National Institute of Natural Sciences (NINS)

Here come futuristic, plant-inspired microrobots that are powered simply through changes in environmental humidity — no batteries or electrical components at all Most efforts to develop bio-inspired robots center on mimicking the motions of animals: but plants move too — even if most of their motions are so slow they can’t be detected by the

Most military battlefield casualties die before ever reaching a surgical hospital. Of those soldiers who might potentially survive, most die from uncontrolled bleeding In some cases, there’s not much medics can do — a tourniquet won’t stop bleeding from a chest wound, and clotting treatments that require refrigerated or frozen blood products aren’t always available

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), essentially rubbers with liquid crystal properties, can do a number of fascinating things, especially in the fields of optics, photonics, telecommunications and medicine. They can curl up, bend, twist, wrinkle and stretch when exposed to light, heat, gases and other stimuli. Because they are so responsive, they are ideal for applications

Image via Wikipedia GM Crops Recommended as Key Part of Obama’s “Evergreen Revolution” A former Agriculture Department chief scientist weighs in on President Obama’s U.S-India plan, arguing that biotechnology is crucial to the growth of food productivity and security that is necessary to feed a surging global population Agricultural innovation has long sustained the world’s

Image via Wikipedia As impressive as today’s robots are, engineers are no further along in their use on the battlefield than the Wright brothers were at Kitty Hawk. And, much like early aviators wouldn’t have been able to predict the way air travel has transformed how we work and live today, the impact of increased robotic

At UC Santa Cruz, an electrical engineer has teamed up with astronomers to improve telescope mirrors using thin-film technology from the electronics industry Materials scientist Nobuhiko Kobayashi wasn’t quite sure why the astronomer he met at a wine-tasting several years ago was so interested in his research, but as he learned more about telescope mirrors

As if being sick weren’t bad enough, there’s also the fear of frequent injections, side effects and overdosing on you medication. Now a team of researchers from University of Copenhagen, Department of Chemistry, Nano-science center and the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), have shown that reservoirs of anti-viral pharmaceuticals could be manufactured to bind specifically to infected

Real-Time Observation of Nanowire Anode to Help Improve Lithium Batteries A benchtop version of the world’s smallest battery — its anode a single nanowire one seven-thousandth the thickness of a human hair — has been created by a team led by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Jianyu Huang. To better study the anode’s characteristics, the tiny

  Land grabbing generally refers to large-scale land acquisitions Close your eyes. Now, think of your home. What are you picturing? Maybe you’re picturing a certain room or building, or quite possibly your own backyard. Maybe it’s a general area, like your city or town, rather than a specific location. But whatever you’re picturing, it’s probably

Using tracer viruses, researchers found that contamination of just a single doorknob or table top results in the spread of viruses throughout office buildings, hotels, and health care facilities. Within 2 to 4 hours, the virus could be detected on 40 to 60 percent of workers and visitors in the facilities and commonly touched objects,