Australian National University (ANU)

Every year European roads are built and repaired to the tune of several billion Euros. Intensive efforts are underway all over the world to get ‘more road for your money’ by developing better methods for both design and quality control of materials. One problem is that today there are no good methods for checking how

Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro’s created the Geminoid HI-2–a robotic clone of himself with programming that gives it entirely realistic body language. A robot gave me side-eye for the first time last week. When I attended the Global Future 2045 conference, a get-together for all sorts of cybernetics enthusiasts, life extension researchers, and singularity proponents, I knew inventor Hiroshi

Optical devices could bring natural light into dark, highly populated areas In dense, urban centers around the world, many people live and work in dim and narrow streets surrounded by tall buildings that block sunlight. And as the global population continues to rise and buildings are jammed closer together, the darkness will only spread. To

To stick with a new challenge and really change your life, you’re going to need more than cold data of a fitness tracker or smartphone app If you buy a shiny new fitness tracker, there’s a fairly good chance it will end up forgotten in a drawer six months later. Maybe part of the problem

Accurately forecasting future electricity needs is tricky, with sudden weather changes and other variables impacting projections minute by minute. Errors can have grave repercussions, from blackouts to high market costs. Now, a new forecasting tool that delivers up to a 50 percent increase in accuracy and the potential to save millions in wasted energy costs

Image via Wikipedia “SmartHand,” resembles a real hand in function, sensitivity and appearance Scientists have successfully wired a state-of-the-art artificial hand to existing nerve endings in the stump of a severed arm. Its creators say the device, called “SmartHand,” resembles a real hand in function, sensitivity and appearance. In order to develop such an intelligent

Researchers have shown how to convert waste packing peanuts into high-performance carbon electrodes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that outperform conventional graphite electrodes, representing an environmentally friendly approach to reuse the waste. Batteries have two electrodes, called an anode and a cathode. The anodes in most of today’s lithium-ion batteries are made of graphite. Lithium ions

University of Guelph researchers hope their new discovery will help combat a disease killing honeybee populations around the world. The researchers have found a toxin released by the pathogen that causes American foulbrood disease — Paenibacillus larvae (P. larvae) — and developed a lead-based inhibitor against it. The study was published in the December issue

Photo by L. Brian Stauffer University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Prabuddha Mukherjee, left, bioengineering professors Rohit Bhargava and Dipanjan Pan, and postdoctoral researcher Santosh Misra report the development of a new class of carbon nanoparticles for biomedical use. Researchers have found an easy way to produce carbon nanoparticles that are small enough to evade the

A new type of software has been shown to predict revolutions by mining news reports around the world. Retrospectively mining the news for the past 30 years the software indicates points at which the likelihood for a revolution is high. When put to the test – bingo! – the software showed spikes just before the