PFT: Reid says Albert to play LT, Fisher to be RT

AP

NFL teams have different options when it comes to filling out the quarterback depth chart.? They can have an unquestioned starter and obvious backups, or they can throw the quarterbacks in a blender and see who earns the job.

Or they can pretend to have a clear-cut starter and undermine him with a backup who says he supports the starter but actually wants to take his job.

That?s what the Jets did last year by adding Tim Tebow to the team.? Even though Tebow tried to say and do all the right things on multiple occasions, he wanted to play.? Which means that he wanted Sanchez to not play.

On Thursday, Sanchez reflected on their relationship, making it clear that there was tension.

?If you were Tim?s agent or my agent, would you say that?s the absolutely best position for either of us?? Probably not,? Sanchez told reporters.? ?Tim wanted to play, I wanted to play, only one guy plays at this position.? So I guess it wasn?t the most advantageous, but that?s the way things happen. We both competed [with] our best, tried to be the best of friends we could, and honestly under different circumstances we would be really good friends, it?s just hard when you?re competing like that.? There?s just a professionalism about it that you don?t get too close to guys like that.? You?re just professional, and you?re cool and if the guy has a flat tire on the side of the road, I?m going to stop, I?m not just going to blow by him, but at the same time, I?m not sending him gifts on his birthday or anything.?

This year, the Jets have abandoned the fa?ade, embracing the notion that not just Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith but all five quarterbacks currently on the roster are competing.? Which means that Sanchez will view the rookie the same way he regarded Tebow.

?I don?t see why it would be any different,? Sanchez said.? ?I will help [Smith] out as much as I can, but when we have to compete, we have to compete, that?s the way it goes.?

Which means that the quarterback position will continue to display dysfunction, with five guys clamoring for one job.? While competition could make the guy who emerges from the scrum better, like so many quarterback controversies the guy who wins the job for Week One essentially becomes the guy who wins the privilege of being the first one to get benched.

That?s why the far better approach for any NFL team is to have a starter and obvious backups.? It keeps the locker room from picking sides, the media from stirring up trouble, and the fans from ripping their hair out.

Eventually, that could happen for the Jets, with Smith getting the job once he?s deemed ready to handle it.? Until then, the Jets will keep Sanchez and his guaranteed salary of $8.25 million around, because they?ll be paying him whether he?s on the team or not.

Which means that, essentially, the Jets have done a 180 from 2012.? Last year, they pretended there wasn?t a competition when in fact there really was one.? This year, the organization has launched a competition with an obvious preferred winner in mind.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/02/reid-says-albert-will-play-left-tackle-fisher-will-play-right/related/

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Commuting Is No Sweat on These Swanky E-Bikes

With gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon and what seems an entire generation shunning automobiles, it's no wonder that bike commuting has seen such a resurgence in recent years. But for all the physical and environmental benefits riding imparts, it nevertheless leaves you a hot, sweaty mess. That is, of course, unless you get your bike to do the pedaling for you.

A2B bikes is the American arm of the HERO Eco Group, which has been making electric bikes for Indian and European markets since the turn of the century. The A2B lineup boasts five models with a variety of pedal assist and throttle options to minimize commuting effort. I recently took a ride on four of the models at A2B's showroom in downtown San Francisco.

Shima

The Shima's 500W wheel-hub propulsion system provides a roughly 37 mile range per 5 hour charge of its 36v 13.2ah Lithium-ion battery. That battery slides in and out under the rear deck and can be locked in place when you park. Three levels of pedal assist?economy, standard, and speed racer?provide up to 35 Nm of torque and propels the rider to speeds approaching 30 MPH. It's 7-speed Shimano gear set is relatively short and with the pedal assist at max, I routinely beat traffic off the line and passed other riders with ease. It felt like I was perpetually riding downhill. The Shima retails for $3,800.

All of the models include integrated head and tail lights and are all currently available.

Alva

The Alva is another pedal assist model, designed for comfort where the Shima was built for speed. Its 36v, 13.2ah Lithium-ion battery drives a 450W brushless hub motor to reach speeds of 20 MPH and a range of 20 miles. While the Shima's pedal assist was powerful enough to get off the line without too much trouble, the Alva takes a more on-demand approach. Located just under the bell on the left handlebar, there's a rocker switch that manually engages the motor without requiring you to push off or pedal start. That way you get a little bit of speed going before you start pedaling and eliminates the need to huff and puff through the first two gears. The Alva will set you back a $4,000.

Alva +

The Alva+ takes the features that made the Alva so popular in Europe and recalibrates them for lazy Americans. It offers pedal assist like its predecessor but upgrades the start button into a full-on throttle integrated into the right handlebar so you'll never have to pedal through the low gears. The Alva+ tops out at about 20 MPH under just throttle power but when you start pedalling as well, you can reach about 24 MPH, easily keep pace with city traffic over the bike's 37 mile range. The key fob security system?needed to turn on or adjust the power assist level?is ingenious as the A+ weighs a 66 pounds and challenging to ride without it. They may take your bike, but they won't get more than a few blocks with it. The Alva+ costs $4,000 as well.

Octave

Kyle Langdon, A2B's Business Operations Manager, described the Octave as the Escalade of E-Bikes. The man does not lie, the Octave is downright luxurious?like a Beach Cruiser you don't have to pedal. See, the cranks are set forward on the frame far ahead of the seat, like a Cruiser. This eases the rider into a more upright and comfortable sitting position, almost like a recumbent. Sure, that position makes pushing hard with your legs nearly impossible but it does not matter because you won't actually be doing much pedaling. I rode this bike for a good 20 minutes and pedaled none times?Zero?I just kept grabbing handfuls of throttle instead. The primary battery is located internally and delivers 15-20 MPH and 20 miles of range, though it can be augmented with a secondary battery on the rear deck, which boosts range to a possible 40 miles. It, too, runs $4,000 .

Source: http://gizmodo.com/commuting-is-no-sweat-on-these-swanky-e-bikes-489202445

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Howard Kurtz fired? Why the columnist is leaving The Daily Beast.

Was Howard Kurtz fired? The Daily Beast retracted his factually incorrect blog post about Jason Collins today, and 'both sides agreed it was best to part company,' he tweeted.

By Ryan Nakashima,?Associated Press / May 2, 2013

Howard Kurtz, seen here at a movie premier in April 2012, has left The Daily Beast. Earlier today, the website retracted one of his blog posts about the coming out of NBA player Jason Collins. Both Kurtz and Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown confirmed his departure over Twitter, though Kurtz did not acknowledge any link between the retraction and his departure.

Evan Agostini / AP / file

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Columnist Howard Kurtz left The Daily Beast on Thursday, the same day the website retracted one of his blog posts in which he mistakenly accused NBA player Jason Collins of hiding a previous engagement to a woman before declaring this week that he is gay.

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A person close to the matter said Kurtz was fired because this was the latest in a series of high-profile errors, which detracted from the site's efforts to bolster the credibility of its news coverage. The gaffe also comes as The Daily Beast tries to succeed only online after dropping its print magazine, Newsweek, in December.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokeswoman for CNN, where Kurtz hosts the TV show "Reliable Sources," said the network is reviewing the matter. Kurtz's CNN show is about "how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover," according to the website. Kurtz is a former media columnist with The Washington Post and was The Daily Beast's Washington bureau chief.

CNN is also looking into Kurtz's relationship with the website Daily Download, which lists him as being on its board of advisers. A Huffington Post story on Wednesday noted that Kurtz promoted the site with more than 120 links in April, compared with around 20 for The Daily Beast and fewer for his CNN show.

In the retracted Daily Beast post, titled "Jason Collins' Other Secret," Kurtz says Collins "didn't come clean" about the fact that he was engaged to be married to a woman before declaring he was gay.

But Collins does just that in the eighth paragraph of the Sports Illustrated piece that came out Monday.

"When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue," Collins wrote.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/1fvaBb3KGPA/Howard-Kurtz-fired-Why-the-columnist-is-leaving-The-Daily-Beast

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Surprise Bank of Canada chief stands ready to nurture economy

By Louise Egan and Randall Palmer

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada tapped an outsider on Thursday to head its central bank, bringing in the well-respected head of the Canadian export credit agency, who immediately stressed the need to nurture a choppy economic recovery.

Incoming Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, 57, worked at the central bank for 14 years earlier in his career. But he has spent the last 14 years at Export Development Canada.

Poloz takes over as central bank chief on June 3 when Mark Carney leaves, a surprise for markets, which had tipped Carney's senior deputy Tiff Macklem as the most likely choice. Carney becomes governor of the Bank of England on July 1.

In his debut with reporters, Poloz was careful not to contradict the views that Carney and the central bank expressed in their quarterly economic report last month.

"We are in a recovery that is not as vigorous as would normally be expected and ... I think it will be necessary to nourish it, I don't know for how long," Poloz said in an introductory news briefing in Ottawa.

Canada's economy recovered well from the 2008-09 recession thanks to aggressive government spending, tax cuts and record-low interest rates. But growth stalled last year, with the economy recording its slowest two quarters of growth since the crisis.

The Bank of Canada has kept its key rate on hold at what it describes as a stimulative 1 percent since 2010. But it has signaled for the past year that the next move will be a rate hike, not a cut.

Poloz said exports now needed to fuel the Canadian economy, and he believed this was already starting to happen. Canada unexpectedly recorded a trade surplus in March, the first monthly surplus after a year of deficits.

"In my judgment, it's looking promising. I hope you agree with that," he said, turning to Carney, who smiled broadly: "Yes, absolutely," Carney replied.

Analysts do not expect Poloz to rethink central bank policies, especially because of his experience working there earlier in his career. The bank, which guards its independence jealously, targets inflation of 2 percent, but has said it will be flexible with the timeline for reaching that target in difficult economic times.

"The move was a surprise, but I don't look for any change in monetary policy," said Craig Wright, chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.

Unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve or the Bank of England, there are no discernible "hawks" or "doves" among the Bank of Canada's six governing council members because the council reaches decisions by consensus and takes pains to speak from a common script at public appearances.

Poloz will serve a seven-year term.

In a Reuters poll on April 10, Poloz was seen as the second most likely candidate to get the job after Macklem.

Poloz appeared upbeat about signs of gradual cooling of the once-hot Canadian housing market and a slowing in record-high household debt levels in Canada - both top concerns of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

"Of course it's a concern in the sense of where we are," Poloz said. "However, the evolution appears to be constructive, and I think that's great, for us to continue to watch that and to, if you like, nurture that process of a return to more normal conditions."

Economists have said Poloz has the credentials to succeed as governor and that he was viewed as a governor-in-waiting in his previous period at the central bank.

FOLKSY COMMUNICATOR

He is a good communicator, described by one person as "folksy" in his speeches but also whip-smart. He worked at a private-sector financial research firm in Montreal for five years after leaving the central bank.

Poloz joined EDC, a quasi-independent organization that provides loans to importers of Canadian goods, in 1999 as its chief economist and became president of the agency in 2010.

One possible strike against him was the perception among some market players that he may be more sympathetic than his predecessors to exporters' complaints about the strong Canadian dollar and lean towards a weaker currency.

RBC assistant chief economist Paul Ferley dismissed that notion.

"This would do a disservice to Poloz's early career at the central bank where the priority is to set monetary policy to achieve an appropriate rate of inflation," he said.

Poloz will have only about a month to transition to his new role, much shorter than the four months Carney had between his appointment in October 2007 and his first day of work in February 2008.

This is the third time in a row that the top job at the Bank of Canada has gone to an outside candidate rather than to the most senior internal policymaker, in this case Macklem.

Macklem said in a statement that he would stay with the bank and looked forward to working with Poloz.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Louise Egan; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Peter Galloway and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-name-central-bank-chief-thursday-scotiabank-141614979.html

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YouTube says the battle with TV is already over

In this Friday, March 22, 2013, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt gestures during an interactive session with group of students at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar Schmidt, who spent a decade as the company?s CEO, shares his ruminations and visions of a radically different future in ?The New Digital Age,? a book that goes on sale Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

In this Friday, March 22, 2013, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt gestures during an interactive session with group of students at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar Schmidt, who spent a decade as the company?s CEO, shares his ruminations and visions of a radically different future in ?The New Digital Age,? a book that goes on sale Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

NEW YORK (AP) ? YouTube vs. TV? YouTube says the battle ? if there ever was one ? is over.

In a flashy presentation to advertisers Wednesday night, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declined to forecast that Internet video will displace television watching. Instead he declared: "That's already happened."

Schmidt said "the future is now" for YouTube, which recently passed the milestone of 1 billion unique visitors every month. But, he added with the Third World in mind, if you think that's a large number, "wait until you get to 6 (billion) or 7 billion."

Schmidt and YouTube, which billed the event as a "brandcast," shifted away from the video platform's relationship to TV. A year ago, YouTube seemed to have its sights set on reinventing television by funding the launch of more than 100 channels from well-known media brands and Hollywood personalities.

But that initiative went unmentioned at Wednesday's presentation, held at a Lower East Side pier as part of a week of "NewFronts," (digital media's version of the TV tradition of promoting programming and selling ads). Though the model for the evening was TV, YouTube used it to distinguish itself as something entirely different.

"It's not a replacement for something that we know," said Schmidt. "It's a new thing that we have to think about, to program, to curate and build new platforms."

The presentation featured performances by Snoop Dogg and Macklemore, as well as YouTube personalities like Felicia Day. YouTube focused on its global reach, community engagement and enormous audience.

"I thought that YouTube was like TV, but it isn't. I was wrong," said Robert Kyncl, YouTube's global head of content. "TV is one-way. YouTube talks back."

Some comparisons were inevitable. One fact highly touted was that more 18- to 34-year-olds watch YouTube than any cable network.

"TV means reach," said Kyncl. "YouTube means engagement."

Though companies like Yahoo and AOL have used their NewFront presentations to announce new slates of original programming, YouTube made no programming announcements Wednesday night.

YouTube celebrated DreamWorks Animation's purchase Wednesday of the teen-focused YouTube network Awesomeness TV for $33 million. DreamWorks CEO Jeffery Katzenberg appeared with Awesomeness founder and CEO Brian Robbins, the former "Head of the Class" actor.

"This is a whole new form of content, content delivery and content consumption," said Katzenberg. "It's the medium of the future and the future has already arrived."

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-02-YouTube%20Brandcast/id-37d1e733f9b04ed481fd904e7b978138

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Jackman gives Blues 2-1 win over Kings, 2-0 lead

St. Louis Blues' Barret Jackman, left, is congratulated by Vladimir Sobotka (17), of the Czech Republic, Chris Stewart and Andy McDonald, right, after scoring winning goal during the third period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in St. Louis. The Blues won 2-1. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

St. Louis Blues' Barret Jackman, left, is congratulated by Vladimir Sobotka (17), of the Czech Republic, Chris Stewart and Andy McDonald, right, after scoring winning goal during the third period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in St. Louis. The Blues won 2-1. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Los Angeles Kings' Dustin Penner, right, and St. Louis Blues' Alex Pietrangelo try to control the puck as Blues goalie Brian Elliott, left, watches during the first period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series on Thursday, May 2, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott kicks the puck away from the net during the first period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Los Angeles Kings' Dustin Brown (23) deflects in a puck to score past St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott, bottom, and Alex Pietrangelo during the first period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series on Thursday, May 2, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Los Angeles Kings' Jarret Stoll (28) is pushed in front of the net by St. Louis Blues' Jay Bouwmeester (19) as Blues goalie Brian Elliott, left, defends during the first period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series on Thursday, May 2, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? For the second straight time, the St. Louis Blues stunned the goalie that stoned everyone last spring.

Barret Jackman said his eyes were closed when his first career playoff goal sailed past Jonathan Quick and into the net with 50.6 seconds to go in a 2-1 victory Thursday night. It gave the Blues a 2-0 series lead against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.

"He probably didn't think I was going to shoot, the way my hands are," Jackman said. "The building erupted and it's a pretty good feeling."

Quick knows he's to blame for the Kings' predicament. He was often spectacular in Game 1, but spoiled it with a stickhandling gaffe that led to Alex Steen's short-handed overtime goal. Quick thought he'd glove the puck on Jackman's innocent-appearing wrist shot.

"I've got to stop that. I've got to stop that," said Quick, the 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy recipient. "It's my fault. Two games in a row. I've got to be better."

Jackman, a rugged, stay-at-home type who totaled three goals and 12 points in the regular season, joined a rush and scored off a pass from Chris Stewart.

"A great little floater he sent to the net," said teammate Patrik Berglund, who tied it earlier in the third period. "A great screen so he couldn't see it."

Berglund's deflection tied it early in the third period for St. Louis, which was swept by the Kings in the second round last season while getting outscored 15-6.

"We stole one there," said forward David Perron, who assisted on the first goal. "The biggest thing is to come back as soon as we can to Earth and get ready for Game 3."

Dustin Brown scored for the Kings, who'll try to rebound in Game 3 Saturday night.

"It's our own fault that we're in this position," defenseman Drew Doughty said. "We've been fully prepared for their game, fully prepared for what they're going to do against us, and we just haven't stepped up to the plate.

"Tonight was a better effort, but we were only good for two periods."

The Kings led 3-0 in every playoff series last year and are down 2-0 in a playoff series for the first time since 2002, when they lost in seven games to Colorado.

"It's four games to win a series, so we've just got to focus on the next one," Brown said. "We've got to take care of our home ice. That's it."

The Blues responded after coach Ken Hitchcock called a timeout with just under three minutes remaining. They have won eight in a row at home, allowing one goal in all eight games.

Brown lost his edge on a drive to the net and barreled into Brian Elliott midway in the third period, leaving both players shaken up a bit. Brown recovered quickly enough to stay on for the ensuing faceoff.

Berglund tied it at 3:44 of the third with his fourth career playoff goal, charging the net and having a rebound go off his skate and past Quick. He was skidding to a stop when Quick poke-checked a wrist shot by Alex Pietrangelo and it took less than a minute for the goal to be upheld on video review.

Jaden Schwartz lured Quick out of the net on a break-in a little over a minute later, but didn't get off a shot.

Quick was bent over in pain for several seconds during warm-ups after stopping a shot, then left the ice early. The goalie also spent most of the national anthem bent over as if he were an NFL offensive lineman, but then busily went to work scratching the crease with no evidence he was hurt.

Elliott was not made available to media after the game, leading to speculation he was injured, but Hitchcock said, "He's fine, no problem."

The Kings got off to a much better start in Game 2, carrying the play most of the first period. They needed just 6 seconds to convert on a 5-on-3 advantage for their first lead of the series, with Jackman whistled for interference on the heels of a high-sticking call on Ryan Reaves.

LA's strong play carried over to the second period, with Quick making a nice glove save against Steen on the Blues' lone shot on two power plays; Steen scored the Game 1 winner in overtime.

The Kings threatened on break-ins by Brown and Justin Williams. Brown, among the league leaders with eight power-play goals, then deflected Brad Richards' high wrist shot from the slot and the puck dropped to ice level and slid between Elliott's pads at 9:55. Richards had two goals and three assists during the Kings' three-game sweep of St. Louis in the regular season.

NOTES: Blues penalty killers had to stop just two chances in Game 1, although it would have been three if Steen hadn't pickpocketed Quick for the NHL's first short-handed winner in overtime since Fernando Pisani of Edmonton against Carolina in the 2006 Cup finals, and the first in franchise history. ... Blues did not sell out either of the first two games, with attendance of 18,681 for Game 2 about 1,000 shy of capacity. ... Brett Hull, the Blues' career leading goal scorer, was introduced to a huge ovation late in the second period.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-03-HKN-Kings-Blues/id-d1ad4d1aaa6845f897308f8693a71dac

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Printable functional 'bionic' ear melds electronics and biology

May 1, 2013 ? Scientists at Princeton University used off-the-shelf printing tools to create a functional ear that can "hear" radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.

The researchers' primary purpose was to explore an efficient and versatile means to merge electronics with tissue. The scientists used 3D printing of cells and nanoparticles followed by cell culture to combine a small coil antenna with cartilage, creating what they term a bionic ear.

"In general, there are mechanical and thermal challenges with interfacing electronic materials with biological materials," said Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton and the lead researcher. "Previously, researchers have suggested some strategies to tailor the electronics so that this merger is less awkward. That typically happens between a 2D sheet of electronics and a surface of the tissue. However, our work suggests a new approach -- to build and grow the biology up with the electronics synergistically and in a 3D interwoven format."

McAlpine's team has made several advances in recent years involving the use of small-scale medical sensors and antenna. Last year, a research effort led by McAlpine and Naveen Verma, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Fio Omenetto of Tufts University, resulted in the development of a "tattoo" made up of a biological sensor and antenna that can be affixed to the surface of a tooth.

This project, however, is the team's first effort to create a fully functional organ: one that not only replicates a human ability, but extends it using embedded electronics.

"The design and implementation of bionic organs and devices that enhance human capabilities, known as cybernetics, has been an area of increasing scientific interest," the researchers wrote in the article which appears in the scholarly journal Nano Letters. "This field has the potential to generate customized replacement parts for the human body, or even create organs containing capabilities beyond what human biology ordinarily provides."

Standard tissue engineering involves seeding types of cells, such as those that form ear cartilage, onto a scaffold of a polymer material called a hydrogel. However, the researchers said that this technique has problems replicating complicated three dimensional biological structures. Ear reconstruction "remains one of the most difficult problems in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery," they wrote.

To solve the problem, the team turned to a manufacturing approach called 3D printing. These printers use computer-assisted design to conceive of objects as arrays of thin slices. The printer then deposits layers of a variety of materials -- ranging from plastic to cells -- to build up a finished product. Proponents say additive manufacturing promises to revolutionize home industries by allowing small teams or individuals to create work that could previously only be done by factories.

Creating organs using 3D printers is a recent advance; several groups have reported using the technology for this purpose in the past few months. But this is the first time that researchers have demonstrated that 3D printing is a convenient strategy to interweave tissue with electronics.

The technique allowed the researchers to combine the antenna electronics with tissue within the highly complex topology of a human ear. The researchers used an ordinary 3D printer to combine a matrix of hydrogel and calf cells with silver nanoparticles that form an antenna. The calf cells later develop into cartilage.

Manu Mannoor, a graduate student in McAlpine's lab and the paper's lead author, said that additive manufacturing opens new ways to think about the integration of electronics with biological tissue and makes possible the creation of true bionic organs in form and function. He said that it may be possible to integrate sensors into a variety of biological tissues, for example, to monitor stress on a patient's knee meniscus.

David Gracias, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins and co-author on the publication, said that bridging the divide between biology and electronics represents a formidable challenge that needs to be overcome to enable the creation of smart prostheses and implants.

"Biological structures are soft and squishy, composed mostly of water and organic molecules, while conventional electronic devices are hard and dry, composed mainly of metals, semiconductors and inorganic dielectrics," he said. "The differences in physical and chemical properties between these two material classes could not be any more pronounced."

The finished ear consists of a coiled antenna inside a cartilage structure. Two wires lead from the base of the ear and wind around a helical "cochlea" -- the part of the ear that senses sound -- which can connect to electrodes. Although McAlpine cautions that further work and extensive testing would need to be done before the technology could be used on a patient, he said the ear in principle could be used to restore or enhance human hearing. He said electrical signals produced by the ear could be connected to a patient's nerve endings, similar to a hearing aid. The current system receives radio waves, but he said the research team plans to incorporate other materials, such as pressure-sensitive electronic sensors, to enable the ear to register acoustic sounds.

In addition to McAlpine, Verma, Mannoor and Gracias the research team includes: Winston Soboyejo, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton; Karen Malatesta, a faculty fellow in molecular biology at Princeton; Yong Lin Kong, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton; and Teena James, a graduate student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins.

The team also included Ziwen Jiang, a high school student at the Peddie School in Hightstown who participated as part of an outreach program for young researchers in McAlpine's lab.

"Ziwen Jiang is one of the most spectacular high school students I have ever seen," McAlpine said. "We would not have been able to complete this project without him, particularly in his skill at mastering CAD designs of the bionic ears."

Support for the project was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, NIH, and the Grand Challenges Program at Princeton University.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Princeton University, Engineering School, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Manu S Mannoor, Ziwen Jiang, Teena James, Yong Lin Kong, Karen A Malatesta, Winston Soboyejo, Naveen Verma, David H Gracias, Michael C. McAlpine. A 3D Printed Bionic Ear. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130501101451003 DOI: 10.1021/nl4007744

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/zUICGgK3jVo/130501193208.htm

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