University of Birmingham

THE industrial revolution of the late 18th century made possible the mass production of goods, thereby creating economies of scale which changed the economy—and society—in ways that nobody could have imagined at the time. Now a new manufacturing technology has emerged which does the opposite. Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items

The world’s most advanced light microscopes allow us to see single molecules, proteins, viruses and other very small biological structures. But even the best microscopes have their limits. Colorado State University scientists are pushing the limits of a technique called super-resolution microscopy, opening potential new pathways to illuminating, for example, individual cell processes in living

Something for the “Oceanic Fleet” of autonomous, renewable energy driven plastic scooping robots to help with . . . IT While working on a research sailboat gliding over glassy seas in the Pacific Ocean, oceanographer Giora Proskurowski noticed something new: The water was littered with confetti-size pieces of plastic debris, until the moment the wind

What do fireflies, nanorods, and Christmas lights have in common? Someday, consumers may be able to purchase multicolor strings of light that don’t need electricity or batteries to glow. Scientists at Syracuse University found a new way to harness the natural light produced by fireflies (called bioluminescence) using nanoscience. Their breakthrough produces a system that

Image via Wikipedia People are increasingly using household robots for chores, communication, entertainment and companionship. But safety and privacy risks of information-gathering objects that move around our homes are not yet adequately addressed, according to a new University of Washington study. It’s not a question of evil robots, but of robots that can be misused.

Hand-held devices that use Near Infra-Red (NIR) imaging to quickly detect hematomas It’s sadly ironic that the very properties which make our skulls such excellent brain protectors, strength and rigidity, often work against us after head injuries. Not only does the hard bone conceal damage from concussions and bleeding, say, but it also confines the

Usher Syndrome is the leading cause of combined deafness and blindness in the world, affecting one of every 6,000 babies born. The genetic defect is even higher in Acadian people here in Louisiana and Canada. Now a local research team has taken a major first step to curing this deafness by successfully treating it in

New facial recognition software and app invented at Michigan State University can help protect endangered primates – more than 60 percent of which face extinction. Golden monkeys have lost so much habitat, they are only found in a handful of national parks in Africa; farming and illegal hardwood trade in Madagascar is gobbling up the

A practical new approach to holographic video could also enable 2-D displays with higher resolution and lower power consumption. Today in the journal Nature, researchers at MIT’s Media Lab report a new approach to generating holograms that could lead to color holographic-video displays that are much cheaper to manufacture than today’s experimental, monochromatic displays. The same technique

So bailing out the banks while punishing workers is not, in fact, a recipe for prosperity Financial markets are cheering the deal that emerged from Brussels early Thursday morning. Indeed, relative to what could have happened — an acrimonious failure to agree on anything — the fact that European leaders agreed on something, however vague