University of Toledo

“This patch of ocean fixes about as much carbon as an equivalent patch of rainforest and then almost immediately turns much of it over” Algae might seem easy to ignore, but they are the ultimate source of all organic matter that marine animals depend upon. Humans are increasingly dependent on algae, too, to suck up

In the Matrix film series, Keanu Reeves plugs his brain directly into a virtual world that sentient machines have designed to enslave mankind. The Matrix plot may be dystopian fantasy, but University of Washington researchers have taken a first step in showing how humans can interact with virtual realities via direct brain stimulation. In a

A new system combines simple control programs to enable fleets of robots — or other “multiagent systems” — to collaborate in unprecedented ways. Writing a program to control a single autonomous robot navigating an uncertain environment with an erratic communication link is hard enough; write one for multiple robots that may or may not have

Image via Wikipedia Is Reprocessing the Answer to Eliminating Fissile Materials from Bombs and Nuclear Waste? President Obama promised to eliminate 34 tons of plutonium from the U.S. nuclear weapons program as part of this week’s nuclear security summit. But how does one actually get rid of bomb-making material that has a half-life of more

Researchers have been able to improve the efficiency of solar cells by coating the cell surface with extremely small nanoscale structures. The new technology has been shown to nearly eliminate the reflection losses of solar radiation. Cost-effective solar photovoltaic materials are being developed within the Academy of Finland’s research programme Photonics and Modern Imaging Techniques.

Researcher Invents ‘Mini Heart’ to Help Return Venous Blood George Washington University (GW) researcher Narine Sarvazyan, Ph.D., has invented a new organ to help return blood flow from veins lacking functional valves. A rhythmically contracting cuff made of cardiac muscle cells surrounds the vein acting as a ‘mini heart’ to aid blood flow through venous segments.

They discovered one compound that appeared especially effective in relieving nerve inflammation and in improving learning and memory in lab mice New research proves the validity of one of the most promising approaches for combating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with medicines that treat not just some of the symptoms, but actually stop or prevent the disease

Bosco Verticale [is a] device for the environmental survival of contemporary European cities Italian architecture firm Stefano Boeri Architetti hopes to merge vegetation and urban architecture, with its Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) project. The Milan-based firm has designed a model that could see the “reforestation and naturalization” of metropolitan cities, by growing forests sky-ways. “Bosco

The bizarre nature of reality as laid out by quantum theory has survived another test, with scientists performing a famous experiment and proving that reality does not exist until it is measured Physicists at The Australian National University (ANU) have conducted John Wheeler’s delayed-choice thought experiment, which involves a moving object that is given the

Technique may help remotely image and assess health of infants, burn victims, and accident survivors in hard-to-reach places. For most people, getting an ultrasound is a relatively easy procedure: As a technician gently presses a probe against a patient’s skin, sound waves generated by the probe travel through the skin, bouncing off muscle, fat, and