Tech

Our fear and disgust that cockroaches can quickly squeeze through the tiniest cracks are well justified, say University of California, Berkeley scientists.

Not only can they squish themselves to get into one-tenth-of-an-inch crevices, but once inside they can run at high speed even when flattened in half.

These are just a couple of the creepy findings from a UC Berkeley study of how American cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) penetrate the tightest joints and seams in less than a second.

Scientists have created a crystal structure that boosts the interaction between tiny bursts of light and individual electrons, an advance that could be a significant step toward establishing quantum networks in the future.

The sheet of paper taped to the door of Keith Emery's office tells the story. On the paper is a simple fever chart showing the improvements made in increasing the efficiency of two dozen types of solar cells. Some of the lines marking record efficiencies date to the mid-1970s. Others start much more recently, with the advent of newer technologies.

The discovery of the world's oldest storage of fermented fish in southern Sweden could rewrite the Nordic prehistory with findings indicating a far more complex society than previously thought. The unique discovery by osteologist Adam Boethius from Lund University was made when excavating a 9,200 year-old settlement at what was once a lake in Blekinge, Sweden.

In the one-dimensional (1D), various exotic phenomena are predicted that are totally different from those in the 3D world in which we live. One of the reasons of this is that particles cannot pass each other in 1D. (Fig. 1, in other words, correlation between electrons plays much more important role than those in 3D)

Fuel cells generate electrical energy through a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. To obtain clean energy, the splitting of water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen is critical. Researchers at the University of Basel study how sunlight can be used for this purpose. The scientific journal Chemical Communications published their latest results.

How do you like those Apfelüberrests? Cambridge researcher develops smartphone app to map Swiss-German dialects

Researchers at the Universities of Cambridge, Zurich and Bern have developed a smartphone app to crowdsource and map Swiss-German dialects, a recent paper in PLOS One reports.

Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Zurich and Bern have taken advantage of "crowdsourcing" to gather new information on the spread of dialects in German-speaking Switzerland, which has been recently published as a paper in PLOS One.

Understanding the textures and patterns of pancakes is helping UCL scientists improve surgical methods for treating glaucoma.

The appearance of pancakes depends on how water escapes the batter mix during the cooking process and this varies with the thickness of the batter, according to new UCL research. Understanding the physics of the process can help perfect pancake making and gives important insights into how flexible sheets, like those found in human eyes, interact with flowing vapour and liquids.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Pollens, the bane of allergy sufferers, could represent a boon for battery makers: Recent research has suggested their potential use as anodes in lithium-ion batteries.

"Our findings have demonstrated that renewable pollens could produce carbon architectures for anode applications in energy storage devices," said Vilas Pol, an associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University.

The study conducted by researches of Kazan Federal University describes the theoretical framework and results of using a rapid three-dimensional super element model of oil field development.

New research indicates that analyses of vapors from fecal samples can identify volatile metabolites indicative of different types of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

The findings, which come from a study of fecal samples from 117 people with Crohn's disease, 100 with ulcerative colitis, and 109 healthy controls, suggest that the technique might be useful as a non-invasive screening test that could allow earlier diagnosis of such conditions.

This study is published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

A pioneering new study shows the rate fish are captured by predators can double when boats are motoring nearby.

Professor Mark McCormick of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University was part of an international research team that found noise from passing motorboats increases stress levels in young coral reef fish and reduces their ability to flee from predators. As a consequence they are captured more easily and their survival chances are halved.

The rate that fish are captured by predators can double when boats are motoring nearby, according to pioneering work led by a University of Exeter marine biologist.

Dr Stephen Simpson and his international research team found that noise from passing motorboats increases stress levels in young coral reef fish and reduces their ability to flee from predators. As a consequence they are captured more easily and their survival chances are halved.

The road to more versatile wearable technology is dotted with iron. Specifically, quantum dots of iron arranged on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). The new material is the subject of a study to be published in Scientific Reports later this week, led by Yoke Khin Yap, a professor of physics at Michigan Technological University.

Yap says the iron-studded BNNTs are pushing the boundaries of electronics hardware. The transistors modulating electron flow need an upgrade.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The technology that charges batteries for electronic devices could provide fresh water from salty seas, says a new study by University of Illinois engineers. Electricity running through a salt water-filled battery draws the salt ions out of the water.

Illinois mechanical science and engineering professor Kyle Smith and graduate student Rylan Dmello published their work in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.