Northeastern University (NU)

Holds Promise for Large-Scale Hydrogen Production, Desalination Seawater is one of the most abundant resources on earth, offering promise both as a source of hydrogen – desirable as a source of clean energy – and of drinking water in arid climates. But even as water-splitting technologies capable of producing hydrogen from freshwater have become more

Image via Wikipedia The most effective use of energy on earth? In 1976, the biologist Robert E. Gill Jr. came to the southern coast of Alaska to survey the birds preparing for their migrations for the winter. One species in particular, wading birds called bar-tailed godwits, puzzled him deeply. They were too fat. “They looked

New 3-D-printed device mimics the goldbug beetle, which changes color when prodded. In this age of smartphones and tablet computers, touch-sensitive surfaces are everywhere. They’re also brittle, as people with cracked phone screens everywhere can attest. Covering a robot — or an airplane or a bridge — with sensors will require a technology that is

Research conducted with a large new battery unveiled today in Oregon will help make the Northwest’s and the nation’s electric system smarter and more efficient, officials said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Portland General Electric‘s 5-megawatt, lithium-ion energy storage system was shared with the public today at the utility’s Salem Smart Power Center in South Salem,

Magnetic materials are the backbone of modern digital information technologies, such as hard-disk storage. A University of Washington-led team has now taken this one step further by encoding information using magnets that are just a few layers of atoms in thickness. This breakthrough may revolutionize both cloud computing technologies and consumer electronics by enabling data

Computer scientists at the University of Adelaide have developed a sophisticated but easy-to-use online tool to help build people’s trust in the cloud. Cloud computing is widely recognised as a highly useful technology, with multiple benefits such as huge data storage capabilities, computational power, lower costs for companies and individuals, simplicity of use, and flexibility

Image via Wikipedia To avoid Armageddon, we may have to invoke Armageddon. You know, the Bruce Willis version. That’s the opinion of David Dearborn, anyway, who says we may need to tap our nuclear arsenal if a life-threatening asteroid suddenly comes into view. Dearborn, a research physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, laid out the

The thermochromic liquid changing color in reaction to a change in temperature Nanowires that form and disperse as the temperature changes form the basis of a robust thermochromic liquid A smart liquid that darkens dramatically in response to rising temperature has been developed by researchers at A*STAR. The nanowire-based thermochromic liquid’s tunable color-changing behavior was