University of Calgary

Automobiles have made great strides in recent years in becoming cleaner and greener, but according to Divergent Microfactories, they still have miles to go. The problem, as the company sees it, is that while powertrains have become cleaner thanks to the use of alternative energy sources like battery power and fuel cells, manufacturing is dirtier

Chemists at the University of Illinois have successfully produced fuels using water, carbon dioxide and visible light through artificial photosynthesis. By converting carbon dioxide into more complex molecules like propane, green energy technology is now one step closer to using excess CO2 to store solar energy – in the form of chemical bonds – for

Human voices are individually recognizable because they’re generated by the unique components of each person’s voice box, pharynx, esophagus and other physical structures. Researchers are using the same principle to identify devices on electrical grid control networks, using their unique electronic “voices” – fingerprints produced by the devices’ individual physical characteristics – to determine which

Study describes molecular language bacteria use to control host genes and development Bacteria in the gut do far more than help digest food in the stomachs of their hosts, they can also tell the genes in their mammalian hosts what to do. A study published today in Cell describes a form of “interspecies communication” in which bacteria

To diagnose and treat diseases like cancer, scientists and doctors must understand how cells respond to different medical conditions and treatments. Researchers have developed a new way to study disease at the cellular level. Dr. Keith Cheng, distinguished professor of pathology, pharmacology and biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State College of Medicine, and a team

A new screening strategy for ovarian cancer appears to be highly specific for detecting the disease before it becomes lethal. The strategy is described in a study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. If verified in an ongoing clinical trial, it could potentially help save the lives of

Lancaster University scientists are leading research looking at formulating sustainable fertilisers from renewable energy waste. This new area of research aims to produce a sustainable, environmentally-friendlier source of soil conditioner and crop fertiliser that could also reduce costs to farmers and potentially, with wide-spread take-up, help to slow down rising food prices. The collaborative project,

Micro- and nano-swimmers can be propelled through media similar to bodily fluids Micro- or even nano-robots could someday perform medical tasks in the human body. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have now taken a first step towards this goal. They have succeeded in constructing swimming bodies that simultaneously meet

The swell of freely available official information, and its consequences A COMMON frustration with London’s subsidised cycle-hire scheme is that it can be insanely hard to find a bike in rush hour, or a vacant docking slot at the end of a ride. Savvy cyclists tap an icon on their smartphones that shows them where

Through cheap technology it will be possible to use the passing of vehicles to illuminate the city Mexican entrepreneurs developed a system capable of using the vehicular flow to generate electric energy. This development has the potentiality to produce sufficient electricity to power up a household through a device that “catches” the force of the