Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA)

Indicators is a widely-used resource, reporting on R&D trends, the STEM workforce, and more. The United States’ (U.S.) predominance in science and technology (S&T) eroded further during the last decade, as several Asian nations–particularly China and South Korea–rapidly increased their innovation capacities. According to a report released today by the National Science Board (NSB), the policy

New language lets researchers design novel biological circuits MIT biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly design complex, DNA-encoded circuits that give new functions to living cells. Using this language, anyone can write a program for the function they want, such as detecting and responding to certain environmental conditions. They

Human articular cartilage defects can be treated with nasal septum cells. Researchers at the University and the University Hospital of Basel report that cells taken from the nasal septum are able to adapt to the environment of the knee joint and can thus repair articular cartilage defects. The nasal cartilage cells’ ability to self-renew and

Researchers have protected your pacemaker, other medical tech from remote hacks before they happen Someone could hack into your pacemaker or insulin pump and potentially kill you, just by intercepting and analyzing wireless signals. This hasn’t happened in real life yet, but researchers have been demonstrating for at least a decade that it’s possible. Before the first

Researchers have created a tool to monitor the accessibility of Web pages around the world that can be installed by adding a single line of code to a web page. The tool, Encore, runs when a user visits a website where the code is installed and then discreetly collects data from potentially censored sites. The

What is the benefit of open access to academia?   Who will pay for open education resources? These questions and many more are answered by our live chat panel. Matthew Cockerill, managing director of open access publisher BioMed Central When looking at global impact, open access is definitely not just about North – South information

Researchers at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum have created a bio-based solar cell capable of generating a continuous electrical current of several nanowatts per sq cm. The new approach avoids damage to the tapped photosynthetic cells, an issue that has plagued previous attempts to harness nature’s “power plant.” While the technology is still in its infancy, bio-based solar

According to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, about two percent of Americans – more than six million people – have some form of paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury. It is due primarily to the interruption of connections between the brain and spinal cord. Such paralysis and loss of function has long been considered