 2002... Overall, a laboratory's utilities are like an umbilical cord--a necessary connection to the world. The laboratory type and the kind of work done there determine the kinds of utilities required. In considering utilities for major laboratory...

Lab siting resources. (Building The Perfect Lab).(Directory)
May 1, 2002... WORLDWIDE International Association of Science Parks Campanillas (Malaga), Spain +34 95 261-9197 www.iaspworld.org International Trade Administration 1-800-USA-TRADE www.trade.gov IMS Worldwide Inc. (Foreign-Trade...

Precessional switching becomes tangible in spin-valves. (Market Trends).(National Institute of Standards and Technology innovation in magnetic random access memory)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, Md., have found a way to switch spin-valve devices in magnetic random access memory (MRAM) with precison and control. A spin-valve is a thin-film...

Calibration management made easy. (Market Trends).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A high-performance analytical systems manufacturer has developed an automated data collection program that provides total management for quality control, as well as proper maintenance of any pipette population. The Pipette Tracker--from Artel,...

Upcoming events.
May 1, 2002... June 2-3 2002 Workshop on Research Issues in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Madison, Wis., www.bell-labs.com June 10-15 USENIX Annual Technical Conference, Monterey, Calif., www.usenix.org June 26-28 WECWIS 2002, 4th IEEE...

MST market is on the rise market size (billions of dollars).
May 1, 2002... A NEXUS (the Network of Excellence in Multifunctional Microsystems) study predicts that a number of emerging products will increase the microsystems technologies (MST) market by 20% annually. The study is called "Market Analysis for...

IT peripherals dominate MST market total turnover (billions of dollars).(microsystems technologies)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... According to the study "Market Analysis for Microsystems," IT peripherals will dominate the MST market. Biomedical, automotive, household, and telecommunications will also make a big impact on the market.

Database reaches breakthrough storage record; the largest known database in the world has just been introduced. Experiment data can now be better sorted and stored. (Data Management & Analysis).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Menlo Park, Calif., recently reached a milestone. The BaBar experiment's database stored its 500,000th GB--a breakthrough that makes it the largest known database in the world. The BaBar...

Monitoring air quality--handhelds and wireless tools form efficient links. (Data Management & Analysis).
May 1, 2002... To analyze and track air quality at locations throughout the state of Texas, SyntegraTech, Bow, N.H., applied its data collection solution combined with its line of ruggedized Windows CE handheld devices, to gather and monitor the data. The...

Managing protein expression. (Data Management & Analysis).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A new approach to analyzing multiple proteins simultaneously on a glass chip microarray has just been announced. A recent issue of "Nature Biotechnology" highlights the new technique from Molecular Staging Inc. (MSI), New Haven, Conn. The...

Meeting the standards: lab air monitoring is crucial: air and gas monitoring systems come in many shapes and sizes. From the industrial lab unit to a portable system with a probe for those tight spaces, users can select from a rich variety of options. (Laboratory Equipment).(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2002... It's often the most unseen elements in the lab that need to be monitored the closest. Water purity cannot be seen with the naked eye--it must be tested and filtered to meet certain quality standards. Likewise, gases often cannot be seen...

Cleanrooms change form, but not function; they are of vital importance to a wide range of industries, they are often government-regulated, frequently expensive, flexible and often mobile, and host to enormous numbers of potentially nasty, even dangerous life forms. They are cleanrooms--critical environments for many industries, and they're evolving. (Laboratory Design).(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2002... Cleanrooms are more modular, more mobile, and (since they are identified for investment purposes as equipment) more apt to be collapsed and reassembled in other locations like so much office furniture. This reflects increasingly extensive uses...