Thayer School of Engineering

It’s no secret that as gas prices soar and battery technology evolves, electric bikes are fast becoming the next big two-wheeled thing. That trend is clearly evidenced by the strong showing ebikes are making at this year’s Eurobike trade show, currently taking place in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Over the next several days, we’ll be showing you

IBM plans to spend $3 billion over the next five years on research and development for computer chips, both to stretch the limits of conventional semiconductors and to hasten the commercialization of exotic new designs. The chip program, announced Wednesday, will be among the largest research initiatives at IBM, which spends about $6 billion a year

Here’s the scientific dirt: Soil can help reduce global warming. While farm soil grows the world’s food and fiber, scientists are examining ways to use it to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. “We can substantially reduce atmospheric carbon by using soil. We have the technology now to begin employing good soil practices to

It is hard to get people excited about software, says Eliza Grames, a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology. Yet, the software she has developed is exciting for anyone about to embark on a new research and trying to determine whether it’s actually … new. Put yourself into the shoes of a researcher. Before

A possible new therapeutic approach to managing autism New research in mice suggests that autism is characterized by reduced activity of inhibitory neurons and increased activity of excitatory neurons in the brain, but balance can be restored with low doses of a well-known class of drugs currently used in much higher doses to treat anxiety

A soft wearable robotic suit promotes normal walking in stroke patients, opening new approaches to gait re-training and rehabilitation Upright walking on two legs is a defining trait in humans, enabling them to move very efficiently throughout their environment. This can all change in the blink of an eye when a stroke occurs. In about

With modern communication aids, users of electric powered wheelchairs can operate a PC and cellphone without human assistance. A new module is set to transform electric powered wheelchairs into communication hubs. Writing text messages and e-mails, surfing the web, making phone calls – all these things can be a real challenge for people with disabilities.

Image via Wikipedia HAVE you ever wondered, if you are of an age with your correspondent, about those missing channels on old television sets? Apart from channel two, the rest of the original VHF channels on the dial were usually just the odd numbers from three to 13. That was because, in over-the-air VHF broadcasting,

Fabrics that can generate electricity from physical movement have been in the works for a few years. Now researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have taken the next step, developing a fabric that can simultaneously harvest energy from both sunshine and motion. Combining two types of electricity generation into one textile paves the way for

A new blood test has been developed that reads your entire virus history by analysing the antibodies in your bloodstream A revolutionary new blood test will allow doctors to discover every virus that has ever infected a patient – and determine what will affect them in the future. Called VirScan it was developed by researchers