Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)

LUIS VON AHN, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, sold one Internet start-up to Google in 2009, and is now on to another. With the new company, Duolingo, he hopes to tap the millions of people learning languages online to create a crowdsourced engine of translation. “We want to translate the whole Web into

Effective on-farm biological control can slow the pace of deforestation and avert biodiversity loss. This is what an international team involving entomologists, conservation biologists, agro-ecologists and geographers* has just revealed. The results of this study have been published in Communications Biology – Nature. Biological control of invasive species is often perceived as an environmentally risky practice.

While greenhouses allow certain crops to be grown throughout the year, excess temperature, solar radiation and high vapor pressure deficit can cause problems during the summer months. With conventional solutions, such as shade screens, often being labor intensive and reducing the quality of light within the growing space, Canadian company Sunarc has a developed a

Suppressing a protein builds muscle mass, improves markers of heart health without weight loss Suppressing production of the protein myostatin enhances muscle mass and leads to significant improvements in markers of heart and kidney health, according to a study conducted in mice. Joshua T. Butcher, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Vascular Biology Center at

The new HorseFly octocopter–a small drone with eight rotors–is designed to live on the back of a electric delivery truck. As the truck makes its rounds, the HorseFly splits off to make more deliveries in the area. every detail matters for saving fuel and reducing pollution: UPS drivers, for example, rarely turn left, which has

LMU researchers have developed a new process which will greatly simplify the process of sorting plastics in recycling plants. The method enables automated identification of polymers, facilitating rapid separation of plastics for re-use. A team of researchers led by Professor Heinz Langhals of LMU’s Department of Chemistry has taken a significant step which promises to

Scientists from ITMO University have developed magnetically-driven nanoparticles containing thrombin. A drug based on these nanoparticles can be injected intravenously and delivered straight to the site of a vascular injury to stop internal bleeding. It can accelerate local clot formation and reduce overall blood loss by up to 15 times. The nanoparticles are not toxic

A new study from Lancaster University has found that sleeping on a problem really can help people to find a solution. The study, published online this week in the journal Memory & Cognition, tested whether sleep or time spent awake worked best in helping people find the solutions to a range of problem solving tasks.