CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A defective operating system is never a good thing.
Like computers, our cells depend on operating systems to drive normal functions. Gene expression programs comprise the software code our cells rely on, with each cell type controlled by its own program. Corrupted programs can trigger disease.
Rice University scientists have created a nano-infused oil that could greatly enhance the ability of devices as large as electrical transformers and as small as microelectronic components to shed excess heat.
Research in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan, which appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano, could raise the efficiency of such transformer oils by as much as 80 percent in a way that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers have developed a type of wearable, non-invasive electronic device that can monitor vital signs such as heart rate and respiration at the same time it records a person's activity level, opening new opportunities for biomedical research, diagnostics and patient care.
The device is just two inches wide, comfortable, does not have to be in direct contact with the skin and can operate for a week without needing to be recharged. Data can then be downloaded and assessed for whatever medical or research need is being addressed.
Researchers have found a new biomarker for cyanide poisoning, which may extend its detection window in death investigations by weeks if not months.
A Stanford University research team has designed a high-efficiency charging system that uses magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit large electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. The long-term goal of the research is to develop an all-electric highway that wirelessly charges cars and trucks as they cruise down the road.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A company looking to purchase an electric-powered delivery truck today will likely experience some sticker shock: Such a vehicle costs nearly $150,000, compared to about $50,000 for the same kind of truck with a standard internal-combustion engine.
But before long — perhaps surprisingly — it's a purchase that should pay for itself. That's the conclusion of a new MIT study showing that electric vehicles are not just environmentally friendly, but also have the potential to improve the bottom line for many kinds of businesses.
Governments don't care if solar power actually saves anyone any money or energy, they primarily want to know how much to increase your taxes. Consistent appraisals of homes and businesses outfitted with photovoltaic (PV) installations are missing but a new tool developed by Sandia National Laboratories and Solar Power Electric™ and licensed by Sandia addresses that issue.
Graphene leaves a rather modest impression at a first sight. The material comprises nothing but carbon atoms ordered in a mono-layered "carpet". Yet, what makes graphene so fascinating for scientists is its extremely high conductivity. This property is particularly useful in the development of photodetectors. These are electronic components that can detect radiation and transform it into electrical signals.
The European Union has 27 member countries and 23 official languages, but its official business is carried out primarily in one language — English. Yet the striking findings of a new study show that barely a third of the EU's 500 million citizens speak English.
What about the other two-thirds? They are linguistically disenfranchised, say the study's authors.
A painstaking study by Rice University has brought a wealth of new information about single-walled carbon nanotubes through analysis of their fluorescence.
The current issue of the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano features an article about work by the Rice lab of chemist Bruce Weisman to understand how the lengths and imperfections of individual nanotubes affect their fluorescence – in this case, the light they emit at near-infrared wavelengths.
In a flash, the world changed for Tim Noe – and for physicists who study what they call many-body problems.
The Rice University graduate student was the first to see, in the summer of 2010, proof of a theory that solid-state materials are capable of producing an effect known as superfluorescence.
That can only happen when "many bodies" – in this case, electron-hole pairs created in a semiconductor – decide to cooperate.
The heart's inner workings are mysterious, perhaps even more so with a new finding. Engineers at the University of Washington have discovered an electrical property in arteries not seen before in mammalian tissues.
The researchers found that the wall of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits ferroelectricity, a response to an electric field known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. The findings are being published in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.
Wildlife health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society have published evidence which supports the conclusion that Mongolian gazelles—one of the most populous large land mammals on the planet—are not a reservoir of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral disease that threatens both wildlife and livestock in Asia.
To the lengthy list of serendipitous discoveries – gravity, penicillin, the New World – add this: Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered why a promising technique for making quantum dots and nanorods has so far been a disappointment. Better still, they've also discovered how to correct the problem.
An innovative low-cost smart paint that can detect microscopic faults in wind turbines, mines and bridges before structural damage occurs is being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
The environmentally-friendly paint uses nanotechnology to detect movement in large structures, and could shape the future of safety monitoring.
Traditional methods of assessing large structures are complex, time consuming and use expensive instrumentation, with costs spiraling into millions of pounds each year.