Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Unique hydrogel performs eight times better than commercial drying agents, blocks sunlight, conducts electricity and powers small devices High humidity causes discomfort and makes hot days feel more unbearable. A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has invented a novel gel-like material that not only effectively dehumidifies ambient air to improve

Image via CrunchBase Lasers, parasites and other methods could help prevent a disease that afflicts hundreds of millions of people Mosquitoes that carry the Plasmodium parasite cause some 300 million cases of malaria every year, claiming one million lives. That’s a lot of carnage generated by an insect smaller than a pinky fingernail—but if enterprising

Given the aging of the population and the low birthrate both in Japan and elsewhere, healthcare professionals are in short supply and unevenly distributed, giving rise to a need for alternatives to humans for performing simple tasks. Although increasing numbers of medical institutions have introduced electronic medical records, a variety of issues remain unresolved, such

Scientists at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet have managed to build a fully functional neuron by using organic bioelectronics. This artificial neuron contain no ‘living’ parts, but is capable of mimicking the function of a human nerve cell and communicate in the same way as our own neurons do. Neurons are isolated from each other and communicate

Using a new class of artificial materials, scientists at Duke University have designed a sensor that compresses images far more efficiently than existing technologies like JPEG. The materials, called metamaterials, have exotic qualities that bend light, X-rays and radio waves in unusual ways. While they are barely a decade old, they are fast falling in cost and

Results of early lab study hold promise for trauma cases Nanoparticles tailored to latch onto blood platelets rapidly create healthy clots and nearly double the survival rate in the vital first hour after injury, new research shows. “We knew an injection of these nanoparticles stopped bleeding faster, but now we know the bleeding is stopped

Researchers from the University of Alicante’s research group in applied electrochemistry and electrocatalysis have developed a stand-alone system for desalinating and treating water through electrodialysis. The system is directly powered by solar energy and can be applied in off-grid areas. Designed only for desalinating water, this is a sustainable, eco-friendly technology, as its energy is supplied by

This new compound should become very commercially attractive The same type of microwave oven technology that most people use to heat up leftover food has found an important application in the solar energy industry, providing a new way to make thin-film photovoltaic products with less energy, expense and environmental concerns. Engineers at Oregon State University

From the ponds of Paris to the quintessentially English floodplain meadow, hundreds of sites are now being studied by thousands of citizen scientists across Europe. Data collected by these enthusiastic volunteers provide vital information for researchers, environmental managers and policy makers, and their extraordinary contribution to ecology is being celebrated at the joint BES/SFE meeting