Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a fingernail-sized implant that has successfully eliminated tumors in mice.

The Story: Cancer has proven to be virtually unstoppable from within the body by the immune system once it starts, but a new vaccine – the world’s first – has proven that existing tumors in mice had been literally eliminated through an implant measuring 8.5 millimeters in diameter and constructed out of an FDA-approved biodegradable polymer that’s 90% air. The disk can be placed anywhere on the mouse’s body under the skin, and thus far, has been …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a a high-pressure foam that can be sprayed into an injured body cavity, adhering to tissue and rapidly stopping bleeding as it expands.

The Story: Remedium’s hemostatic (blood-clotting) foam is a new product for the company, which is also developing a patent-pending, Velcro-like sponge and a spray, both of which stop hemorrhaging. Pre-clinical testing is underway for both products.

“Our new product is similar to a can of shaving cream — you spray it into a wound, it becomes an expandable foam, fills the space, and stops the …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a wind turbine that could sit on a cell phone tower and generate everything the cell tower needs to operate, replacing the dirty, nasty diesel usually used.

The Story: Helix Wind Corporation (OTCBB: HLXW), a global renewable energy company, has come up with a new way to provide cost-effective renewable energy solutions to telecommunications companies. Specifically, Helix’s wind turbines are ideal ways to lower the costs of operating expenses associated with cell phone towers in remote locations. These solutions are ideal for telecom infrastructure providers worldwide dealing …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a personal solar capture and storage device that can recharge an iPhone, and iPod and any other device that utilizes USB power.

The Story: The product is called ReNu, and it’s the debut product from Regen Inc., a new company formed by Ammunition LLC, a leading design and development firm based in San Francisco, and Noribachi, a cleantech venture accelerator. All Regen products marry compelling design with patented solar technology to create consumer electronics that both empower and inspire.
“We’re excited to push the boundaries of personal power generation …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a non-surgical, removable hearing and communication device designed to imperceptibly transmit sound via the boney portion of the EAR canal to help people with single-sided deafness.

The Story: Approximately 50,000 people each year in the U.S. alone are diagnosed with single-sided deafness (SSD). TransEar is the non-surgical answer for those suffering from this ailment. By conducting sound using bone conduction, Ear Technology Corporation (“ETC”), based in Johnson City, Tennessee, imperceptibly sends sounds via the bones embedded in the EAR canal and skull bones to the user’s good ear, and it’s …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s drywall that’s made up of 80% recycled content, requires 80% less energy to produce and emits 80% less CO2 per manufacturing plant, dramatically reducing the carbon footprint. And oh yeah, it’s termite resistant and mold proof.

The Story: Traditional gypsum drywall has remained virtually unchanged since its invention over 100 years ago. In fact, the traditional gypsum drywall process is the #3 greenhouse gas producer in building materials and contributes 15 million tons of gypsum waste disposed annually. Gypsum wallboard will soon be subject to carbon cap …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a new application that combines the social networking power of Facebook with the life-changing promise of volunteer computing.

The Story: Often in the fight against cancer, researchers are not limited by their ingenuity, but the resources available to make research effective. The processor power needed to handle complex calculations is often in short supply. To help address this need, Intel Corporation announced Progress Thru Processors, a new volunteer computing application built on the Facebook platform that allows people to donate their PCs’ unused processor power to research projects such as Rosetta@home, …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s an engineered bacterial strain that keeps teeth from producing lactic acid, which erodes enamel and causes tooth decay. This strain also releases an antibiotic that kills the natural decay that would otherwise put added strain on the teeth.

The Story: A simple swab. That’s all a dentist will need to do to keep teeth from decaying.
Oragenics (OTCBB: ORNI www.oragenics.com) SMaRT, a new completely engineered bacterial strain that keeps the teeth from converting sugar into lactic acid, which is the culprit behind tooth decay. In …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a pad that fits into a shoe which gives doctors feedback about detecting balance problems before a catastrophic fall occurs.

The Story: It may look like a padded insole, but this little pad may actually help save lives.
The iShoe insole may just be what doctors need to help detect balance problems before a dangerous fall happens, according to Erez Lieberman, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. While an intern at NASA, Lieberman developed the technology to help astronauts counteract balance problems …

Why it’s Breakthrough: Unlike any other programmable thermostat on the market, the ecobee Smart Thermostat empowers homeowners to manage their home energy consumption via the Internet. Through Wi-Fi technology, this real-time functionality allows users to control home temperature from anyplace at any time. So if you go on vacation and forget to program your thermostat before you leave, you can do it remotely. The ecobee Smart Thermostat enables users to save on average 20% of their total energy costs because it’s so much easier to manage, even when you’re nowhere …