Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a revolutionary system for monitoring vital signs that could lead to improved detection and prevention of some cardiovascular issues, as well as greater independence for older adults.
Tech
A chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a portable version of his method for recovering trace chemicals such as environmental pollutants and forensic evidence including secret graves and arson fire debris.
From their use in telecommunication to detecting hazardous chemicals, lasers play a major role in our everyday lives. They keep us connected, keep us safe, and allow us to explore the dark corners of the universe.
Now a Northwestern University team has made this ever-important tool even simpler and more versatile by integrating a mid-infrared tunable laser with an on-chip amplifier. This breakthrough allows adjustable wavelength output, modulators, and amplifiers to be held inside a single package.
Cellphones, any parent can attest, play a central role in the lives of college students. Studies show that nearly all college students own a cellphone, and most of those students use text messaging as their main form of communication. Researchers from the University of Notre Dame used the centrality of cellphones in college students' lives to delve deep into students' usage habits and how their social networks affect their everyday lives.
How do you get to know a material that you cannot see?
That is a question that researchers studying nanomaterials--objects with features at the sub-micrometer scales such as quantum dots, nanoparticles and nanotubes--are seeking to answer.
HOUSTON -- (Jan. 6, 2016) -- The molecules that impart strength to paper, bamboo and wood-frame buildings -- lignin and cellulose -- have long stymied biofuels researchers by locking away more than half of a plant's energy-yielding sugar. In a study that could point the way to biofuels processes of the future, scientists from Rice University, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Joint BioEnergy Institute at Emeryville, Calif., have discovered how two bacterial enzymes work as a team to break apart lignin.
Nitrogen fixation is one of the best examples of cooperation in nature. Soil microbes - naturally occurring bacteria in the soil - work with plants to pull nitrogen from the air. They turn the nitrogen into a form the plant is able to use. In return, the plant lets the microbes eat some of the sugars it makes.
Berkeley, CA -- A new study estimates that $2.2 billion in benefits came from reduced greenhouse gas emissions and $5.2 billion from reductions in other air pollution for state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policies operating in 2013. The report also shows national water withdrawals and consumption were reduced by 830 billion gallons and 27 billion gallons in 2013, respectively. The report, entitled A Retrospective Analysis of the Benefits and Impacts of U.S.
Over the past three decades, the number of cats diagnosed with hyperthyroidism has increased. According to research reports, many factors such as exposure to flame retardants could be responsible, and now a new study in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology points in another direction. It suggests that fish-flavored cat food could be among the culprits.
For years, scientists have been pursuing ways to imitate a leaf's photosynthetic power to make hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight. In a new twist, a team has come up with another kind of device that mimics two of a leaf's processes -- photosynthesis and transpiration -- to harness solar energy to purify water. Their development, reported in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, could help address issues of water scarcity.
The eureka moments can come fast and furious at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which last fiscal year racked up a record 169 inventions. Chris Deline's idea came to him while jogging, and from that sprang the potential to better protect firefighters.
Deline, a research engineer in NREL's photovoltaic performance and reliability group, jotted down his idea, a few paragraphs sufficiently describing his innovation that would be marked as a record of invention, or ROI.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Senior Scientist Min Zhang has a special relationship with Zymomonas mobilis, a rod-shaped bacterium that has bioethanol-producing capabilities. Of her 80 peer-reviewed papers and 21 U.S. patents in the field of biochemistry and biofuels, many reference this sugar-eating 'bug.'
From smartphones to the operating interfaces of ticket machines and cash dispensers, every touchscreen we use requires transparent electrodes: The devices' glass surface is coated with a barely visible pattern made of conductive material. It is because of this that the devices recognise whether and where exactly a finger is touching the surface.
Scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) have jointly set a new world record for converting non-concentrated (1-sun) sunlight into electricity using a dual-junction III-V/Si solar cell.
Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have made advances toward affordable photoelectrochemical (PEC) production of hydrogen.