Tech

AMES, Iowa - Saudi Arabia is known as one of the top oil producing countries in the world. However, it may have never earned that reputation if not for a quest to find fresh drinking water in the late 19th century, because of drought and repeated cholera outbreaks.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A Florida State University researcher has discovered an artificial material that mimics photosynthesis and potentially creates a sustainable energy source.

Using solar or wind power to produce carbon-based fuels, which are commonly called fossil fuels, might seem like a self-defeating approach to making a greener world. But when the starting material is carbon dioxide, which can be dragged out of the air, the approach is as green as it gets. The technology that makes it economically feasible isn't available yet, but a recently published paper presents nice step forward in the effort to not just sequester CO2, but turn it into a useful fuel that is part of a carbon-neutral future.

In-home test kits, coupled with patient education, help parents reduce allergen levels in their homes, according to scientists from the National Institutes of Health. The researchers found that parents may become more motivated to participate in allergen reduction interventions, when they can actually see results for themselves.

Your current printer prints only twenty pages per minute. Wanting to save time, you buy a new printer that prints fifty pages per minute. But do you really save time? Probably not, says a new study in the Journal of Marketing Research. According to the study, productivity metrics such as pages printed per minute often fool consumers, who usually have incorrect notions about the effect of productivity increases on how much time they will save.

Baltimore, Maryland: Forgotten trees from long lost orchards and 20th-century city landscaping are being rediscovered in urban areas, and their fruits are proving not only largely free of urban pollutants, but more nutritious than their retail counterparts.

Magneto-optics is a crucial characterization and detection technique for materials and devices. Hereby, the technique benefits from its high sensitivity and its compatibility with almost any environment due to its contact-free nature. Recently, numerous efforts (also at nanoGUNE, see e.g. PRL 111, 167401 (2013) & Nat. Commun. 6, 6150(2015)) have been made to pair magneto-optics with plasmonics to achieve even higher sensitivities in designer materials or applications.

The health facts presented by mass media in the midst of a disease outbreak are likely to influence what we remember about the disease -- new research suggests that the same mass media coverage may also influence the facts that we forget.

The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, indicate that personal anxiety and mass media coverage interact to determine what people remember about a disease.

In December 2014, President Barack Obama made history by reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, which included loosening its economic embargoes. Two months later, American companies like Netflix and Airbnb announced plans to expand into the once-banned island.

"Our first reaction was: 'Really?'" said Northwestern Engineering's Fabián E. Bustamante. "As a business model, Netflix and Airbnb rely on most people having Internet access. That's not quite the case in Cuba, so it really didn't seem to make much sense."

Puzzle lamps capture the imagination - and the eye - by combining identical, interlocking flat elements to create a wide range of shapes. An interactive design tool developed by Disney Research now makes it easier to use this approach to create ever more intricate decorations.

The software enables people to think in terms of the shapes they want to create with the interlocking elements, rather than be distracted by the often complex task of figuring out how to connect the pieces to achieve those shapes.

Even a novice can design and build a customized walking robot using a 3-D printer and off-the-shelf servo motors with the help of a new design tool developed by Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University.

The user can specify the shape, size and number of legs for the robotic creature, using intuitive editing tools to interactively explore design alternatives. The system also ensures that the resulting design is capable of moving as desired and not falling down; it even enables the user to alter the creature's gait as desired.

Sydney, Australia - Australian scientists have designed a 3D silicon chip architecture based on single atom quantum bits, which is compatible with atomic-scale fabrication techniques - providing a blueprint to build a large-scale quantum computer.

MADISON, Wis. -- Inspired by mammals' eyes, University of Wisconsin-Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made.

The innovative phototransistor could improve the performance of myriad products -- ranging from digital cameras, night-vision goggles and smoke detectors to surveillance systems and satellites -- that rely on electronic light sensors. Integrated into a digital camera lens, for example, it could reduce bulkiness and boost both the acquisition speed and quality of video or still photos.

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (October 30, 2015)--A Tufts University chemist has discovered a way to select specific surfaces of single-crystal ice for study, a long-sought breakthrough that could help researchers answer essential questions about climate and the environment. The discovery is detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition, publishing the week of October 26 in advance of print.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2015 -- Mummies, ghosts and vampires are three Halloween topics that can make your hair stand on end. But fear not, these classic figures are not as scary as they appear. Is it really possible that mummies, swamps and soap could all be related? Is ectoplasm real? Could vampires walk among us? Watch as Speaking of Chemistry's Judy Lavelle explains the science behind these horrors and more: https://youtu.be/6fKixxp9yB8.