Northeastern University (NU)

The much-talked-about Google Glass — the eyewear with computer capabilities — could potentially save lives, especially in isolated or far-flung locations, say scientists. They are reporting development of a Google Glass app that takes a picture of a diagnostic test strip and sends the data to computers, which then rapidly beam back a diagnostic report

Regulating comfort in small commercial buildings could become more efficient and less expensive thanks to an innovative low-cost wireless sensor technology being developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Buildings are responsible for about 40 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. Studies indicate that advanced sensors and

Has the threat of cyberwar entered a significant new phase? Unpicking the burgeoning reports of activity on the digital battlefield   CYBERSPACE. Some call it the new domain of war, after land, sea, air and space. The 2010 Stuxnet cyberattack on Iran’s uranium enrichment plant, suspected to have come from Israel or the US, seemed

  Men and women socialize differently, and it turns out these gender differences hold true in online games that involve social interaction. A new quantitative study of data assembled from the online multiplayer game Pardus shows how females and males manage their social networks drastically differently. “It is fascinating that we maybe see traces of

Sperm-Inspired Robots Controlled by Magnetic Fields May be Useful for Drug Delivery, IVF, Cell Sorting and Other Applications at the Microscopic Level A team of researchers at the University of Twente (Netherlands) and German University in Cairo (Egypt) has developed sperm-inspired microrobots, which can be controlled by oscillating weak magnetic fields. Described in a cover

Inspired by the biology of canine scent receptors, UC Santa Barbara scientists develop a chip capable of quickly identifying trace amounts of vapor molecules Portable, accurate, and highly sensitive devices that sniff out vapors from explosives and other substances could become as commonplace as smoke detectors in public places, thanks to researchers at University of

Engineers at UC San Diego are using soft robotics technology to make light, flexible gloves that allow users to feel tactile feedback when they interact with virtual reality environments.  The researchers used the gloves to realistically simulate the tactile feeling of playing a virtual piano keyboard. Engineers recently presented their research, which is still at

According to UNICEF, there are currently over 110 million live land mines buried in the soil of various countries around the world, left over from conflicts that occurred up to 50 years ago. While various organizations are working on locating and removing those mines, it’s proving to be a long and laborious process. Instead of

Billions of pounds of plastic waste are littering the world’s oceans. Now, a Ph.D. organic chemist and a sailboat captain report that they are developing a process to reuse certain plastics, transforming them from worthless trash into a valuable diesel fuel with a small mobile reactor. They envision the technology could someday be implemented globally

Image by blue_j via Flickr Computer-related technology is increasingly driving the U.S. economy, yet computer science education is scant in most American elementary and secondary school classrooms and the number of introductory and Advanced Placement courses in computer science has actually declined in the last five years, according to a report released this fall. “Some