The 'golden bullet' that kills cancer
Care and Health, June 22, 2007
Gold-coated glass "nanoshells" can reveal the location of tumours and then destroy them minutes later in a burst of heat -- Using these particles to detect and destroy tumours could speed up cancer treatment and reduce the use of potentially toxic drugs. It could also make treatment cheaper, says Andre Gobin of Rice University in Houston, Texas, who helped to create the particles. In 2003 Gobin's supervisor Jennifer West showed that gold-coated silica nanospheres could destroy tumours in mice, while leaving normal tissue intact. The blood vessels surrounding tumours are leakier than those in healthy tissue, so spheres injected into the bloodstream tend to accumulate at tumour sites. more..

Melt Away the Pounds with "Weight Loss" Apparel
Nanotechnology Now, June 22, 2007
Dr. Averel Snyder is an expert when it comes to matters of the heart. The noted Georgia cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon and certified fitness trainer is also an expert in how to lose weight. He is using his expertise to launch a new company, AbsAthletic Inc. (http://www.absathletic.com), to produce a line of performance sportswear to aid in weight loss. The Atlanta-based firm's line, FIRE Wear brand, features a patent-in-process textile technology that incorporates a form of solar energy called far infrared energy (FIRE™). The fabric absorbs far infrared energy (whether outdoors or indoors) which increases metabolism and results in weight loss. The far infrared energy also helps dissolve unwanted cellulite. more..

Women using thermography procedure to complement breast cancer screening
The Guardian (PEI, Canada), June 12, 2007
Breasts are scanned with highly sensitive camera and digital infrared imaging scan shows heat difference between normal tissue and any problem areas -- With an increased incidence of breast cancer, women are taking their health seriously. Besides checking their breasts for lumps each month, arranging for yearly mammograms or ultrasounds, some women are using thermography as a complementary breast cancer-screening tool. It works like this: by scanning the breast area with a highly sensitive camera, a digital infrared imaging scan shows the heat difference between normal breast tissue and any problem areas. In scientific terms, the normal breast tissue acts as a control against which any hot areas are compared. more..

SOFIA Flies to California
Education and Public Outreach, SETI Institute, June 7, 2007
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy left Texas for Southern California on May 31 to continue engineering flight tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. A consortium led by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) developed SOFIA as a world-class infrared astronomical observatory for NASA and DLR, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center). L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, located in Waco, Texas, installed the German-built 2.5-meter infrared telescope and made other major modifications to the 747 over the past several years. more..

Infrared technology assists in walrus count
Education and Public Outreach, Anchorage Daily News, May 29, 2007
Alaska researchers are joining their Russian counterparts in the most exhaustive effort yet to answer a simple question: How many walruses are there? Without a good answer, it is impossible to know if the marine mammals that live mostly on sea ice off the coasts of Alaska and Russia are being affected by global warming, according to scientists on both sides of the Bering Strait. "The size of the walrus population is unknown. We really have no idea," said Douglas Burn, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife in Anchorage. more..

Infrared goggles diagnosing reading problems
Lee Illinois Regional Newspapers, May 28, 2007
LEXINGTON -- Wearing glasses to read is not uncommon, but some Lexington students are using infrared goggles. The goggles chart eye movements, which may help diagnose reading problems. “Research tells us that skill in reading is the most important predictor for student success or failure,” said Lexington School District Superintendent Brent McArdle. “Our students have a variety of learning styles, and this program gives us another approach to use with students who have not been successful and also gives us another method to re-enforce reading skills to proficient readers.” more..

UNM Researchers Find a Unique Way to Build an Infrared Color Image
UNM Today, May 1, 2007
Two UNM Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professors in the Center for High Technology Materials Sanjay Krishna and Majeed Hayat are exploring a way to build images using a unique device. They call it a quantum dot camera. They’ve been recognized by the research community for their project and have entered into an agreement with Los Alamos National Laboratory for field testing. The image from the camera, which is actually a sort of heat sensor, allows it to “see” photons emitted from heat associated with a person or object. When they put a graduate student in a dark room and took his image with the camera, this is what they saw. -- View clip: Quantum Dot Camera... more..

Ice On Mars Is Patchy And Variable, According To Scientists
Science Daily, May 3, 2007
Science Daily — For the first time, scientists have found that water ice lies at variable depths over small-scale patches on the Red Planet. The discovery draws a much more detailed picture of underground ice on Mars than was previously available." "We find the top layer of soil has a huge effect on the water ice in the ground," says Joshua Bandfield, a research specialist in Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration and sole author of the paper. His findings come from data sent back to Earth by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. THEMIS is a sophisticated camera that takes images in 5 visual bands and 10 heat-sensing (infrared) ones. At infrared wavelengths, the smallest details THEMIS can see on the surface are 330 feet (100 meters) wide. more..

Green light bulb can faze the telly
Sunday Times, April 22, 2007
THEY have been promoted by Gordon Brown, the chancellor, as vital to saving electricity and cutting greenhouse gases. Now, in addition to their often murky powers of illumination, low-energy bulbs have been shown to bring another inconvenience in their wake - they disrupt television remote controls. Scientists have found that the infrared waves given out by some models of the bulbs are almost exactly the same frequency as those from the hand-sets. Sometimes this means the controls fail altogether. On other occasions the channels may be spontaneously switched by the “impostor” rays of the bulbs. For the same reason they can even stop a radio from receiving shortwave programmes. more..

Seven Sisters Of The Pleiades Pose For Spitzer Space Telescope
Science Daily, April 16, 2007
The Seven Sisters, also known as the Pleiades, seem to float on a bed of feathers in a new infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Clouds of dust sweep around the stars, swaddling them in a cushiony veil. The view is quite different from what you might see if you look out to the west shortly after dusk. Right now, the famous family of stars is "stepping out" in the evening skies with a very bright and dazzling Venus. During the period from around April 10 to 13, the Pleiades shine like a cluster of diamonds just above Venus. On April 19, the crescent moon will join the party, sliding between Venus and the Pleiades for a special viewing. more..

Reliability Of Near-infrared Spectroscopy Measures Of Cerebral Oxygenation & Blood Volume During Handgrip Exercise In Brain Injured Patients
Medical News Today, April 14, 2007
We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure the cerebral oxygenation and blood volume of nondisabled subjects and subjects with traumatic brain injury (TBI) performing a rhythmic handgrip exercise on two separate occasions. Both groups' cerebral oxygenation and blood volume increased during the exercise. The changes were similar for both trials and cerebral oxygenation was significantly lower in subjects with TBI than in nondisabled subjects. These findings indicate that NIRS reliably and noninvasively evaluate... more..

Roof Moisture Testing: Move cursor over photo to view thermographic image.

Breast cancer diagnosis from combined MRI-optics method
Huliq, April 14, 2007
By combining two techniques, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and near-infrared optics, researchers at Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School may have devised a new, potentially more accurate method for diagnosing breast cancer. Their pilot study, demonstrating the feasibility of the concept, is published in the April 15 issue of the journal Optics Letters, published by the Optical Society of America. The new technique utilizes MRI to produce an image of the breast, yielding information on its structure, including shape and composition. The near-infrared light technique provides information on how the tissue is functioning, for example, whether a region contains a large amount of blood and is rapidly consuming oxygen as early cancers typically do. The researchers are hoping this dual-procedure approach will be a key to learning which tissues are malignant before performing a biopsy. more..

Breast cancer: Early assault
The Desert Sun, April 1, 2007
New technologies offer greater hope of detection, destruction of growths -- ...Bretz believes that OncoVue can work hand-in-hand with technology like his Sentinel BreastScan, a machine that uses a digital infrared camera to measure temperatures throughout the breast. It is technology developed by the military that is being used to save civilian lives - areas of concern can be isolated in the breast because they have a hotter temperature than normal breast tissue. The procedure takes about 10 minutes and does not require compression of the breast. Because it does not use radiation, the infrared scans can be done frequently. more..

Snecma uses Cedip Infrared camera to improve aircraft engine performance
Military & Aerospace Electronics, March 31, 2007
CROISSY-BEAUBOURG, France, 31 March 2007. Systems integrators at aircraft engine manufacturer Snecma in Villaroche, France, needed a camera for remote non-contact fatigue testing of engine turbine blades. They found their solution from Cedip Infrared Systems in Croissy-Beauborg, France. Snecma designers are using the Cedip Silver 450M thermal infrared camera to improve the design of their company's aero-engines. The camera enables them to improve their understanding of the behavior of differently treated engine turbine blades when subjected to extreme vibration testing. more..

Electrical Testing: Move cursor over photo to view thermographic image.

Keeping on the cutting edge of laser's healing powers
Salem News, March 26, 2007
Light has been known for generations to have healing powers. But with low-level laser technology, we now can direct a light beam at targeted areas to promote healing and reduce pain for our patients. The technology is being used at Beverly Sports Medicine and elsewhere to help patients. While experimenting with lasers to kill cancerous tumors in the 1970s, Hungarian physician Endre Mester implanted tumor cells beneath the skin in laboratory animals. He found that laser light in the red and infrared wavelength range (600 to 1,000 nanometers) healed the wounds caused when inserting a tumor rather than reducing the size of the tumor. The ability of low-level lasers to speed tissue repair, reduce pain and stimulate the function of the immune and circulatory system is now well-known. The findings led the Food and Drug Administration in 2002 to approve low-level light therapy to treat carpal tunnel syndrome and to speed wound healing. more..