Washington, DC - Scott Cooper and his companies, World Patent Marketing Inc. and Desa Industries Inc., have agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that bans them from the invention promotion business.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued four new warning letters to manufacturers and retailers for selling e-liquids used in e-cigarettes with labeling and/or advertising that cause them to resemble kid-friendly food products, such as cereal, soda and pancakes. One of the companies receiving a warning letter was also cited for illegally selling the product to a minor. The warning letters follow actions taken last week by the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission against 13 other makers and sellers of nicotine-containing e-liquids that look like juice boxes, candy or cookies.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in two complaints filed today in federal court, is seeking permanent injunctions to stop two stem cell clinics from marketing stem cell products without FDA approval and for significant deviations from current good manufacturing practice requirements.

Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the fourth cohort of Cyclotron Road, a DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program created to provide an institutional home for innovative postdoctoral researchers to build their research into products and train to be entrepreneurs. Cyclotron Road, based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, selected thirteen fellows with a diversity of experience and expertise from more than 175 innovators from around the world.

Washington, DC - If Alexander Yulaev and his colleagues had their druthers, they’d do away with whiskers altogether. These scientists don’t have anything against facial hair, but they would love to eliminate the whisker-like filaments that can short out the next-generation lithium batteries that are potentially safer and more efficient than conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $3 million in funding for advanced biofuels, bioenergy, and biobased products available through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI). DOE has selected two projects from the University of Tennessee and Northwestern University that will receive between $1 million to $2 million each.