University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC)

Plastic shopping bags, an abundant source of litter on land and at sea, can be converted into diesel, natural gas and other useful petroleum products, researchers report. The conversion produces significantly more energy than it requires and results in transportation fuels – diesel, for example – that can be blended with existing ultra-low-sulfur diesels and

A system that uses a laser and electrical current to precisely position and align carbon nanotubes represents a potential new tool for creating electronic devices out of the tiny fibers. Because carbon nanotubes have unique thermal and electrical properties, they may have future applications in electronic cooling and as devices in microchips, sensors and circuits.

The bacterial world is rife with unusual talents, among them a knack for producing electricity. In the wild, “electrogenic” bacteria generate current as part of their metabolism, and now researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), have found a way to confer that ability upon non-electrogenic bacteria. This technique could have applications for

People with spinal cord injuries show strong association of wheelchairs as part of their body, not extension of immobile limbs. The human brain can learn to treat relevant prosthetics as a substitute for a non-working body part, according to research published March 6 in the open access journalPLOS ONE by Mariella Pazzaglia and colleagues from Sapienza

Past studies have shown that plasma could successfully reduce pathogens on the surface of fruits and vegetables without cooking them.   A new study by food safety researchers at Drexel University demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry. The proof-of-concept study was published in the January issue of

Using stem cells, U of M researchers have found a way to regenerate muscles in diseased lab mice. It’s being called breakthrough research by medical journals around the world, and it’s happening at the University of Minnesota. Using stem cells, U of M researchers have found a way to regenerate muscles in diseased lab mice.

A group of physicists at UNSW Sydney have built a super-fast version of the central building block of a quantum computer. The research is the milestone result of a vision first outlined by scientists 20 years ago. A group of scientists led by 2018 Australian of the Year Professor Michelle Simmons have achieved the first

Nanotube fibers have unmatched combination of strength, conductivity, flexibility Rice University’s latest nanotechnology breakthrough was more than 10 years in the making, but it still came with a shock. Scientists from Rice, the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, the U.S. Air Force and Israel’s Technion Institute this week unveiled a new carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber that

We’ve tried a new approach, moving the focus from muscles to the nervous system. This means that our technology can detect and decode signals more clearly, opening up the possibility of robotic prosthetics that could be far more intuitive and useful for patients – Professor Dario Farina Department of Bioengineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial

Image by Getty Images via Daylife After Fox News misrepresents a military robot’s dietary habits, the world muses over what ethical behavior means for intelligent programs and machines. Ever since news broke earlier this month about the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, or EATR, news outlets have been racing each other to weigh in on the