Tech

WSU researchers use super-high pressures to create super battery

PULLMAN, Wash.—The world's biggest Roman candle has got nothing on this.

Using super-high pressures similar to those found deep in the Earth or on a giant planet, Washington State University researchers have created a compact, never-before-seen material capable of storing vast amounts of energy.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- While pregnant women may worry about the effects of air pollution on their health and that of their developing child, exposure to carbon monoxide and fine particles in the air during pregnancy does not appear to increase the risk of preterm delivery or preeclampsia -- a serious condition that arises only during pregnancy -- according to results of a study headed by a University at Buffalo epidemiologist.

UM scientists advance in quantum computing and energy conversion tech

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Using a unique hybrid nanostructure, University of Maryland researchers have shown a new type of light-matter interaction and also demonstrated the first full quantum control of qubit spin within very tiny colloidal nanostructures (a few nanometers), thus taking a key step forward in efforts to create a quantum computer.

Most educational websites in the U.S. are using Flash applications that fail to adequately secure these pages. This is a growing problem for the Internet as vulnerable sites can be hijacked for malicious and criminal activity, according to a paper published in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics this month.

Oil spills can increase levels of toxic arsenic in the ocean, creating an additional long-term threat to the marine ecosystem, according to research published today in the journal Water Research.

Thermal-powered, insect-like microrobots?  Those would be the best Christmas presents ever

Robotic cars attracted attention last decade with a 100-mile driverless race across the desert competing for a $1 million prize put up by the U.S. government.

Mountain mice show adaptation to altitude

This fuel-preference represents an adaptation in high altitude mice to use oxygen more efficiently than their low-altitude counterparts.

"Andean mouse species have independently evolved a strategy to maximize energy yield when little oxygen is available" explain lead researchers Marie-Pierre Schippers and Grant McClelland from McMaster University.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Black people with cancer are up to twice as likely as other races to die from their disease. While disparities exist for nearly every common cancer type, the largest differences occur among cancers that benefit most from treatment -- suggesting that black patients are not getting needed lifesaving treatments, according to a review from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Female baboons that maintain closer ties with other members of their troop live substantially longer than do those whose social bonds are less stable, a recent study has found. The researchers say that the findings, reported online on July 1st in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, add to evidence in animals from mice to humans that social bonds have real adaptive value.

Labels on the popular insulin pen used by people with diabetes warn against visually-impaired people using pens to measure out and administer their insulin dosage.

A Case Western Reserve University pilot study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing overturns that thinking, finding that visually impaired people actually did slightly better than their seeing peers, although the difference was not statistically significant.

Asking parents just two simple screening questions could help health care providers and social workers to easily and quickly identify families whose young children are suffering from hunger, enabling early interventions that could prevent serious health consequences, according to a new study led by University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers. The study, published July 1 in the journal Pediatrics, analyzed data gathered from more than 30,000 families nationwide, about a quarter of whom suffered from hunger.

Champaign, IL- An article in the current issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy predicts the yield of the biofuel crop, Jatropha curcas L., for present and future climates.

Researchers related reproductive potential with the natural occurrence of Jatropha, with biogeographic modeling and ecological principles. This model allowed them to estimate yield response to climate factors and map worldwide productivity for present and future climates.

CryoSat-2 exceeding expectations

Today, participants at the Living Planet Symposium have been hearing about ESA's most recently launched mission, CryoSat-2. In orbit for almost three months, the satellite is in excellent health with scientists very encouraged by the first ice-thickness data presented at the symposium.