Tech

Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have made advances toward affordable photoelectrochemical (PEC) production of hydrogen.

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 22, 2015 - Children younger than 5 who live in economically disadvantaged areas had a greater risk of medication poisoning that resulted in referral to a health care facility, according to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and the University of California, San Diego. These areas were rural and experienced high unemployment, along with lower rates of high school graduation and lower household income.

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), essentially rubbers with liquid crystal properties, can do a number of fascinating things, especially in the fields of optics, photonics, telecommunications and medicine. They can curl up, bend, twist, wrinkle and stretch when exposed to light, heat, gases and other stimuli. Because they are so responsive, they are ideal for applications like artificial muscles and blood vessels, actuators, sensors, plastic motors and drug delivery systems. They can even be used as a mechanically tunable mirrorless "rubber" laser.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a novel electrolyte for use in solid-state lithium batteries that overcomes many of the problems that plague other solid electrolytes while also showing signs of being compatible with next-generation cathodes.

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - To satisfy increasing consumer demand for locally grown, fresh tomatoes during off-seasons, greenhouse tomato growers often need to rely on supplemental lighting. Tomato growers are looking to light-emitting diodes (LEDs), favored for their energy-saving potential, as an alternative to high-pressure sodium lamps (HPS) in greenhouse operations. A recent study offers new information about the feasibility of using LEDs in greenhouse tomato operations.

RICHLAND, Wash. - Energy storage system owners could see significant savings from a new flow battery technology that is projected to cost 60 percent less than today's standard flow batteries.

The organic aqueous flow battery, described in a paper published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials, is expected to cost $180 per kilowatt-hour once the technology is fully developed. The lower cost is due to the battery's active materials being inexpensive organic molecules, compared to the commodity metals used in today's flow batteries.

A frequent problem faced by cells is that they are surrounded by a promising cloud of scent and must determine the direction of its source. Nerve cells, for example, form long extensions that are attracted to signals from other cells in order to produce the network that forms the nervous system; similarly, scavenger cells recognise the scent of harmful germs in order that they can pursue and destroy them.

Quantum cryptography is considered a fully secure encryption method, but researchers from Linköping University and Stockholm University have discovered that this is not always the case. They found that energy-time entanglement - the method that today forms the basis for many systems of quantum cryptography - is vulnerable to attack. The results of their research have been published in Science Advances.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a technique for using chains of magnetic nanoparticles to manipulate elastic polymers in three dimensions, which could be used to remotely control new "soft robots."

Teams of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have demonstrated a biosensor capable of counting the blood cells electrically using only a drop of blood. The blood cell count is among the most ubiquitous diagnostic tests in primary health care. The gold standard routinely used in hospitals and testing laboratories is a hematology analyzer, which is large and expensive equipment, and requires trained technicians and physical sample transportation.

How disposable Lithium batteries degrade during normal use has been tracked in real-time by a UCL-led team using sophisticated 3D imaging, giving a new way to non-invasively monitor performance loss and guide the development of more effective commercial battery designs.

The team recently used the same technique to show how rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries fail when they are exposed to extreme levels of heat, but this is the first time the extent of day-to-day damage of disposable Lithium batteries has been shown.

Since the 1980s, advanced robotic platforms have provided assistance to crisis intervention teams in the wake of man-made and natural disasters. The objective of such robots, in various sizes and shapes, has been to intervene where humans cannot and send life-saving data to rescue teams in the field.

The researcher who developed the process says it could save approximately six tons of carbon emissions per ton of silica compounds produced. He estimates the cost of the technique to be 90 percent less than the current process, with virtually no carbon footprint.

Developed by Richard Laine, a professor of materials science and engineering, the new technique is believed to be the first simple, inexpensive chemical method for producing high-purity silica compounds from agricultural waste.

A first-of-a-kind drug that interferes with the metabolic activity of gut microbes could one day treat heart disease in humans, according to a mouse study published December 17 in Cell. Dietary supplementation with a compound that is naturally abundant in red wine and olive oil prevented gut microbes from turning unhealthy foods into metabolic byproducts that clog arteries.

History supports Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's recent tweet saying that men have a hard time asking for help for their depression.

But new research brings good news: Men really do think it's important to seek help.

Participants in a national survey read a scenario describing someone who had depressed symptoms. Among other things, this hypothetical person has difficulty sleeping, can't concentrate and doesn't feel happy even when good things happen.