Trends & Innovations - Thursday

• Investor's Business Daily
• On 6:47 pm EST, Thursday November 5, 2009

SmartHand gives sense of touch

Researchers have wired an artificial hand to existing nerve endings in the stump of a severed arm, giving an amputee the ability to "feel" his fingers again. The test subject has said: "I grab something hard, and then I can feel it in the fingertips, which is strange, as I don't have them anymore. It's amazing." The SmartHand, developed by Israeli and EU scientists, has made it possible for the man to eat, write and perform other complicated tasks. He's been able to operate the artificial hand as though it's his own after only a few training sessions.

Ionic liquid makes better battery

Metal-air batteries that would have 11 times more energy density than the best lithium-ion batteries could be on the market soon. A spinoff from Ariz. State Univ. is developing a battery by using ionic liquids as electrolytes. The scientists said ionic liquids overcome many of the problems zinc-based metal-air batteries had, and the cost will be one-third that of a lithium-ion battery, MIT Technology Review reported. The startup Fluidic Energy won a $5 mil grant from the U.S. gov't.

Adding a boat tail, a tapering protrusion, to the end of a truck improves aerodynamics and reduces fuel consumption, according to a study by Dutch researchers. The researchers tested a truck with such a tail on public highways for a year. They found that it cut fuel use by 7.5%. The optimal tail length is 2 meters (6.6 feet), says the Delft Univ. of Technology research team.

64% of U.S. adults are buying more generic brands, says a Harris Interactive poll that looked at ways recession-hit consumers are saving money. Of the respondents, 47% are brown-bagging lunch instead of buying it, 43% are going to hairdressers or barbers less often, and 36% have stopped buying bottled water. Green tea may help prevent mouth cancer, according to a study by the Univ. of Texas. The study gave volunteers with pre-malignant mouth lesions green tea extract for 3 months. Some 59% of people taking the highest dose of green tea extract had slower cancer development, compared with 18% of those who didn't take the green tea extract. Drinking 8-10 cups of green tea every day may have the same effect, researchers said.

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