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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Moreover, the creature is powered by four D-cell batteries in the main compartment, plus a pair of cells in each foot to keep the jive alive.

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They chalked up their problems in the New York area to devastating flooding that, in addition to knocking out power, disabled backup generators and disrupted the underground cables that carry calls, texts and Web searches from cell towers back to the main networks.

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The company has enjoyed major success with its connectivity solutions in cell phones, most notably the main WLAN slot in the iPhone.

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They believe a single type of cell may be cancer's main growth engine:mutant stem cells that, though barely present, spawn other cells that then spark growth.

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According to the news agency, 20 different phone lines were tapped, including not just work phones and the AP's main switchboard, but also the journalists' home and cell phones.

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Linda Griffith, a tissue engineer at MIT, said one of the main problems of the idea would be getting all the right cell types to grow in the right places.

BBC: Artificial liver 'could be grown'

Bayer and biotech Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced a devastatingly disappointing result for their cancer pill Nexavar: They stopped a study of the drug in non-small cell lung cancer early because there was no chance it would reach its main goal of proving Nexavar extends patients' lives in that disease.

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To counteract data loss, Main.net's cofounder and head scientist, Schaike Zalitsky , built on techniques used to beam cell phone calls through the noisy air.

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