Gizmorama - November 12th, 2012

Good Morning,

I've got a great story, actually I've got 4 great stories, but one in particular caught my eye - a powered exoskeleton helps paralyzed walk. What an amazing break-through! What an amazing story!

Learn about this great development and other interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Feathered dinosaur find first for Americas --*
DRUMHELLER, Alberta - Canadian paleontologists say they've discovered the first fossils of a feathered dinosaur ever found in the Americas, unearthed in Alberta. The 75-million-year-old rocks of Alberta's badlands yielded fossils of Ornithomimids, ostrich-like dinosaurs that had feathers and wing-like structures, the Calgary Sun reported. Ornithomimids were too big to fly, researchers said, so the wing-like features developed in adult specimens may have been used for mating display or to care for eggs. "The fact that wing-like forelimbs developed in more mature individuals suggests they were used only later in life, perhaps associated with reproductive behaviors like display or egg brooding," Francois Therrien of the Royal Tyrrell Museum said. The researchers found proof of feathers preserved in three fossil skeletons, a juvenile and two adults. "This is a really exciting discovery as it represents the first feathered dinosaur specimens found in the Western Hemisphere," Darla Zelenitsky of the University of Calgary said. Until now, feathered dinosaurs have been found mostly in China and in Germany.


*-- U.S. judge OKs warrantless camera use --*
GREEN BAY, Wis. - A U.S. court OKd warrantless use of hidden surveillance cameras, saying police can install such cameras on private property without obtaining a warrant. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled it reasonable for Drug Enforcement Administration agents to enter rural property without permission, and without a warrant, to install multiple "covert digital surveillance cameras" in hopes of uncovering evidence of marijuana being grown, CNET reported Tuesday. In the case in question, defendants Manuel Mendoza and Marco Magana of Green Bay, Wis., had sought to have video evidence thrown out on Fourth Amendment grounds. Griesbach adopted a recommendation by U.S. Magistrate William Callahan that the DEA's warrantless surveillance did not violate the amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and requires warrants describe the place that's being searched. Callahan based his reasoning on a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court case in which a majority of the justices said that "open fields" could be searched without warrants because the Fourth Amendment does not cover them. "The Supreme Court has upheld the use of technology as a substitute for ordinary police surveillance," he wrote. Mendoza and Magana had argued "No Trespassing" signs were posted throughout the heavily wooded, 22-acre property owned by Magana and there also was a locked gate.


*-- 'Self-healing' concrete in real-world test --*
DELFT, Netherlands - A "self-healing" concrete that can patch up cracks by itself is ready for outdoor testing, researchers at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands say. The experimental concrete contains limestone-producing bacteria that are activated by corrosive rainwater working its way into the structure, they said. Developed by microbiologist Henk Jonkers and concrete technologist Eric Schlangen, the material could potentially increase the service life of the concrete with considerable cost savings as a result, they said. "Micro-cracks" are an expected part of the hardening process and do not directly cause strength loss, but in time water can seep into the cracks and corrode the concrete, they said. "For durability reasons -- in order to improve the service life of the construction -- it is important to get these micro-cracks healed," Jonkers told BBC News. Bacterial spores and the nutrients they will need to feed on are added as granules into the concrete mix, the researchers said, but the spores remain dormant until rainwater works its way into the cracks and activates them, whereupon they feed on the nutrients to produce limestone.


*-- Powered exoskeleton helps paralyzed walk --*
NASHVILLE - People paralyzed below the waist who thought they would never take another step could gain some independence thanks to a new exoskeleton, U.S. researchers say. A powered exoskeleton that enables people with severe spinal cord injuries to stand, walk, sit and climb stairs could be available commercially by 2014, Vanderbilt University reported Tuesday. Created at the school's Center for Intelligent Mechatronics, its light weight and compact size could give users an unprecedented degree of independence, its developers said. "You can think of our exoskeleton as a Segway with legs," Michael Goldfarb, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, said. "If the person wearing it leans forward, he moves forward. If he leans back and holds that position for a few seconds, he sits down. When he is sitting down, if he leans forward and holds that position for a few seconds, then he stands up." The 27-pound exoskeleton straps tightly around the torso, and rigid supports are strapped to the legs and extend from the hip to the knee and from the knee to the foot. The hip and knee joints are driven by computer-controlled electric motors powered by advanced batteries. A number of researchers have been working on wearable exoskeletons, including a spinoff derived from NASA's Robonaut 2 program that has yielded a 57-pound robotic device would be used as an in-space exercise machine for astronauts to supply resistance against leg movement but could also be used to potentially helping some individuals walk for the first time. Similar to the Vanderbilt device, it is worn over the legs with a harness that reaches up the back and around the shoulders, with four motorized joints at the hips and the knees Brian Shaffer, who was completely paralyzed from the waist down in an automobile accident in 2010, has been testing the Vanderbilt apparatus. "It's unbelievable to stand up again. It takes concentration to use it at first but, once you catch on, it's not that hard: The device does all the work," he said. "My kids have started calling me 'Ironman.'"

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