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Tests may lead to doubling of fuel cell life
May 23, 2013 | Comments
To improve fuel cell module durability and predict longevity, researchers are studying the degradation mechanisms of the fuel cells that occur under real-world transit bus conditions. While quantifying the effects of electrode degradation stressors in the operating cycle of the bus on the membrane lifetime, the team has discovered links between electrode degradation and membrane durability.
Inkjet-printed graphene may open doors to foldable electronics
May 20, 2013 3:15 pm | Comments
Northwestern University researchers have recently developed a graphene-based ink that...
Record-breaking high-energy particles detected by telescope buried in Antarctic
May 17, 2013 12:26 pm | Comments
A massive telescope buried in the Antarctic ice has detected 28 extremely high-energy...
Peering into living cells without dye or fluorophore
February 8, 2013 11:31 am | Comments
Two scientists in Switzerland have developed a device that can create 3D images of living cells...
Biophysicists measure mechanism that determines fate of living cells
May 24, 2013 8:11 am | CommentsCells in the human body do not function in isolation. Living cells rely on communication with their environment—neighboring cells and the surrounding matrix—to activate a wide range of cellular functions. This cellular communication occurs on the molecular level and it is reciprocal. Now, for the first time, researchers have measured the molecular force required to mechanically transmit function-regulating signals within a cell.
Balance is key to making quantum-dot solar cells work
May 24, 2013 7:53 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | CommentsThere has been great interest in using quantum dots to produce low-cost, easily manufactured, stable photovoltaic cells. But, so far, the creation of such cells has been limited by the fact that in practice, quantum dots are not as good at conducting an electric charge as they are in theory. Something in the physical structure of these cells seems to trap their electric-charge carriers. Now researchers may have found the key.
NSF and SRC to fund research to create failure-resistant circuits
May 24, 2013 5:00 am | CommentsLeaders of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, this week announced 18 new projects funded through a joint initiative to address research challenges in the design of failure-resistant circuits and systems.
Scientists offer first definitive proof of bacteria-feeding behavior in green algae
May 23, 2013 11:21 pm | CommentsA team of researchers has captured images of green alga consuming bacteria, offering a glimpse at how early organisms dating back more than 1 billion years may have acquired free-living photosynthetic cells. This acquisition is thought to have been a critical first step in the evolution of photosynthetic algae and land plants.
Cockroaches quickly lose sweet tooth to survive
May 23, 2013 11:04 pm | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | CommentsFor decades, people have been getting rid of cockroaches by setting out bait mixed with poison. But in the late 1980s, in an apartment test kitchen in Florida, something went very wrong. A killer product stopped working. Cockroach populations there kept rising. Mystified researchers tested and discarded theory after theory until they finally hit on the explanation.
NASA head views progress on asteroid lasso mission
May 23, 2013 10:59 pm | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | CommentsSurrounded by engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, NASA chief Charles Bolden on Thursday inspected a prototype spacecraft engine that could power an audacious mission to lasso an asteroid and tow it closer to Earth for astronauts to explore. Once relegated to science fiction, ion propulsion is preferred for deep space cruising because it's more fuel-efficient.
New filtration material could make petroleum refining cheaper, more efficient
May 23, 2013 10:55 pm | CommentsA newly synthesized material might provide a dramatically improved method for separating the highest-octane components of gasoline. These components are expensive to isolate. Created in the laboratory of Jeffrey Long, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, the material is a metal-organic framework, or MOF, which can be imagined as a sponge with microscopic holes.
Cradle turns smartphone into handheld biosensor
May 23, 2013 10:49 pm | by Liz Ahlberg, University of Illinois | CommentsUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules. Having such sensitive biosensing capabilities in the field could enable on-the-spot tracking of groundwater contamination, or provide immediate and inexpensive medical diagnostic tests.
FDA approves blood test to diagnose diabetes
May 23, 2013 5:23 pm | by The Associated Press | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it approved a new blood test from Roche to help doctors diagnose diabetes. The Cobas Integra 800 is a blood test that measures a patient's average blood sugar level over the previous three months. In particular, the test measures an oxygen-carrying blood component known as hemoglobin.
Scientists announce top 10 new species
May 23, 2013 2:18 pm | CommentsAn amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered species selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University to be recognized as the top 10 of 2012. The announcement comes with a call to discover, in the next 50 years, what are thought to be 10 million undiscovered species on Earth.
Engineer helps pioneer flat spray-on optical lens
May 23, 2013 2:10 pm | CommentsA University of British Columbia engineer and a team of U.S. researchers have made a breakthrough utilizing spray-on technology that could revolutionize the way optical lenses are made and used. Nearly all lenses—whether in an eye, a camera, or a microscope—are presently curved, which limits the aperture, or amount of light that enters. The new spray-on lens is flat, and can be affixed to a glass slide.
Bacterium from Arctic offers clues about life on Mars
May 23, 2013 2:04 pm | CommentsThe temperature in the permafrost on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high Arctic is nearly as cold as that of the surface of Mars. So the recent discovery by a McGill University led team of scientists of a bacterium that is able to thrive at -15 C, the coldest temperature ever reported for bacterial growth, is exciting. The bacterium offers clues about some of the necessary preconditions for microbial life on Mars.
Scientists develop powerful method for finding therapeutic antibodies
May 23, 2013 1:59 pm | CommentsScientists at The Scripps Research Institute have devised a powerful new technique for finding antibodies that have a desired biological effect. Antibodies, which can bind to billions of distinct targets, are already used in many of the world’s best-selling medicines, diagnostics, and laboratory reagents. The newly reported technique should greatly speed the process of discovering such products.
Study reveals active site of enzyme linked to stuttering
May 23, 2013 12:48 pm | CommentsScientists from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have determined the 3D structure of the chemically active part of an enzyme involved in stuttering. While the discovery is not likely to lead to a cure for stuttering any time soon, it is welcome news to scientists who have been studying this enzyme, known as "uncovering enzyme" or UCE, for decades.
Cell phone technology helps horses recover from surgery
May 23, 2013 12:30 pm | CommentsTechnology that’s used in smartphones and other electronic devices also is being used by veterinarians at the University of Illinois to help horses recover safely from anesthesia. The technology, known as accelerometers, are portable data recorders that capture information on motion, vibration, and impact
