Tag: physical sciences
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Company, University Partner on Steel Manufacturing Process
A materials science lab at Ohio State University in Columbus is working with a manufacturer in Detroit to better understand the science behind the small company’s high-performance steel product. The researchers and the company’s president reported their findings last month in the journal Materials Science and Technology (paid subscription required). Gary Cola, founder of the…
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University Lighting Research Center Gains Industry Backers
The Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York has drawn 21 industrial partners to help guide the center’s research programs and move its findings from the lab bench to the marketplace. ERC began in 2008 with funding from National Science Foundation, and is led by Rensselaer. The center’s…
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Intel to Partner with Universities on Secure Computing
Intel Corporation in Mountain View, California says it has an agreement with five universities to collaborate on research to improve secure computing for the end user. Partnering on its second Intel Science and Technology Center (ISTC) is University of California at Berkeley that will serve as the center’s host, and Carnegie Mellon, Drexel, Duke, and…
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Pavement Affects Weather, Aids Build Up of Urban Pollutants
A team from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado found the intense commercial development in Houston, Texas can change weather patterns in that city, which makes it easier for pollutants to accumulate during warm summer weather instead of being blown out to sea. Their findings will appear in an upcoming issue of…
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U.S. Cosmetics Company Opens China R&D Center
Estée Lauder Companies Inc. in New York (ELC) is opening its Asia Innovation Center in Shanghai, China. The new center expands on the company’s research lab that opened in China in 2005. ELC has been doing business in China since 1993. The company says the center will help develop products tailored to the needs of…
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Study Highlights Crop Regions At Risk from Climate Change
A study by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) identifies food production regions in the world most at risk from disruption due to climate change. Some of these populations, in Africa and South Asia for example, are already facing food shortages, while other food-producing regions including China and Latin America run the risk…
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Farmer Networks Key to Agricultural Innovation in Mexico
Researchers at Stanford University in California have documented the vital role played in Mexico by farmers’ support networks in encouraging agricultural sustainability. Ellen McCullough, now at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Pamela Matson of Stanford’s Program on Food Security and the Environment, published their findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy…
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Software Developed to Generate Neural Brain Maps
Computer scientists at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have written software that generates two-dimensional maps of neural pathways in the brain. Their findings appear in a recent issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. While 2D imaging may seem like a step back from more sophisticated 3D images, computer science…
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Grant to Fund Research on Ice-Resistant Coatings
University of Illinois at Chicago engineering professor Constantine Megaridis recently received a $320,000 National Science Foundation grant to investigate coatings that can resist the build up of ice. Megaridis’s research is expected to continue his previous research on coatings that are both superhydrophobic — have the ability to repel water — and self-cleaning. At UIC,…
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Hybrid Construction Vehicles in Development Cut Fuel Use
Engineers at Aalto University in Finland are developing hybrid combustion/electric versions of heavy off-road work vehicles that can cut the amount of fuel they consume by half. This new technology, says the university, captures energy, which up to now has been lost by the machinery when working, and uses it instead of fuel. The engineering…