Harvard University

Vibrate a solution of rod-shaped metal nanoparticles in water with ultrasound and they’ll spin around their long axes like tiny drill bits. Why? No one yet knows exactly. But researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have clocked their speed—and it’s fast. At up to 150,000 revolutions per minute, these nanomotors rotate

We have the potential to use electricity as transportation fuel without needing to change current infrastructure Today, electrical energy generated by various methods is still difficult to store efficiently. Chemical batteries, hydraulic pumping and water splitting suffer from low energy-density storage or incompatibility with current transportation infrastructure. In a study published March 30 in the

Aerofex has currently limited human flight testing to a height of 15 feet and speeds of about 30 mph A resurrected hover vehicle won’t fly through dense forests as effortlessly as the “Star Wars” speeder bikes from “Return of the Jedi,” but its intuitive controls could someday allow anyone to fly it without pilot training.

Most people are naturally adept at reading facial expressions — from smiling and frowning to brow-furrowing and eye-rolling — to tell what others are feeling. Now scientists have developed ultra-sensitive, wearable sensors that can do the same thing. Their technology, reported in the journal ACS Nano, could help robot developers make their machines more human.

Image via Wikipedia Mother Nature has outpaced science once again: the bare human foot is better for running than one cushioned by sneakers. What about those $125 high-tech running shoes with 648 custom combinations? Toss ’em, according to a new study published online January 27 in the journal Nature(Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). “Most people

UD team’s finding could be ‘just what the doctor ordered’ for Planet Earth The chunk of metal sitting on a table in Joel Rosenthal’s office at the University of Delaware looks like it should belong in a wizard’s pocket. Shiny silver with shocks of pink and splashes of gold, it’s called bismuth, and it’s currently

A new research study has shown that pancreatic cancer cells can be coaxed to revert back toward normal cells by introducing a protein called E47. E47 binds to specific DNA sequences and controls genes involved in growth and differentiation. The research provides hope for a new treatment approach for the more than 40,000 people who

Image via Wikipedia HOW MUCH DISTURBANCE CAN A SYSTEM WITHSTAND? WITH ROOTS IN ECOLOGY AND COMPLEXITY SCIENCE,RESILIENCE THEORY CAN TURN CRISES INTO CATALYSTS FOR INNOVATION In the 1930s the American art collector Albert Barnes commissioned Henri Matisse to produce a major painting for his private gallery in Merion, outside Philadelphia. Matisse was ecstatic: He rented an