Underground Climate Change Is Sinking Our Cities
Climate change is not just in the air—underground climate change expands or contracts the earth, affecting the buildings above.
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Preference for Positive, Happy Words
Scientists have used a massive data set of billions of words from actual usage to find that people around the world use more happy words than sad words.
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New Futuristic Fabrics to Keep Cool
By Katherine Lindemann Inspired by lithium batteries and kitchen plastic wrap, engineers at Stanford University have developed a plastic material that helps the body radiate heat, lowering skin temperature and cooling the wearer. To be suitable for clothing, the material is flexible and—importantly—opaque. The teams are now working on a woven version of the textile. Po-Chun Hsu contributed to the research as a member of the Yi Cui research group. We asked him to tell us more. ResearchGate: Where did the idea for this material come from? Po-Chun Hsu: The…
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Ruminations on Flight
By Rosalind Rude I have a friend who pilots his own aircraft. He’s been away from it for a while so now he is boning up, re-sharpening his skills to get back in the saddle, or back in the cockpit. As he recently explained to me, piloting an aircraft is nothing like driving a car or riding a bike. Yaw, Pitch, and Roll There are three axes in play during flight: The airplane turns left and right (yaw). The airplane’s nose goes up and down (pitch). The body of…
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Women in STEM Careers, Women in Action
By Chantal Brine We have teamed up with Techsploration to bring you the Women in Action video series featuring women working in STEM careers. In this, the first video of many, meet hydrogeologist Nora Donald and learn about the important work she does. Techsploration’s Women In Action series delivers a quick overview of over forty careers in sciences, technology, trades, and engineering. The series features short clips of various female role models who share “the best thing” about their careers. The series introduces young women to careers in which females…
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Temporary Bridge for Emergency Evacuation
By Kate Stone Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and landslides, and other natural disasters can damage infrastructure, such as bridges. What can be done to aid the rapid evacuation of survivors and delivery of aid? Enter the Mobile Bridge® Version 4.0 (MB4.0), a new concept in temporary bridge construction. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, rapid repair of infrastructure is crucial. Expanding in just five minutes and capable of carrying automobiles, MB4.0 is being hailed as the world’s fastest, largest, strongest, and lightest expanding temporary bridge. It’s a new type of…
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Clean Hydrogen Production for 200 Hours
By Kate S. Scientists at Stanford University have just built a low-cost water splitter that uses a single catalyst to produce both hydrogen and oxygen gas. This is an invention that could pave the way for a boom in production of clean-burning cars. The scientists say that their device, which can run nonstop for an unprecedented period of time, could provide a renewable source of clean-burning hydrogen fuel for transportation and industry. The team used lithium-ion battery technology to create one low-cost catalyst that is capable of driving the entire…
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Stay Tuned for Low-cost, Smart Windows
By Kate S. Today, the University of Cincinnati announced that, together with industry partners, they’ve invented new ‘smart window’ shade technology that could improve upon existing windows and blinds. The researchers say that this patent-pending research will lead to low-cost window tinting that dynamically adapts for brightness, color, and opacity. The new tech is designed to provide privacy while allowing light in. A collaboration between the University of Cincinnati, Hewlett Packard, and EMD/Merck Research Labs has resulted in a patent-pending product that the team is calling ‘tunable’ window tinting. The…
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Can Brainprints Replace Passwords?
By Kate S. How many passwords do you keep track of? How many have you forgotten? According to researchers from Binghamton University, remembering lots of complicated codes may one day be a thing of the past. The unique way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords. Studying Brain Biometrics The research team monitored the brain signals of 45 volunteers as they read a list of 75 acronyms, such as FBI and DVD. They recorded the brain’s reaction to each group of letters, focusing on the…
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Better Understanding the Human Grip
The human hand is an evolutionary wonder: 26 percent of the bones in our bodies are in our hands. Now, scientists are coming to better understand the grip and special grasping ability of humans and other primates. In a new study, a research team found that even the oldest known human ancestors may have had precision gripping skills comparable to modern humans. This includes Australopithecus afarensis, a creature that predates the first known stone tools by about a million years. Manual dexterity is traditionally viewed as a key adaptation that…
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