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5/21/12
| News
Researchers have shown how to create morphing robotic mechanisms and shape-shifting sculptures from a single sheet of paper in a method reminiscent of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. The new method, called Kaleidogami, uses computational algorithms and tools to create precisely folded structures.
May 21 | News
In experiments at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a powerful X-ray laser blasted solid carbon crystals into a liquid and plasma even faster than expected, raising new questions about how these intense beams interact with matter. The tests took place at the Linac Coherent Light Source, or LCLS, using a pioneering technique to simultaneously blast and probe samples of graphite, a pure form of carbon.
May 21 | News
Tissue engineers can use mesenchymal stem cells derived from fat to make cartilage, bone, or more fat. The best cells to use are ones that are already likely to become the desired tissue. Brown University researchers have discovered that the mechanical properties of the stem cells can foretell what they will become, leading to a potential method of concentrating them for use in healing.
May 21 | News
Quantum physics and plant biology seem like two branches of science that could not be more different, but surprisingly they may in fact be intimately tied. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and the Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame used ultrafast spectroscopy to see what happens at the subatomic level during the very first stage of photosynthesis.
May 21 | News
Catching
a crocodile or alligator to obtain a blood sample for testing is often
done at night by a boat or a canoe. A snout snare eases the process, but
it’s still a nerve-wracking experience. The samples are for the first
mapping project for crocodile and alligator genomes, and it’s also the
among the first such efforts to be done on a reptile species.
May 21 | News
Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) allow people in multiple, rapidly moving
vehicles to communicate with each other—such as in military or
emergency-response situations. Researchers from North Carolina State
University have devised a
method to improve the quality and efficiency of data transmission in
these
networks.
19 hours ago | News
Some
37 cameras shot 132 musicians running through the score of Gustav
Holst's "The Planets” on the specially-blacked out stage at Watford
Colosseum, just outside London, early this year. That footage has been
used by a London museum to put the conductor's baton in visitors' hands,
allowing guests to direct a virtual orchestra using 3D motion sensors.
20 hours ago | News
A Sandia National Laboratories modeling study contradicts a long-held belief of geologists that pore sizes and chemical compositions are uniform throughout a given strata, which are horizontal slices of sedimentary rock. By understanding the variety of pore sizes and spatial patterns in strata, geologists can help achieve more production from underground oil reservoirs and water aquifers.
20 hours ago | News
New research from North
Carolina State University shows that a wind-driven "tumbleweed" Mars
rover would be capable of moving across rocky Martian terrain—findings
that could also help the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)
design the best possible vehicle.
21 hours ago | News
Gasoline prices this summer could stay relatively steady provided that
an
already-tense Middle East doesn't flare up and nothing else happens to
disrupt
supplies, a Purdue
University economist
says.
22 hours ago | News
A new collaboration between Oxford University
and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology will use the latest genetic
techniques to
investigate organic remains that some have claimed belong to the 'Yeti'
and
other 'lost' hominid species.
22 hours ago | News
Ion bombardment of metal surfaces is an important, but poorly understood, nanomanufacturing technique. New research using sophisticated supercomputer simulations has shown what goes on in trillionths of a second. The advance could lead to better ways to predict the phenomenon and more uses of the technique to make new nanoscale products.
22 hours ago | News
A research group from Stony Brook University reports the development and demonstration of a novel probe for atomic quantum matter. Their work describes a proof-of-principle experiment on the diffraction of atomic de Broglie waves from a strongly correlated gas of atoms held in an optical lattice.
22 hours ago | News
A new study by civil engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that using stiffer pavements on the nation's roads could reduce vehicle fuel consumption by as much as 3%—a savings that could add up to 273 million barrels of crude oil per year, or $15.6 billion at today's oil prices. This would result in an accompanying annual decrease in carbon dioxide emissions of 46.5 million metric tons.
May 22 | News
Plans
to create the world's first carbon-neutral higher-speed locomotive were
unveiled this week by the Coalition for Sustainable Rail, which has the goal
of proving the viability of solid biofuel—torrefied biomass—and modern
steam locomotive technology. The first step in those plans is to break
the world speed record for steam trains.
May 22 | News
A
team of engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have
developed a way to keep tabs on pipeline health by using a magnetic
resonance imaging machine similar to the ones used in hospitals. Their
technology is called the Magnetic Response Imaging System (MRIS), and it
will be able to look at the state of underground pipelines.
