Cranfield University

IF YOU ONLY HAD A SINGLE STATEMENT TO PASS ON TO OTHERS SUMMARIZING THE MOST VITAL LESSON TO BE DRAWN FROM YOUR WORK, WHAT WOULD IT BE? In his famous Lectures on Physics, Richard Feynman presented this interesting speculation: “If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to

Has Civilization Passed the Environmental Point of No Return?   Although there is an urban legend that the world will end this year based on a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar, some researchers think a 40-year-old computer program that predicts a collapse of socioeconomic order and massive drop in human population in this century may

  A new, streamlined approach to genetic engineering drastically reduces the time and effort needed to insert new genes into bacteria, the workhorses of biotechnology, scientists are reporting. Published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, the method paves the way for more rapid development of designer microbes for drug development, environmental cleanup and other activities. Keith

Converting sunshine into electricity is not difficult, but doing so efficiently and on a large scale is one of the reasons why people still rely on the electric grid and not a national solar cell network. But a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Central Florida in

Philanthropy is a tricky business.   To begin with, there’s the question of which group, among the millions of needy and suffering people in the world, to help. Even more complicated is the strategic planning around how best to “help” people. Philanthropic organizations need to determine how best and most efficiently to raise funds, what

Rice lab creates conductive 3D carbon blocks that can be shaped for applications Rice University scientists have developed a simple way to produce conductive, three-dimensional objects made of graphene foam. The squishy solids look and feel something like a child’s toy but offer new possibilities for energy storage and flexible electronic sensor applications, according to Rice chemist

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill earlier this year prompted many researchers to concentrate their efforts on developing better ways to clean up oil after such disasters. We’ve looked at approaches such as autonomous robots andunderwater separators to collect the oil while it is still at sea, but students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

A five-year study shows that Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) to treat prostate cancer offers a higher cure rate than more traditional approaches, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study – the first trial to publish five-year results from SBRT treatment for prostate cancer – found

The golden orb-weaver spider from Tanzania spins such strong webs that Tanzanian fishermen use them for fishing. Their spider silk is more tear-resistant than nylon and four times more elastic than steel, is heat-stable up to 250° C, extremely waterproof and, on top of that, has antibacterial properties. These characteristics also make it attractive from