Science & Technology

A promising new medical device for detecting electromagnetic disturbances in the brain can rapidly screen patients for intracranial swelling or bleeding. The medical journal PLOS ONE depicts the helmet-like apparatus as a safe, portable, and relatively inexpensive tool to determine whether patients require further imaging with CT (computed tomography) or…

A recent post by Ari Armstrong about the wonders of 3D printing applied to the field of medicine concluded, “What’s next we can only imagine.” Now, just a few weeks later, we have an indication. Researchers are on course to print functional, customized human tissues and organs. On May 3,…

Many widely used phrases and bromides—including “mother nature” and “living in harmony with nature”—imply that nature is a benevolent and loving place. Yet natural disasters, such as the recent California Springs fire, show that nature can be lethal and that we need the products of industrial civilization to protect ourselves…

Terrorism at home, chemical warfare abroad, continued economic problems most everywhere . . . The bad news can be overwhelming. It is important, then, to keep an eye on the good news, both as an act of justice toward the rational and productive people who inspire the headlines, and as…

American energy producers keep finding and developing more usable oil and natural gas. Recently the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) increased its estimate of the recoverable oil in the Williston Basin spanning parts of Montana and the Dakotas—the region famous for Bakken shale. The USGS’s new estimate of 7.34 billion barrels…

Dr. Beth Haynes makes a surprising but warranted claim in her recent article for Huffington Post: “Very few Americans have health insurance . . . because what people call health insurance really isn't insurance at all.” Real insurance, Haynes explains, covers high-cost, catastrophic events, not routine care. What usually passes…

As reported by the AP, doctors have used a novel device to successfully treat chronic heartburn. Whereas heartburn, or acid reflux, is familiar to many as an occasional, fleeting pain, in some individuals it occurs chronically and can cause real harm. Such chronic heartburn is called gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and…

On March 26, construction crews started work on the Dakota Prairie Refinery, the first new oil refinery in the contiguous United States since 1977 and the first in North Dakota since 1956. The new refinery will process 20,000 of the 770,000 barrels of crude that oil producers pump out of…

Scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have recently developed a new medical implant device that works with a person’s smartphone or tablet to relay medical conditions to its receiver. The 14 millimeter device can detect a variety of chemical levels in the blood and warn its…

The revolution in 3D printing—a manufacturing process in which “printers” build plastic or metal components—has taken a big step forward with a new machine purchased by the Anschutz Medical Campus in Colorado. A news release from the University of Colorado (which houses the medical center) aptly summarizes the potential: “Metal…