The new study involves a complex method that requires women to donate eggs, and a demanding manipulation of cell components on a tiny scale, Daley said.

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Speaking at the headquarters of the 3M Company, which makes products ranging from post-it notes to high-tech fuels cell components, he called for tax credits for business research, increased money for federal science programs, and he talked about the need to improve math and science skills of American high school students.

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The trick is to replace graphite with tin for the anode, which is one of the two main components in a battery cell, said Grant Norton, who headed the research and is a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at the university.

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Within minutes, the CNC substrate dissolves and the solar cell can be separated easily into its major components.

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But if it is to become the Intel of the industry, making the components at the heart of the fuel-cell engine, it still has an awful lot of work to do.

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His own work involves such things as understanding the makeup and behavior of less-understood critical components of cells, like lipids and glycols, and how a cancer cell might bind with a nanoparticle.

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The only problem is that cell phone manufacturers recommend against using strong chemicals including ammonia, alcohol, or other detergents which could damage the components and electronics in the phone.

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In 2002 MIT professors started a not-for-profit called BioBricks that has collected 2, 000 biological components, including gene sequences that sense light, produce light, send messages between cells and switch cell functions on and off.

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