Fraunhofer
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Because seeds may contain yield-reducing fungi, bacteria or viruses, they're often chemically treated before they're sold to farmers. A new mobile system, however, substitutes microbe-killing electrons for harsh and eco-unfriendly chemicals.
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It's easy to forget that structures such as bridges, wind turbines and scaffolding are held together by screws which could loosen – with catastrophic results. The new Smart Screw Connection system is designed to warn authorities before that happens.
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Although kidney stones can be treated with medication, larger ones are often broken up with an endoscopic laser. A new hydrogel is now claimed to be capable of removing even the smallest of the resulting fragments, instead of just leaving them.
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Robots and other automated systems have always had trouble visually gauging the 3D shape of transparent objects, like those made of glass. A new system addresses that problem, by using a laser to quickly heat such items.
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Ordinarily, traffic lights change color in response to predetermined rules and induction loop sensors embedded in the road. According to new research, however, making those lights artificially intelligent may keep traffic flowing faster and smoother.
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Heating and cooling buildings is a major consumer of energy, especially older ones that weren’t built with modern energy efficiencies in mind. Now Fraunhofer engineers have developed a modular solar-powered facade that can heat or cool rooms.
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Although today's earbuds may seem small, they're limited in form and function by the fact that their speakers require membranes and magnets. A prototype microspeaker overcomes those limitations, potentially providing more uses for in-ear headphones.
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While manually hoeing weeds out of crops can be very time- and labor-intensive, spraying those crops with herbicides is definitely not eco-friendly. A German consortium is developing a third choice, in the form of the AMU-Bot weed-killing robot.
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Ordinarily when someone requires a prosthetic eye, a mold has to be made of their eye socket, after which the prosthesis is built by hand. A new 3D printing system, however, is claimed to be much quicker, and to produce a more realistic-looking eye.
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It can get tiresome, continually having to tell groups of children – or even adults – to be quiet. That's where a new sound-sensitive lamp comes in, as it does the job for you by changing color in response to rising noise levels.
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Although self-driving cars are coming, the first ones will likely still need to periodically have the driver take manual control of the vehicle. A new system could check if the driver is currently able to do so, by monitoring what they're doing.
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If you're trying to make a wound dressing that will be well-tolerated by the human body, you may be best off using human-derived materials. That's the approach that German researchers have taken, creating a tropoelastin-based bandage.
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