Cultured liver cell microreactor might replace animal testing

Finding alternatives to animal testing is an important endeavor. While the practice has been banned in the cosmetic products industry since 2013, it's still a central part of evaluating the effectiveness and dangers of new medication, with researchers usually using laboratory rodents to test out their latest drugs. Now, a team lead by scientists at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology has created a microbioreactor that has the potential to provide medication testing using cultured liver cells rather than animals.

The liver is most important organ when it comes to removing dangerous toxins from the body, making cultured liver cells a good candidate for testing substance toxicity outside of the body. But there are difficulties in their use, most notably the fact that it's very difficult to keep them alive for long periods of time, making long-term effect tests practically impossible.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Potsdam, working as part of the Hepatic Microfluidic Bioreactor project (HeMiBio), decided to use a microbioreactor to allow for longer-term observations, providing an environment in which the cells can survive for as long as four weeks. Furthermore, the device allows the researchers to observe how the liver reacts to toxic substances in real time – a big improvement over existing tests, which usually only observe changes at the end of the process.

The role of oxygen in the metabolic process is central to how the microreactor detects reactions to foreign substances. When a cell's metabolism is stimulated, oxygen consumption increases. Conversely, if it dies, then its oxygen consumption rate will drop to zero.

The bioreactor places liver cells with embedded microparticles into nine wells, each measuring 1.5 mm diameter

When designing the reactor vessel, the researchers worked to come up with sensor technology that took advantage of this, while coping with a high concentration of cells without interference giving rise to false or misleading data. After some thought, they decided to use a series of tiny polymer particles housing a luminescent dye, embedding them in among the liver cells.

When the sensor particles are exposed to monochromatic LED light, the dye they contain emits a phosphorescent glow, exciting individual electrons, raising them to high levels of energy. The time required for the electrons to lower their energy is affected by the amount of oxygen present in the immediate environment, meaning that the researchers can use the time the phosphorescent glow takes to fade to analyze the rate of metabolic activity. Looking at the curve of oxygen consumption allows the researchers to pinpoint metabolic processes taking place in cells at specific times, detailing exactly how the cells are reacting to the foreign substance.

Early tests indicate that the microbioreactor could provide a liver-like environment in the lab, but there's still a lot of work to do. The researchers have tested the method extensively, confirming that it works as intended. Looking forward, they plan to populate it with different combinations of liver cells, fine-tuning the sensors as the work continues.

In the long run, the team believes that it might be possible to place tissue samples from different organs into the reactor, recording their reaction to foreign substances during the course of a single test.

Source: Fraunhofer
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Google rolls out free gigabit Fiber to public housing properties

The internet provides a level playing field, by allowing anyone online to take a course or start a business. For it to do so, however, everyone must have access to it. A new Google Fiber initiative will ensure that low-income families in US public housing get that access, via a superfast connection.

Google's 1 Gbps Fiber service was launched as an experimental trial in 2010. It's now available in cities across the US and continues to expand. Last year, the firm partnered with the US government's ConnectHome scheme to help accelerate internet adoption among families in public housing that have school-age children.

Today, Google announced that it will go further, by providing free gigabit internet access to all residents in public housing properties that are connected to Google Fiber. Through local ConnectHome partners, residents will also be able to buy devices at discounted rates, and learn new computer skills.

The program is being launched in Kansas City, which was the first city chosen for Google Fiber rollout proper in 2011. Google says it has worked with the local housing authority to wire up 100 homes in West Bluff with 1,000 Mbps access, and is working with affordable housing providers to connect up to nine further properties housing more than 1,300 families.

The comapny plans to bring gigabit internet access to affordable housing in all of the cities in which its Fiber service operates.

Source: Google

Tone Shifter 3 puts iOS interface and MIDI controller at your feet

Though interfaces like the excellent iRig Pro Duo are great for bridging the divide between music creation apps running on an iPhone or iPad and an electric guitar, changing tones on the fly does involve taking playing hands away from the guitar to make a touchscreen selection. China's Tone Shifter has developed a box that places such control, and much more, at a player's foot-stomping disposal.

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The 220 x 114 x 35 mm (8.7 x 4.5 x 1.4 in), 0.75 kg (1.65 lb) Tone Shifter 3 allows players to access music creation apps such as AmpliTube, JamUp, Cubase and Guitar Rig running on iOS devices (via the included Apple adapter), a Mac or a Windows PC. Guitarists can use the unit as a controller for the software running on the connected device, and select different tones or change the pitch by pushing down the four stomp switches up top, with the promise of zero latency operation. A backlit LCD display and LED status indicators provide a visual guide to modes and selections.

The interface supports recording and playback at up to 16-bit/48 kHz audio resolution, there's independent left and right inputs, each with its own gain control and clip indication, an integrated headphone amp and jack and independent left/right output jacks (with output level control) for connection to powered speakers or a guitar amp.

The Tone Shifter 3 can also act as a MIDI hardware controller via the MIDI input port, allowing foot control of such devices as the Kemper Profiling Amp, the POD 2.0 from Line 6, the Vox Tonelab and Fractal's AXE-FX2. In addition to mains power (the unit is said to be compatible with AC or DC adapters ranging from 7 to 18 V in either positive or negative pole position), the Tone Shifter 3 can be powered by the hardware it's connected to.

Tone Shifter has launched on Kickstarter to bring its interface to life. Pledges start at US$149, which represents a hundred bucks off the expected street price, and the unit comes in black, red or blue. If all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in May. And if you're wondering what happened to the first two Tone Shifters, the company told us that these MIDI only units are no longer in production.

You can see the pitch video below, and guitarist Haibin Ma performing his own composition after that.

Sources: Tone Shifter, Kickstarter

Fitbit adds a touch more style to its tracker lineup with the $130 Alta

The undisputed king of fitness trackers, Fitbit, today announced a new addition to its lineup – the Fitbit Alta – that adds a touch more style and a few extra feature perks as well.

The Fitbit Alta is a US$130 tracker that tracks pretty much all the same stuff as its peers in Fitbit's lineup do (though, unlike the Charge HR, Surge or Blaze, there's no heart rate sensor here). While the Alta doesn't quite try to mimic the look of a real bracelet or watch, it does have a somewhat sleeker-looking and more bracelet-like appearance compared to the Charge and Flex.

Though the Alta ships with a plastic band, you'll also have the option of accessorizing it with more expensive ($60) leather or ($100) steel bands.

The Fitbit Alta also adds something that Fitbit's other trackers have been lacking: reminders to get up and move if you've been sitting still for too long. First seen onJawbone's fitness wearables (and later copied by Samsung and Apple for their respective smartwatches) the useful idle alert feature had been one of the big missing pieces in Fitbit's lineup. Hopefully this means it will make its way to the company's other recent trackers via software updates.

Fitbit estimates the Alta's battery will last up to five days – that's the same as the Fitbit Charge HR, but several days shorter than the standard (non-pulse-sensing) Charge.

Fitbit Alta is up for pre-order today for $130, with North American orders expected to launch in March. The rest of the world will have to wait until April.

Product page: Fitbit

Hubble observes vast gas cloud set to collide with the Milky Way

For the first time, astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the chemical composition of a vast gas cloud that is set to collide with the Milky Way. Upon impact, the Smith Cloud will act as the catalyst for a colossal burst of star creation.

It is believed that the Smith Cloud was launched from the outer disk around 70 million years ago. The existence of the body stands as tribute to the active nature of the Milky Way, and highlights a mechanism by which our galaxy recycles and redistributes its star creating materials.

Over the course of millions of years as the Smith Cloud moved along its boomerang trajectory, the Milky Way's gravity moulded the gaseous body into a comet-like visage some 2,500 light-years across, and an impressive 11,000 light-years in length. If visible to the naked eye, the Smith Cloud would cover an area the equivalent of 30 full Moons in the night sky.

NASA graphic displaying the trajectory of the Smith Cloud

It was initially theorized that the Smith Cloud had originated outside of our galaxy, instead representing a massive intergalactic cloud or even a failed, starless galaxy, which was being drawn into the Milky Way by her strong gravitational influence.

For the recent study, the researchers were able to estimate the quantity of heavier materials in the Smith Cloud by harnessing the power of Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. The team analysed the signature of light emitting from three galaxies located billions of light-years beyond the cloud, and observed how the light filters through it.

The results of the analysis were inconsistent with either of the theories that placed the origin of the cloud outside the Milky Way. Any cloud originating outside of our galaxy would contain an abundance of hydrogen and helium, rather than the heavier materials Hubble detected in the Smith Cloud. According to the researchers, these materials were most likely enriched by supernova explosions taking place within the Milky Way.

Astronomers believe that when the Smith Cloud rejoins the Milky Way that the massive infusion of new material will be responsible for the creation of up to two million Suns.

Source: NASA

Music Wrap moves Bluetooth headphones from your ears to your neck

Music Wrap is a new crowdfunding project with the aim of changing the way we listen to music, by eliminating earbuds and headphones in favor of its M25 headphone/speaker hybrid. The device sits around your neck, and creates what the company (perhaps a bit hyperbolically) calls a "personal sound field." Flexible, water-resistant, anti-shock and dust proof, the M25 is designed to free users' hands and ears while delivering a listening experience that will lessen the chance of damaging their eardrums.

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A report released last year by the World Health Organization warned that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged use of personal music players and smartphones, and exposure to damaging sound levels at concerts, nightclubs and sporting events.

Music Wrap's solution? Well, basically a pair of speakers you wear around your neck.

The company does say that the speaker's unique shape create a "directional audio" that transmits sound directly to the user without impairing alertness or causing inner ear damage. This may just be PR speak for "the speakers are pointing at you," though, and we'd be surprised if people around you wouldn't hear you jamming out to Rihanna's new album. That's going to severely limit the places you'll want to use the product.

As you'd expect, the M25 connects to any music device or smartphone via Bluetooth, and it also features a built-in hands-free speakerphone, as well as up to eight hours of battery life while in use or 16 days of standby time when it's not. Its flexible design lets you twist it into a multitude of shapes, including using it as a free-standing set of speakers.

Music Wrap first introduced the M25 at CES 2016 and recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help bring the product to market. Early backers can secure an M25 for a pledge of US$35 compared to the suggested retail price of $69, if all goes according to plan.

Sources: Music Wrap, Kickstarter

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Robotic welding arm used to 3D print a stainless steel bike

Although they're still far from being common, 3D-printed metal bicycle frames do now exist. Usually they're made using a sintering process, in which a laser is utilized to selectively melt steel powder, building it up in successive layers. Now, however, a team of students at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands has taken another approach – they've created the world's first stainless steel bike made via awelding-based 3D-printing technique.

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The students worked with Amsterdam-based company MX3D, which helped bring us theMataerial 3D printer in 2013. Unlike traditional 3D printers, which build up objects horizontally on a flat stage, the Mataerial uses a robotic arm to extrude resin onto horizontal or vertical surfaces. Those columns of resin can be curved and linked together as they're being extruded, quickly hardening into modern art-like creations.

More recently, MX3D created a version that "prints" in welded metal. It starts by laying down a blob of molten metal, then adds another blob on top of it once it's hardened, and continues that process until it's created an entire metal column. By controlling the point in space at which the welds are made, it's possible to control the orientation of the columns, even getting them to interlace with one another. No supporting materials are needed, and quite large structures can be created.

MX3D is already using the technique to build a pedestrian bridge, but it approached TU Delft about the possibility of doing something else to demonstrate the potential of the technology. The bike was the result. Its frame was built in several main sections, which were then welded to one another by hand.

Called the Arc Bicycle, the finished product is claimed to weigh about as much as a traditional steel-framed bike, and is fully capable of being ridden on rough cobblestone streets.

"It was important for us to design a functional object that people use everyday," says team member Stef de Groot. "Being students in the Netherlands, a bicycle naturally came to mind. A bicycle frame is a good test for the technology because of the complex forces involved."

The Arc Bicycle can be seen in action – and being created – in the video below.

Sources: TU Delft, MX3D

Audio-monitoring tech keeps announcements audible

Messages announced over train station loudspeakers are notorious for being unintelligible. It can also be difficult to understand announcements made in airports, at conferences, or in any number of other busy public spaces. Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology is trying to do something about it, however. It's developed new audio-enhancement software, which might even find use in smartphones.

Known as ADAPT DRC, the software uses strategically-placed microphones to continuously monitor the ambient sound in the environment. Based on what it hears, it then manipulates the audio of spoken messages, in order to compensate for competing noise. This doesn't mean that it simply turns up the volume, however.

There are already systems that simply make announcements louder when ambient sound levels increase, but this doesn't always make them easier to understand. In fact, higher volume can sometimes distort spoken words, as it causes the speakers to vibrate.

Instead, ADAPT DRC selectively manipulates specific frequencies, and it does so in real time. This includes boosting consonant sounds such as "t" and "p" – because these are short-duration high-frequency sounds, they're particularly prone to being drowned out by other noises.

Additionally, using an existing technique known as Dynamic Range Compression, the software simultaneously boosts the volume of quiet speech sounds while also lowering the volume of loud ones. This results in a message that's delivered at one consistent volume, making it easier to discern.

As mentioned, ADAPT DRC may also find use in smartphones, allowing phone calls to be heard in noisy environments. It may actually be easier than implementing the system in train stations or other locations, as phones already have built-in mics.

Source: Fraunhofer

Modern backpack blends function with seamlessly integrated tech

Whether a student, professional, or road-warrior, it's worth having the right bag to carry all of your gear. The latest from Seattle-based Poros is designed with modern life in mind. The Tetra backpack keeps mobile devices powered on-the-go through its seamlessly-integrated charging technology with full LCD battery display.

Bags with built-in batteries are becoming more common, proving useful in situations where power outlets are unavailable. Similar to the AMPL Labs Smartbag or previously-reviewed TYLT Energi+ backpack, the Poros Tetra is designed with an internal battery that can charge multiple devices via USB. But unlike many other backpacks, the Tetra is less obvious with its cabling and technology. Users can store and access items without the nuisance of navigating around bulk.

Poros' technology package is slim and compact, weighing only about 0.5 lb (0.22 kg). A 10,000-mAh battery offers two powered connections: one pre-wired cable (either micro USB or Apple Lightning), and one open USB port capable of up to 2.1 A. The cables route to internal pockets in the front zippered compartment for easy access. As with the Tetra charges devices, an integrated LCD screen numerically displays the battery's remaining power and output rates.

When ready to recharge the battery, users need only pull Tetra's wall charger from its dedicated pocket to plug into a standard socket. It looks exactly like plugging a backpack into a wall outlet. But with the power source and all necessary elements already contained within the Tetra, there's less chance that critical cables would be left behind when leaving the house.

As with other bags made by Poros, the Tetra is not short on storage or substance. At 18 x 12 x 6 in (45 x 30 x 15 cm), this backpack is spacious enough to hold a full day's worth of gear without being too cumbersome to wear. Constructed out of 1680D ballistic nylon with solid metal zipper hardware, the Tetra is designed to be durable while still looking good over time. Wide shoulder straps and a top carrying handle are made with travel in mind – padded for comfort with reinforced stitching for longevity.

The Poros Tetra backpack is currently funding on Indiegogo, having raised 18 percent of its US$10,000 goal in just a day, with another 35 days to go. A pledge of $99 sets you up with one Tetra backpack, saving $130 off the estimated retail price.

If everything goes according to schedule, backers can expect shipments of the Tetra to start as early as this March.

Check out the video below for product features and highlights.

Sources: Poros Bags, Indiegogo

Bike helmet is made from wood – including the foam

We've seen bike helmets with wooden shells before, and we've also seen foam made from wood pulp. Now, however, Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology has teamed up with Stockholm-based startup Cellutech to combine the two. The result is a helmet made entirely from wood.

Known as Cellufoam, the shock-absorbing foam in the helmet is said to be similar to Styrofoam – except it comes from a renewable source, and it's biodegradable. Like similar products we've covered before, it's made by mixing a foaming agent with cellulose nanofibers derived from forestry industry byproducts. This means that trees don't need to be cut down specifically for foam production.

Even the straps are wood-based, being made from a heavy-duty paper.

The helmet was designed by Rasmus Malbert and Jesper Jonsson, from design studio Materialist. It was made as part of the Ekoportal2035 project, which explores the concept of "a biobased future." There's no word on possible commercialization.

Sources: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Cellutech via Bored Panda