Tech | Page 1431 | Science Codex

3-dimensional view of 1-dimensional nanostructures

Just 100 nanometers in diameter, nanowires are often considered one-dimensional. But researchers at Northwestern University have recently reported that individual gallium nitride nanowires show strong piezoelectricity – a type of charge-generation caused by mechanical stress – in three dimensions.

The findings, led by Horacio Espinosa, James N. and Nancy J. Farley Professor in Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, were published online Dec. 22 in Nano Letters.

Focusing on family helps mothers of technology-dependent children function

Normal everyday life for parents requires organization. Parents of children who require ventilators, oxygen, IVs and other tools to live, those day-to-day tasks can be time-consuming, difficult and stressful on the family. But researchers from Case Western Reserve University found that mothers who successfully integrate the care of the technology-dependent child into family life have families that function better.

Optimizing manufacturing: sensor monitors actions during product assembly

Fish oil during pregnancy does not protect against excessive adipose tissue development

Is obesity in infants "programmed" in the womb? Previously, researchers assumed that consumption of "bad" fats during pregnancy contribute to excessive infant adipose tissue growth and that "good" omega-3 fatty acids prevent expansive adipose tissue development. An study run by the Technische Universität München showed no evidence to support this "perinatal programming" theory.

Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design

Leaping lizards have a message for robots: Get a tail!

University of California, Berkeley, biologists and engineers including undergraduate and graduate students studied how lizards manage to leap successfully even when they slip and stumble, and found that swinging the tail upward is the key to preventing a forward pitch that could send them head-over-heels into a tree.

The cost of disabilities could reach 77.2 percent of household income

A team of researchers have for the first time estimated the cost and impact of disabilities on the finances of disabled people. According to data, 90% of the population with a serious disability in Spain is in a state of moderate poverty and 56% lives in a state of extreme poverty.

An inside look at face transplantation

Boston, MA - In March 2011, a surgical team at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) performed the first full face transplantation (FFT) in the United States and went on to complete a total of three FFTs this year. Now, in the first research publication to evaluate FFT in the US, and largest series worldwide, the researchers describe details of patient preparation, novel design and execution of the operation as well as unique immunosuppression protocol allowing for lowest long-term maintenance drug regimen.

Childhood hypersensitivity linked to OCD

In childhood, rituals like regular schedules for meal, bath, and bed times are a healthy part of behavioral development. But combined with oral and tactile sensitivities, such as discomfort at the dentist or irritation caused by specific fabrics, these rituals could be an early warning sign of adult Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

NOAA scientists: spilled oil unexpectedly lethal to fish embryos in shallow, sunlit waters

In a study published today in the scientific journal PNAS, NOAA scientists and their collaborators reported Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, and suggest an interaction between sunlight and the chemicals in oil might be responsible.

Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herring

The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study by the University of California, Davis, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Go to work on a Christmas card

If all the UK's discarded wrapping paper and Christmas cards were collected and fermented, they could make enough biofuel to run a double-decker bus to the moon and back more than 20 times, according to the researchers behind a new scientific study.

More than other drugs, injected meth is associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide

December 22, 2011 -- The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia found that drug users who inject methamphetamine had an 80% greater risk of attempting suicide than drug users who inject other substances.

New device could bring optical information processing

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have created a new type of optical device small enough to fit millions on a computer chip that could lead to faster, more powerful information processing and supercomputers.

The "passive optical diode" is made from two tiny silicon rings measuring 10 microns in diameter, or about one-tenth the width of a human hair. Unlike other optical diodes, it does not require external assistance to transmit signals and can be readily integrated into computer chips.

'Nanoantennas' show promise in optical innovations

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Researchers have shown how arrays of tiny "plasmonic nanoantennas" are able to precisely manipulate light in new ways that could make possible a range of optical innovations such as more powerful microscopes, telecommunications and computers.

The researchers at Purdue University used the nanoantennas to abruptly change a property of light called its phase. Light is transmitted as waves analogous to waves of water, which have high and low points. The phase defines these high and low points of light.

New technique makes it easier to etch semiconductors

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Creating semiconductor structures for high-end optoelectronic devices just got easier, thanks to University of Illinois researchers.

The team developed a method to chemically etch patterned arrays in the semiconductor gallium arsenide, used in solar cells, lasers, light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs), capacitors and sensors. Led by electrical and computer engineering professor Xiuling Li, the researchers describe their technique in the journal Nano Letters.