HEADLINES ARCHIVE
Birds Inspire New Technique for Structural Color
Researchers have developed a system to build large-scale meta-materials with structural color.
Fiber Optics Pioneer Wins Tyndall Award
This award is conferred by the Optical Society and the IEEE Photonics Society and is one of the most prestigious awards the two societies present.
Glowing Tumors Help Surgeons Cut Out Brain Cancer
The technique uses near-infrared imaging and the contrasting agent indocyanine green, which fluoresces a bright green under NIR light.
Solar-powered Thermal Desalination Process
The graphene absorber is easy to transport, making it potentially attractive to use in remote areas and in developing countries.
Wildfire Emissions Analyzed for Health, Climate Effects
A special chamber allows controlled combustion of fuels under flaming and smoldering conditions, after which the emitted smoke particles are aged photochemically in a flow tube reactor.
Smartphone "Laboratory" Detects Cancer Biomarker
Although smartphone spectrometers exist, they monitor or measure only a single sample at a time, making them inefficient for many real-world applications.
Melanin Improves Polyurethane Three Ways
Polyurethane containing just 2% melanin, extracted from the ink sacs of cuttlefish, improved both the material's tensile strength and toughness approximately tenfold.
Soft Sensor Monitors Heart, Recognizes Speech
With a wearable vibration sensor, human body acoustics can be used for cardiovascular monitoring.
Electricity Used to Track Water, Identify Concrete Degradation
The technology can determine where and whether water is infiltrating concrete, as well as how fast it is moving, how much water there is and how existing cracks are influencing the water movement.
Detecting Exposure to Nuclear Materials
The goal of the research was to determine if hair, fingernail clippings and toenail clippings could be used to better detect uranium exposure.
Wireless Implant Helps Paralyzed Primates Walk
A wireless brain-control system recreates signals recorded from the brain and stimulates electrodes in the leg.
Wireless Device Alerts Drivers on Emissions
The device captures raw data from the vehicle’s engine and emissions systems and transmits it in real time to cloud servers, where it is processed into actionable information.
Stanford Claims Solar-to-Hydrogen Efficiency Gain
Research points to the potential of photovoltaic-electrolysis systems for cost-effective solar energy storage.
All Creatures Great and Small in 3-D
The Beastcam Array, a rapid-capture, field portable tabletop system for making high-resolution, full-color 3D models, is being used to create a digital library of all living organisms.
What Does a 100% Renewable Energy Mix Look Like?
The Global Internet of Energy Model simulates a 100% renewable energy system for the year 2030.
Accelerating the Pace of Materials Innovation
Two recent U.S. initiatives seek to accelerate the pace of materials discovery by bringing together federal agencies and national research laboratories to help develop and commercialize new materials.
Engineer's Guide to Boiler Tube Inspections
Coupled with diligent in-service observations, appropriate and opportune inspections are essential to identify boiler component damages, mitigate failures and maximize availability.
"Large Fraction" of Stream Methane Is Released into the Air
The method yields an understanding of the percentage of stream methane escaping into the atmosphere as emissions versus being consumed in-stream by bacteria and oxidized to carbon dioxide.
A Faster Way to Find Pipeline Cracks
The study found that pipeline imperfections could be identified by “tapping” the side of a pipe and then measuring the resulting vibrations against those predicted by computer models.
Floating Solar PV Tested in Singapore
The two best-performing systems will be required to generate 1 MW of electricity.