Tech

Hybrid electric vehicles, cell phones, digital cameras, and the Mars Curiosity rover are just a few of the many devices that use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Now a team of Penn State researchers has a simple mathematical formula to predict what factors most influence lithium-ion battery aging.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a new hybrid magnetic sensor that is more sensitive than most commercially available sensors. This technological breakthrough hails opportunities for the development of smaller and cheaper sensors for various fields such as consumer electronics, information and communication technology, biotechnology and automotive.

Whispering-Gallery-Mode (WGM) microcavities that confine light in a small volume with high quality (Q) factors and enhance interaction of light with matters inside the cavity have shown promising applications as an element for a variety of devices such as micro-lasers, micro-sensors, micro-filters, and thus are becoming the basic building blocks of integrated photonic systems. This leads to tremendous progress in the development of micro-scale high-Q microcavity processing technologies.

An inexpensive method for generating clean fuel is the modern-day equivalent of the philosopher's stone. One compelling idea is to use solar energy to split water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen and then harvest the hydrogen for use as fuel. But splitting water efficiently turns out to be not so easy.

KNOXVILLE--A recent study led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Goodrich Chair of Excellence Thanos Papanicolaou could very well change the way we view the health of our nation's soil, even potentially altering history books.

The paper, soon-to-be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research--Biogeosciences, focuses on modeling carbon budgets in agricultural areas.

Using a unique combination of materials, scientists have overcome many of the current barriers to developing lithium-air batteries, a new study reports. Lithium-air batteries could theoretically give electric cars the same range as gasoline ones without requiring excessively heavy battery packs, but several major pitfalls have stopped this battery model from meeting its potential. The battery's design involves a lithium metal negative electrode, a non-aqueous electrolyte, and a positive electrode that work in concert.

Scientists have developed a working laboratory demonstrator of a lithium-oxygen battery which has very high energy density, is more than 90% efficient, and, to date, can be recharged more than 2000 times, showing how several of the problems holding back the development of these devices could be solved.

Despite rhetoric that pits "anti-vaxxers" versus "pro-vaxxers," most new parents probably qualify as vaccine-neutral--that is, they passively accept rather than actively demand vaccination. Unless there is an active threat of polio or whooping cough, they have to remind themselves that injecting their crying infant with disease antigens is a good thing.

You're in Manhattan's Times Square, running late for dinner at Le Cirque, on East 58th St. You open the Uber app on your smartphone, hoping a car from the now ubiquitous ride-sharing service is nearby, only to discover that you'll have to pay 1.5 times the base rate for the ride.

PITTSBURGH--3-D printers typically produce hard plastic objects, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found a way to produce hair-like strands, fibers and bristles using a common, low-cost printer.

The technique for producing 3-D-printed hair is similar to - and inspired by - the way that gossamer plastic strands are extruded when a person uses a hot glue gun.

"You just squirt a little bit of material and pull away," said Gierad Laput, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). "It's a very simple idea, really."

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Engineers at The Ohio State University have developed a new welding technique that consumes 80 percent less energy than a common welding technique, yet creates bonds that are 50 percent stronger.

The new technique could have a huge impact on the auto industry, which is poised to offer new cars which combine traditional heavy steel parts with lighter, alternative metals to reduce vehicle weight.

A team of researchers led by the University of Surrey assessed how Delhi's landscape, weather, energy consumption culture, and growing urban population combines to elevate concentrations of air pollutants, including ultrafine particles, the most harmful to human health.

Deployment of renewable energy is expanding all over the world. There is high competition between alternative land uses, and conflicts over limited land are likely to emerge between biodiversity conservation and expanded deployment of renewable energy.

Anyone who's taken a picture of birthday candles being blown out or a selfie during a romantic candlelit dinner knows how disappointing it is when the photo comes out dark and grainy.

Using complementary microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) say they have solved the structure of lithium- and manganese-rich transition metal oxides, a potentially game-changing battery material and the subject of intense debate in the decade since it was discovered.