Tech

Many electric cars run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, an expensive, inefficient technology that accounts for more than half of the vehicle's total cost and a whole lot of weight. One promising alternative is the lithium-sulfur battery, which can theoretically store five times more energy at a much lower cost - sure, it may cause acid rain but that is technology issue to be solved, not a science one.

Lithium-sulfur technology has a major science drawback: After a few dozen cycles of charging and discharging, the battery stops working.

Research from the University of Southampton, which examines how dolphins might process their sonar signals, could provide a new system for man-made sonar to detect targets, such as sea mines, in bubbly water.

Finding renewable and economic sources of energy are one of the most important concerns for the continuation of the human species. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, has produced a novel strain of yeast with improved xylose tolerance and metabolism, and consequently improved ethanol production.

Several types of job carried out by future fathers may be linked to an increased risk of birth defects in their babies, suggests research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Previous research has linked certain occupations with a higher risk of birth defects in offspring. But it has tended to lump together very different types of defects and occupations, in order to achieve large sample sizes, with the attendant potential to skew the results, say the authors.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Scientists searching for clues to understand how superweeds obtain resistance to the popular herbicide glyphosate may have been missing a critical piece of information, a Purdue University study shows.

Drexel University engineers continue to drive research into the use of carbon nanotubes, straw-like structures that are more than 1,000 times thinner than a single human hair. Their most recent development uses the tiny tubes to separate liquids within a solution.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For years, the U.S. Navy has employed human divers, equipped with sonar cameras, to search for underwater mines attached to ship hulls. The Navy has also trained dolphins and sea lions to search for bombs on and around vessels. While animals can cover a large area in a short amount of time, they are costly to train and care for, and don't always perform as expected.

CLEMSON — Computerized aids that include person-like characteristics can influence trust and dependence among adults, according to a Clemson University researcher.

A recently published study by Clemson University psychology associate professor Richard Pak examined how decision-making would be affected by a human-like aid. The study focused on adults' trust, dependence, and performance while using a computerized decision-making aid for persons with diabetes.

Summer is just around the corner and it's time to dust off the garden tables and chairs. But garden furniture that has been left in the shade too long is often covered with a slimy film of algae, moss, bacteria and fungi which is difficult or even impossible to remove.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Researchers at MIT have developed a new approach to creating the complex array of wires and connections on microchips, using a system of self-assembling polymers. The work could eventually lead to a way of making more densely packed components on memory chips and other devices.

Applications of airborne and terrestrial laser scanning to paleoseismology, David E. Haddad et al., School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. Posted online 16 July 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES701.1.

Earthquakes that rupture Earth's topography can cause significant loss of human life and destruction to anthropogenic structures, such as schools, hospitals, and office buildings. Fortunately, these large earthquakes leave telltale marks about their sizes and distributions over geologic time.

HOUSTON – (July 16, 2012) – Researchers at Rice University and Lockheed Martin reported this month that they've found a way to make multiple high-performance anodes from a single silicon wafer. The process uses simple silicon to replace graphite as an element in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, laying the groundwork for longer-lasting, more powerful batteries for such applications as commercial electronics and electric vehicles.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Clogged printer nozzles waste time and money while reducing print quality. University of Missouri engineers recently invented a clog-preventing nozzle cover by mimicking the human eye.

"The nozzle cover we invented was inspired by the human eye," said Jae Wan Kwon, associate professor in the College of Engineering. "The eye and an ink jet nozzle have a common problem: they must not be allowed to dry while, simultaneously, they must open. We used biomimicry, the imitation of nature, to solve human problems."

Though smartphones and tablets are hailed as the hardware of the future, their present-day incarnations have some flaws. Most notoriously, low RAM memory limits the number of applications that can be run at one time and quickly consumes battery power. Now, a Tel Aviv University researcher has found a creative solution to these well-known problems.