Self-assembling sunlight "sponges"

In diagrams it looks like a confection of self-curling ribbon with bits of bling hung off the ribbon here and there. In fact it is a carefully designed ring of proteins with attached pigments that self-assembles into a structure that soaks up sunlight. R&D Daily Wed 08/21/13

One-pot saccharification of cellulosic feedstock

In this latest effort, Simmons, Singh, Gladden and their colleagues (at the DOE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI))used Jtherm (a compost-derived consortium of bacterium adapted to grow on switchgrass) for the saccharification of switchgrass following an imidazolium-based ionic liquid pretreatment. With this one-pot system, they liberated 81.2% glucose and 87.4% xylose over the course of a 72 hour processing at 70 C. They were then able to separate the sugars at better than 90% efficiency. R&D Daily 08/14/2013

Microfabrication record.

Making a mini Mona Lisa

The world's most famous painting has now been created on the world's smallest canvas. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have "painted" the Mona Lisa on a substrate surface approximately 30 micrometers in width-or one-third the width of a human hair. The team's creation, the "Mini Lisa," demonstrates a technique that could potentially be used to achieve nanomanufacturing of devices. R&D Daily August 6, 2013

Detect Caffeine today...

A team of researchers in Singapore and South Korea have developed a fluorescent caffeine detector and a detection kit that lights up like a traffic light when caffeine is present in various drinks and solutions. Based on a technology called "lab-on-a-disc", the detection system identifies caffeine concentrations using laser light. R&D daily August 7, 2013

Petri-Burgers: Did anyone believe they would NEVER be here?

Scientists serve lab-made burger from cow cells Two volunteer taste-testers in London got the unusual opportunity of sampling a stem-cell burger. Though it was reportedly short on taste, the burger represents five years of research. Made from meat grown in a laboratory from the stem cells of cattle, the the burger is part of an effort to help solve both the food crisis and climate change. R&D Daily August 05, 2013

Microfluidics may help early Cancer detection

Reaching a clinic in time to receive an early diagnosis for cancer-when the disease is most treatable-is a global problem. And now a team of Chinese researchers proposes a global solution: have a user-friendly diagnostic device travel to the patient, anywhere in the world. R&D Daily Aug. 02,2013

Canada's Number ONE university business incubator.

TEC Edmonton, located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has been named the 17^th best university business incubator in the world and top Canadian university business incubator by the Scandinavian University Business Incubator (UBI) Index: Global Top 25 report.