Research News
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Sponge structure key to mopping up oil spills
An interconnected structure, which water can easily flow through, is key to creating a highly effective mechanical sponge for clearing oil spills. These are the findings from scientists at the Istituto Italiano di Technologia (IIT), Italy, in their paper published today, 2nd March 2016, in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. The traditional method of […]
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Mind-controlled prosthetic arm moves individual 'fingers'
Physicians and biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins report what they believe is the first successful effort to wiggle fingers individually and independently of each other using a mind-controlled artificial “arm” to control the movement.
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Kestrel inspires unpowered, autonomous glider to climb higher
Researchers at the RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia have drawn inspiration from the way kestrels hover above their prey to develop an autonomous fixed-wing micro air vehicle (MAV) that can gain height from convenient updrafts. The results are published today, Friday 18th December, in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. “It’s long been known the birds take […]
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Better water management could halve the global food gap
Improved agricultural water management could halve the global food gap by 2050 and buffer some of the harmful climate change effects on crop yields. For the first time, scientists investigated systematically the worldwide potential to produce more food with the same amount of water by optimizing rain use and irrigation.
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Climate change will delay transatlantic flights
Planes flying between Europe and North America will be spending more time in the air due to the effects of climate change, a new study has shown.
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Recent summer temperatures in Europe are likely the warmest of the last 2 millennia
Most of Europe has experienced strong summer warming over the course of the past several decades, accompanied by severe heat waves in 2003, 2010 and 2015. New research now puts the current warmth in a 2100-year historical context using tree-ring information and historical documentary evidence to derive a new European summer temperature reconstruction.
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Penn-engineered neural networks show hope for axonal repair in the brain, with minimal disruption to brain tissue
Lab-grown neural networks have the ability to replace lost axonal tracks in the brains of patients with severe head injuries, strokes or neurodegenerative diseases and can be safely delivered with minimal disruption to brain tissue, according to new research from Penn Medicine’s department of Neurosurgical Research.
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Caltech researchers find evidence of a real ninth planet
Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the distant solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the […]
