News tagged with electric impulse

Electronic tattoo monitors brain, heart and muscles (w/ video)

Imagine if there were electronics able to prevent epileptic seizures before they happen. Or electronics that could be placed on the surface of a beating heart to monitor its functions. The problem is that ...

Technology / Engineering

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Shine a light instead of changing the battery

(PhysOrg.com) -- Pacemakers and other implanted medical devices require electric current to operate. Changing the battery requires an additional operation, which is an added stress on the patient. A Japanese team led by Eijiro ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

High-voltage engineers create nearly 200-foot-long electrical arcs using less energy than before (Update)

Photos taken by the researchers show plasma arcs up to 60 meters long casting an eerie blue glow over buildings and trees at the High Voltage Laboratory at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (43) | comments 17 | with audio podcast

Explanation for glowing seas suggested

It has long been known that distinctive blue flashes -- a type of bioluminescence -- that are visible at night in some marine environments are caused by tiny, unicellular plankton known as dinoflagellates. ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify signals triggering dendrite growth

A study in worms that are less than a millimetre long has yielded clues that may be important for understanding how nerves grow.

Biology / Other

created Sep 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Physicists at the center of police weapons testing

In this month's edition of Physics World, David Wilkinson, visiting fellow at Nottingham Trent University and former project manager in the UK Home Office Scientific Development Branch, explains how physic ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

Engineering excitable cells for studies of bioelectricity and cell therapy

By altering the genetic makeup of normally "unexcitable" cells, Duke University bioengineers have turned them into cells capable of generating and passing electrical current.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Can you hear me now?' Researchers detail how neurons decide how to transmit information

There are billions of neurons in the brain and at any given time tens of thousands of these neurons might be trying to send signals to one another. Much like a person trying to be heard by his friend across ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Neuro signals study gives new insight into brain disorders

Research into how the brain transmits messages to other parts of the body could improve understanding of disorders such as epilepsy, dementia, multiple sclerosis and stroke.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 14, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Membrane molecule keeps nerve impulses hopping

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine describes a key molecular mechanism in nerve fibers that ensures the rapid conductance of nervous system impulses. The findings ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jan 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Plant-derived scavengers prowl the body for nerve toxins

The brain is forever chattering to itself, via electrical impulses sent along its hard-wired neuronal "Ethernet." These e-messages are translated into chemical transmissions, allowing communication across ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers locate impulse control center in brain

Impulsive behaviour can be improved with training and the improvement is marked by specific brain changes, according to a new Queen's University study.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Sep 21, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Opening the gate to the cell's recycling center

(PhysOrg.com) -- In cells, as in cities, disposing of garbage and recycling anything that can be reused is an essential service. In both city and cell, health problems can arise when the process breaks down.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 14, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Link between iron overload and macular degeneration under study

The most common - and under-diagnosed - genetic disease in humans just may be a cause of the worst form of macular degeneration, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jun 24, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Neuroscientists reveal new links that regulate brain electrical activity

Investigators in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, have made a major breakthrough in our understanding of nerve impulse generation within the brain. Brain cells communicate with each other by firing electrical ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 16, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast