Binghamton University

PHYSICISTS BUILD DEVICES USING MINERAL PEROVSKITE When German mineralogist Gustav Rose stood on the slopes of Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1839 and picked up a piece of a previously undiscovered mineral, he had never heard of transistors or diodes or had any concept of how conventional electronics would become an integral part of our daily

Image via Wikipedia Computer security researchers are raising alarms about vulnerabilities in some of the Web’s most secure corners: the banking, e-commerce and other sites that use encryption to communicate with their users. Those sites, which are typically identified by a closed lock displayed somewhere in the Web browser, rely on a third-party organization to

Image via Wikipedia Could a solar-powered dirigible be the cargo ship of our peak-oil, carbon-constrained future? If the inventor of the patent pending  High Speed Solar Airship is correct, the future of long haul cargo combines solar powered transmission married to centuries-old dirigible. Could a solar-powered dirigible be the cargo ship of our peak-oil, carbon-constrained

Aligning economic value with currently unpriced things—in nature and society—could be the ticket to global sustainability. The week started off on a dark note. From São Paulo to Seoul, Moscow to Delhi, Toronto to Beijing, a record 4,000 cities, towns, and municipalities dimmed their lights for Earth Hour 2010—a project kicked off three years ago

Investigating whether patent wars stifle innovation   The patent system – a vital part of our innovation infrastructure, and the only way that inventors can be certain that their ideas can be protected from those who who would steal them. Or something that is tying innovators big and small in knots and befits only mischief-makers

Two undergraduate students from Toronto’s Ryerson University have created a prosthetic arm that is controlled by its wearer’s brain signals, and powered by compressed air. Not only is the Artificial Muscle-Operated (AMO) Arm said to offer a greater range of movement than traditional prostheses, but it also doesn’t require the amputee to undergo invasive surgery,

On display at the Tokyo Make Meeting this past Saturday was Beatfly, a cleverly designed illuminated blimp created by Hideki Yoshimoto. Rather than just implement simple radio controls, he has playfully given Beatfly a number of control interfaces. You can drive it by iPhone, MIDI controller, Flash web interface, a standard keyboard, voice control, or

Harvesting power from the wind and the sun is nothing new. We’ve seen flying wind turbines and solar power plants that aim to provide clean renewable energy. UK-based New Wave Energy has a bolder idea in the works. The company plans to build the first high altitude aerial power plant, using networks of unmanned drones that can harvest energy

Plants such as soybeans and wheat waste between 20 and 50 percent of their energy recycling toxic chemicals created when the enzyme Rubisco—the most prevalent enzyme in the world—grabs oxygen molecules instead of carbon dioxide molecules. Increasing production of a common, naturally occurring protein in plant leaves could boost the yields of major food crops