Tech

Self-sculpting sand

Imagine that you have a big box of sand in which you bury a tiny model of a footstool. A few seconds later, you reach into the box and pull out a full-size footstool: The sand has assembled itself into a large-scale replica of the model.

Dartmouth scientists track radioactive iodine from Japan nuclear reactor meltdown

Radioactive iodine found by Dartmouth researchers in the local New Hampshire environment is a direct consequence of a nuclear reactor's explosion and meltdown half a world away, says Joshua Landis, a research associate in the Department of Earth Science. The failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, was the largest nuclear disaster since 1986 at Chernobyl. "We live on a really small planet and this demonstrates that what happens in Japan has the potential to affect us."

U of T-led research team discovers new quantum encryption method to foil hackers

TORONTO, ON – A research team led by University of Toronto Professor Hoi-Kwong Lo has found a new quantum encryption method to foil even the most sophisticated hackers. The discovery is outlined in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters.

US stockpile security and international monitoring capabilities strengthened, says new report on technical issues behind the com

WASHINGTON — The United States is now in a better position than at any time in the past to maintain a safe and effective nuclear weapons stockpile without testing and to monitor clandestine nuclear testing abroad, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report, requested by the Office of the Vice President and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, reviews and updates a 2002 study that examined the technical concerns raised about the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The report does not take a position on whether the U.S.

Whether grasping Easter eggs or glass bottles - this robotic hand uses tact

It may be difficult to imagine, but pouring juice into a plastic cup can be a great challenge to a robot. While one hand holds the glass bottle firmly, the other one must gently grasp the cup. Researchers at Saarland University together with associates in Bologna and Naples have developed a robotic hand that can accomplish both tasks with ease and yet including the actuators is scarcely larger than a human arm. This was made possible by a novel string actuator, making use of small electric motors to twist strings.

Microprocessors from pencil lead

Graphite, more commonly known as pencil lead, could become the next big thing in the quest for smaller and less power-hungry electronics.

Resembling chicken wire on a nano scale, graphene – single sheets of graphite – is only one atom thick, making it the world's thinnest material. Two million graphene sheets stacked up would not be as thick as a credit card.

Genetic mutation depicted in van Gogh's sunflower paintings revealed

In addition to being among his most vibrant and celebrated works, Vincent van Gogh's series of sunflower paintings also depict a mutation whose genetic basis has, until now, been a mystery. In a study published in PLoS Genetics, a team of University of Georgia scientists reveal the mutation behind the distinctive, thick bands of yellow "double flowers" that the post-Impressionist artist painted more than 100 years ago.

UCLA Engineering researchers use electricity to generate alternative fuel

Imagine being able to use electricity to power your car — even if it's not an electric vehicle. Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have for the first time demonstrated a method for converting carbon dioxide into liquid fuel isobutanol using electricity.

Today, electrical energy generated by various methods is still difficult to store efficiently. Chemical batteries, hydraulic pumping and water splitting suffer from low energy-density storage or incompatibility with current transportation infrastructure.

SMU's David Blackwell touts nationwide geothermal energy potential at Capitol Hill science briefing

DALLAS (SMU) – SMU Geothermal energy expert David Blackwell gave a Capitol Hill briefing Tuesday, March 27, on the growing opportunities for geothermal energy production in the United States, calling "unconventional" geothermal techniques a potential game changer for U.S. energy policy.

Autism Speaks demands urgent response to the autism epidemic in new CDC prevalence estimates

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today called on the nation's elected and appointed leaders to immediately develop a new, coordinated strategy to take on a national public health emergency – the autism epidemic – in the wake of a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finding that autism is now diagnosed in a staggering 1 in every 88 American children.

Reducing cash bite of wind power

The State of Illinois is facing an important renewable energy deadline in 2025, and Northwestern University's Harold H. Kung has a piece of advice for Springfield to consider now: Investment Tax Credit.

New understanding of how materials change when rapidly heated

Collaboration between the University of Southampton and the University of Cambridge has made ground-breaking advances in our understanding of the changes that materials undergo when rapidly heated.

Study supports association of alcohol and diabetes

Subjects in a cohort in Sweden, some of whom had been exposed to a community intervention program to prevent diabetes, were evaluated 8-10 years after baseline for the presence of diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose metabolism ("pre-diabetes") in relation to a baseline report of alcohol consumption. Approximately 2,000 men and 3,000 women had a normal glucose tolerance test at baseline; of these 105 men and 57 women developed type II diabetes. Of subjects with pre-diabetes at baseline, 175 men and 98 women progressed to diabetes.

Supercomputing the difference between matter and antimatter

UPTON, NY — An international collaboration of scientists has reported a landmark calculation of the decay process of a kaon into two pions, using breakthrough techniques on some of the world's fastest supercomputers. This is the same subatomic particle decay explored in a 1964 Nobel Prize-winning experiment performed at the U.S.

A simple and effective approach to improve device performance of pentacene thin film transistors

Organic thin film transistors (TFTs) have attracted much attention due to their wide and potential applications in, e.g., flexible displays, radio frequency identification cards, and sensors. Pentacene TFTs, in which gold (Au) source/drain electrodes are commonly used as the charge-injecting metal, are particularly attractive on account of their large mobility (~ 1 cm2 V-1 s-1) and high on/off ratios (>105), particularly when compared to those for amorphous silicon TFTs.