Stanford University
Egg-cellent world-record battery performance
January 9, 2013 7:59 am | News | Comments
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University scientists have set a world record for energy storage, using a clever "yolk-shell" design to store five times more energy in the sulfur cathode of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery than is possible with today's commercial technology.
Ultrathin transistors spread like butter on toast
April 18, 2013 8:37 am | by Anne Ju, Cornell University | News | Comments
Like spreading a thin layer of butter on toast, Cornell University scientists have helped...
Exploring the ethics of resurrecting extinct species
April 8, 2013 6:09 pm | by Thomas Sumner and Bjorn Carey, Stanford University | News | Comments
At some point, scientists may be able to bring back extinct animals, and perhaps early...
High-resolution endoscope is as thin as a human hair
March 13, 2013 10:09 am | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | Comments
Engineers at Stanford have developed a prototype single-fiber endoscope that improves the...
Computational tool simplifies complex data into 2D images
May 20, 2013 9:30 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Columbia University and Stanford University have developed a computational method that enables scientists to visualize and interpret "high-dimensional" data produced by single-cell measurement technologies such as mass cytometry. A sophisticated algorithm converts difficult-to-interpret data into visual representations similar to two-dimensional "scatter plots".
Study: Earth's iron core is surprisingly weak
May 17, 2013 10:54 am | News | CommentsThe massive ball of iron sitting at the center of Earth is not quite as "rock-solid" as has been thought, say two Stanford University mineral physicists. By conducting experiments that simulate the immense pressures deep in the planet's interior, the researchers determined that iron in Earth's inner core is only about 40% as strong as previous studies estimated.
Ultraresponsive magnetic nanoscavengers could usher next-generation water purification
May 15, 2013 3:43 pm | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsAmong its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers.
Engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin flexible 'skin'
May 15, 2013 3:21 pm | News | CommentsEngineers combine layers of flexible materials into pressure sensors to create a wearable heart monitor thinner than a dollar bill. The skin-like device could one day provide doctors with a safer way to check the condition of a patient's heart.
Researchers turn skin cells directly into the cells that insulate neurons
April 15, 2013 1:00 pm | News | CommentsStanford University School of Medicine scientists have succeeded in transforming skin cells directly into oligodendrocyte precursor cells, the cells that wrap nerve cells in the insulating myelin sheaths that help nerve signals propagate. The research was done in mice and rats, but if the approach also works with human cells, it could eventually lead to cell therapies for a variety of diseases of the nervous system.
Global solar photovoltaic industry is likely now a net energy producer
April 3, 2013 8:12 am | News | CommentsThe construction of the photovoltaic power industry since 2000 has required an enormous amount of energy, mostly from fossil fuels. The good news is that the clean electricity from all the installed solar panels has likely just surpassed the energy going into the industry's continued growth, Stanford University researchers find.
X-ray laser explores how to write data with light
March 21, 2013 7:52 am | News | CommentsUsing laser light to read and write magnetic data by quickly flipping tiny magnetic domains could help keep pace with the demand for faster computing devices. Now experiments with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser have given scientists their first detailed look at how light controls the first trillionth of a second of this process, known as all-optical magnetic switching.
Researchers identify forerunners of inner-ear cells that enable hearing
February 26, 2013 9:47 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a group of progenitor cells in the inner ear that can become the sensory hair cells and adjacent supporting cells that enable hearing. Studying these progenitor cells could someday lead to discoveries that help millions of Americans suffering from hearing loss due to damaged or impaired sensory hair cells.
Researchers develop tool for reading the minds of mice
February 19, 2013 3:41 pm | News | CommentsIf you want to read a mouse's mind, it takes some fluorescent protein and a tiny microscope implanted in the rodent's head. Stanford University scientists have demonstrated a technique for observing hundreds of neurons firing in the brain of a live mouse, in real time, and have linked that activity to long-term information storage. The work could provide a useful tool for studying new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's.
Light-emitting bioprobe fits in a single cell
February 14, 2013 8:04 am | News | CommentsA Stanford University study is the first to demonstrate that sophisticated, engineered light resonators can be inserted inside cells without damaging the host. The researchers say it marks a new age in which tiny lasers and light-emitting diodes yield new avenues in the study and influence of living cells.
Researchers break million-core supercomputer barrier
January 28, 2013 10:18 am | by Andrew Myers, Stanford University | News | CommentsStanford Engineering's Center for Turbulence Research has set a new record in computational science by successfully using a supercomputer with more than one million computing cores to solve a complex fluid dynamics problem—the prediction of noise generated by a supersonic jet engine.
Reduce greenhouse gas by exporting coal?
January 16, 2013 9:36 am | News | CommentsWestern U.S. coal companies looking to expand sales to China will likely succeed, according to Stanford University economist Frank Wolak. But, due to energy market dynamics in the United States, those coal exports are likely to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases.
Researchers develop acrobatic space rovers to explore moons, asteroids
January 2, 2013 7:48 am | News | CommentsStanford University researchers, in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have designed a robotic platform that could take space exploration to new heights. The mission proposed for the platform involves a mother spacecraft deploying one or several spiked, roughly spherical rovers to the Martian moon Phobos.
Lab research team solves condensed matter physics puzzle
December 28, 2012 7:32 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has answered a longstanding, much debated question in condensed matter physics. The question had to do with the rare earth element cerium (Ce), which undergoes a surprising, large isostructural volume collapse at high pressure.
Optical tweezers trap specimens a few nanometers across
December 5, 2012 9:53 am | News | CommentsA microscale technique known as optical trapping uses beams of light as tweezers to hold and manipulate tiny particles. Stanford University researchers have found a new way to trap particles smaller than 10 nm, which until now have escaped light's grasp.
Scientists develop new technique for visualizing blood flow
December 3, 2012 7:33 am | News | CommentsStanford University scientists have developed a new technique for watching blood flow in living animals. The technique involves carbon nanotubes and lasers, and will allow researchers to better study arterial diseases and therapies.
Diamond-like coating improves electron microscope images
November 26, 2012 12:01 pm | News | CommentsCoating the surface of a material with a single layer of diamond-like crystals greatly improves images of it taken with an electron microscope, according to a study led by scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University. In results, the group reported a nearly three-fold improvement in the quality of photoelectron emission microscope images when they used the coating.
A leap forward in brain-controlled computer cursors
November 19, 2012 9:00 am | News | CommentsStanford University researchers have designed the fastest, most accurate algorithm yet for brain-implantable prosthetic systems that can help disabled people maneuver computer cursors with their thoughts. The algorithm's speed, accuracy, and natural movement approach those of a real arm, doubling performance of existing algorithms.
Stanford researchers take first step toward quantum cryptography
November 16, 2012 9:53 am | News | CommentsQuantum mechanics offers the potential to create absolutely secure telecommunications networks by harnessing a fundamental phenomenon of quantum particles. Now, a team of Stanford University physicists has demonstrated a crucial first step in creating a quantum telecommunications device that could be built and implemented using existing infrastructure.
Surprising competition found in high-temperature superconductors
November 14, 2012 2:00 pm | News | CommentsA team led by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University scientists has made an important discovery toward understanding how a large group of complex copper oxide materials lose their electrical resistance at remarkably high temperatures. The materials in question are high-temperature superconductors, which conduct electricity perfectly with no resistance when cooled below -100 C.
Touch-sensitive plastic skin heals itself
November 12, 2012 8:09 am | by Kelly Servick, Stanford University | News | CommentsA team of Stanford University chemists and engineers has created the first synthetic material that is both sensitive to touch and capable of healing itself quickly and repeatedly at room temperature. The advance could lead to smarter prosthetics or resilient personal electronics that repair themselves.
Scientists build the first all-carbon solar cell
November 5, 2012 11:16 am | News | CommentsStanford University scientists have built the first solar cell made entirely of carbon, a promising alternative to the expensive materials used in photovoltaic devices today. Unlike rigid silicon solar panels that adorn many rooftops, Stanford's thin film prototype is made of carbon materials that can be coated from solution.
Atom optics to help detect the imperceptible
October 22, 2012 8:43 am | by Lori Keesey | News | CommentsPredicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, the waves occur when massive celestial objects move and disrupt the fabric of space-time. But by the time these waves reach Earth, they are so weak that the planet expands and contracts less than an atom in response. No instrument or observatory has ever directly detected them. A pioneering technology capable of atomic-level precision is now being developed to detect what so far has remained imperceptible.
Bioengineers introduce 'Bi-Fi, the biological Internet
September 27, 2012 11:32 am | News | CommentsIf you were a bacterium, the virus M13 might seem innocuous enough. It insinuates more than it invades, setting up shop like a freeloading house guest, not a killer. Once inside it makes itself at home, eating your food, texting indiscriminately. Recently, however, bioengineers at Stanford University have given M13 a bit of a makeover; they have parasitized the parasite and harnessed M13's key attributes to create what might be termed as the biological Internet, or "Bi-Fi."
Astrophysicists get first images for Dark Energy Camera
September 17, 2012 7:08 am | News | CommentsWhen the Dark Energy Camera opened its giant eye last week and began taking pictures of the ancient light from far-off galaxies, more than 120 members of the Dark Energy Survey eagerly awaited the first snapshots. Those images have now arrived.
