Rice University scientists have advanced their recent development of laser-induced graphene (LIG) by producing and testing stacked, three-dimensional supercapacitors — energy-storage devices that are important for portable, flexible electronics.
The Rice lab of chemist James Tour discovered last year that firing a laser at an inexpensive polymer burned off other elements and left a film of porous graphene, the much-studied atom-thick lattice of carbon.… read more
Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have developed a prototype of a social robot that supports independent living for the elderly, working in partnership with their relatives or carers.
Farshid Amirabdollahian, a senior lecturer in Adaptive Systems at the university, led a team of nine partner institutions from five European countries as part of the €4,825,492 project called ACCOMPANY (Acceptable Robotics Companions for Ageing Years).
“This… read more
Investigators at Nationwide Children’s Hospital say they have developed an optimized analysis “pipeline” that slashes the time it takes to search a person’s genome for disease-causing variations from weeks to hours.
An open-access preview article describing the ultra-fast, highly scalable software was published in the latest issue of Genome Biology.
“It took around 13 years and $3 billion to sequence the first… read more
Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a nano-sized optical antenna that can greatly enhance the spontaneous emission of light from atoms, molecules and semiconductor quantum dots.
That opens the door to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that can replace lasers for short-range optical communications, including optical interconnects for microchips and a host of other potential applications.
“Since the invention of the laser, spontaneous light emission has been… read more
Results of a new study by UCLA researchers suggest that meditation may help preserve the brain’s gray matter, the tissue that contains neurons.
The researchers cautioned, however, that they cannot draw a direct, causal connection between meditation and preserving gray matter in the brain. Too many other factors may come into play, including lifestyle choices, personality traits, and genetic brain differences.
Since 1970, life expectancy around the world… read more
Ultra-high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells similar to those used in space or electric utilities may now be possible on your rooftop thanks to a new microscale solar-concentration technology called concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) developed by an international team of researchers.
The new CPV systems use inexpensive optics to concentrate sunlight,” said Noel C. Giebink, assistant professor of electrical engineering, Penn State. “Current CPV systems are… read more
SuperAgers, aged 80 and above — but with memories that are as sharp as those of healthy persons decades younger — have distinctly different looking brains than those of normal older people, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.
Understanding Superagers’ unique “brain signature” may enable scientists to decipher the genetic or molecular source and develop strategies to protect the memories of normal aging persons, as well as… read more
A low-cost smartphone accessory that can detect three infectious disease markers from a finger prick of blood in just 15 minutes, performing all mechanical, optical, and electronic functions of a lab-based blood test.
That’s what team of researchers led by Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has developed.
It performs an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) triplexed immunoassay… read more
The first transistors made of silicene, the world’s thinnest silicon material, have been developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering. The new material may allow for building dramatically faster, smaller, energy-efficient computer chips.
Made of a one-atom-thick layer of silicon atoms, silicene has outstanding electrical properties but has until now proved difficult to produce and work… read more
Planetary scientists have calculated that there are hundreds of billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy which might support life.
The new research, led by PhD student Tim Bovaird and Associate Professor Charley Lineweaver from The Australian National University (ANU), made the finding by applying a 200 year old idea called the Titius-Bode relation — used to predict the existence of… read more
Resveratrol, touted for its potential to prevent heart disease, may also help prevent age-related decline in memory, according to new research from Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
Ashok K. Shetty, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and Director of Neurosciences at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has been studying the potential benefit of resveratrol, an antioxidant found in the skin of… read more
Two new fluorescent dyes attracted to cancer cells differentiate brain tumors from normal brain tissue in mice, and may help neurosurgeons more accurately localize and completely resect (remove) brain tumors, suggests an open-access study in the February issue of Neurosurgery.
The two “tumor-selective” fluorescent agents — called CLR1501 and CLR1502 — were molecularly altered to carry fluorescent dyes that glow under lights with specific wavelengths —… read more
Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and universities in China and Japan have discovered a new structural variant of carbon called “penta-graphene”— a fourth form of carbon, joining fullerene, the nanotube and graphene.
Penta-graphene is a very thin sheet of pure carbon that has a unique structure inspired by a pentagonal (five-sided) pattern of tiles and that appears to be dynamically,… read more
British scientists have developed Eve, an artificially intelligent “robot scientist” that could make drug discovery faster and cheaper.
Based at the University of Manchester, Eve has already discovered that a compound shown to have anti-cancer properties might also be used in the fight against malaria.
Eve was developed by researchers at the Universities of Aberystwyth and Cambridge. In 2009, they announced Adam, the first machine to… read more
By combining micro-imprinting and electro-spinning techniques, researchers at Shanghai University’s Rapid Manufacturing Engineering Center have developed a vascular graft (blood-vessel bypass) composed of three layers for the first time.
This tri-layered composite allowed researchers to combine separate materials to provide mechanical strength and also promote new cell growth, not possible with existing vascular grafts, which are limited to a single or double… read more