Remote does it all except find itself

High-end consumer electronics manufacturer Harman Kardon has released an all-in-one remote control with a price tag that provides a great incentive to keep the remote from getting lost.At $349, this is no ordinary clicker. Harman Kardon's "Take Control" is boasted as being able to respond to any device around the house that operates on an infrared remote control -- from the TV and VCR to lighting systems and window blinds.

Take Control has only five buttons and a jog wheel. The rest of the controlling and programming takes place on an LCD touch screen that drives software designed by Microsoft. Setup codes for most devices are built in. When connected to a PC, the remote's core features can be personalized even more.

Provo teacher honored

Vern Bangerter of Timpview High School, Provo, has been selected as one of 53 physics and science teachers nationwide honored for their excellence in the classroom.

The teachers were honored at a luncheon in Atlanta last Saturday, sponsored by Coke-Cola. Also attending were dozens of Nobel laureates and outstanding students from Georgia.

Art Heart a success

"Art Heart," the mechanical device developed by the University of Utah to test vascular function in orbit, has returned valuable information, says George Pantalos, a chief researcher in the Hearts in Space project.

The device, using a Utah-100 artificial heart, flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in late October and early November, 1998, during John Glenn's return to orbit. Unlike its performance during a previous shuttle excursion in 1997, this time it worked.

"After carefully analyzing the data obtained in orbit during the STS-95 space flight, the Hearts in Space research team has concluded that the data strongly supports their hypothesis that gravity helps the hear to fill, contributing as much as 10 to 20 percent of the total cardiac filling process," Pantalos said.

Results are to be formally presented next month at the annual meeting of scientists in Washington, D.C., called Experimental Biology '99.

"Art Heart" is on display at Hansen Planetarium through the end of March.

New tech curriculum

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $300,000 grant to a group of University of Utah professors to develop a curriculum that will teach undergraduate students how to conduct and apply engineering research to industrial design.

Students in the program will research technical engineering problems, such as how to solve a problem that developed with auto coolant.

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"We always talk about research in the classroom. This is an opportunity to make it an integral part of the curriculum and demonstrate the value of research to industrial design and development," said Patrick McMurty of the U.'s mechanical engineering department, one of the professors.

Joseph Klewicki, also of mechanical engineering and one of the grantees, said professors hear from industry that they don't want people with highly specialized, specific skills. "Instead, they want someone who can take a complex problem and break it into smaller, fundamental questions to be answered.

"This curriculum will give students those fundamentals."

Besides the NSF grant, the U. is kicking in an additional $121,000 in equipment and support.

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