University of Rochester

Can you imagine a service like Twitter without advertising, spammers and URL shorteners? Without clunky official clients, and without hostility towards the third-party ecosystem? The 12 strong team at App.net can, and they think enough people are willing to pay for such a service to make it work. “Our philosophy is that we are pipes

Duke University engineers and computer scientists develop a new computer processor specially designed for robotic motion planning Once they’ve mastered the skills of toddlerhood, humans are pretty good at what roboticists call “motion planning” — reaching around obstacles to precisely pick up a soda in a crowded fridge, or slipping their hands around a screen

  Scientists reveal ‘beating heart’ of photosynthesis that is responsible for significantly influencing plant growth. Study shows how an electrical reaction in protein complex cytochrome b6f provides the energy that plants need to turn carbon dioxide into the carbohydrates and biomass that sustain the global food chain. Discovery could allow experts to redesign future photosynthesis

Initial experiments were confined to copper, but Dr Banerjee said research was already under way on using the same technique with other metals. A coating so thin it’s invisible to the human eye has been shown to make copper nearly 100 times more resistant to corrosion, creating tremendous potential for metal protection even in harsh

It’s humbling, and in fact almost a little scary, when you realize just how far the video quality of mobile phones and pocket camcorders has progressed over the past few years. While features such as their resolution are truly something to behold, they do however have one distinct disadvantage when compared to their larger, heavier

Researchers from North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University have developed a synthetic version of a cardiac stem cell. These synthetic stem cells offer therapeutic benefits comparable to those from natural stem cells and could reduce some of the risks associated with stem

Of course there are some obvious drawbacks to this method of energy conservation   For years, environmentalists have warned that keeping electronics plugged in all the time wastes energy, even when a device is switched off. Even for less green-conscious consumers this lost energy can add up on the electric bill each month, so disconnecting