Heather Hall

Scientists have uncovered a root cause of the growth of needle-like structures—known as dendrites and whiskers—that plague lithium batteries, sometimes causing a short circuit, failure, or even a fire. The team, led by Chongmin Wang at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has shown that the presence of certain compounds in the electrolyte—the…

JUA Technologies International, a Purdue University-affiliated startup developing solar-powered crop-drying devices, is partnering with BrazAgro Ltd., a supplier of Brazilian farm machinery, to distribute its solar-drying tray. Dehytray is a solar-drying solution for small and mid-size growers and food processors and home gardeners. Its convenient size and ease of use are backed by years of…

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and five leading building equipment industries will collaborate to improve the energy performance of heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems and investigate climate-friendly alternative refrigerants. Through collaborative research and development agreements, or CRADAs, scientists at the Department of Energy’s only designated national user facility for buildings research – the Building Technologies…

Artificial intelligence will never replace a doctor. However, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have taken a big step toward the day when AI can help physicians predict medical events. A new approach developed by PNNL scientists improves the accuracy of patient diagnosis up to 20 percent when compared to other…

  Lithium ion is probably the most advanced technology available for the packs of rechargeable batteries you’ll buy this holiday season. The batteries also power the vast majority of consumer devices, electric vehicles, and grid storage systems. Despite their ubiquity, lithium-ion batteries have disadvantages. Metals used in the batteries are becoming expensive and one crucial…

Mountaineers and winter sports enthusiasts know the dangers of frostbite –– the tissue damage that can occur when extremities, such as the nose, ears, fingers, and toes are exposed to very cold temperatures. However, it can be difficult to get treated quickly in remote, snowbound areas. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering…

The same small piece of technology that one day may help train welding robots and monitor electric vehicles could enable energy companies to better power smart homes and factories. Purdue University innovators have developed a sensing module that works with machine learning for applications ranging from electric cars to manufacturing and home design. The technology…

A computer chip processes and stores information using two different devices. If engineers could combine these devices into one or put them next to each other, then there would be more space on a chip, making it faster and more powerful. Purdue University engineers have developed a way that the millions of tiny switches used…

Chameleons, salamanders and many toads use stored elastic energy to launch their sticky tongues at unsuspecting insects located up to one-and-a-half body lengths away, catching them within a tenth of a second. Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering and in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in Purdue University’s College…

What do bones and 3D-printed buildings have in common? They both have columns and beams on the inside that determine how long they last. Now, the discovery of how a “beam” in human bone material handles a lifetime’s worth of wear and tear could translate to the development of 3D-printed lightweight materials that last long…

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new function in a plant enzyme that could have implications for the design of new chemical catalysts. The enzyme catalyzes, or initiates, one of the cornerstone chemical reactions needed to synthesize a wide array of organic molecules, including those found in lubricants,…

Imagine a device that can sit outside under blazing sunlight on a clear day and, without using any power, can cool things down by more than 23° F (13° C). It almost sounds like magic, but a new system designed by researchers at MIT and in Chile can do exactly that. The device, which has…

San Francisco, Dec. 5, 2019 — The winners of the 57th annual R&D 100 Awards — an international competition recognizing the 100 most exceptional innovations in science and technology — were honored Thursday, Dec. 5, during a black-tie awards ceremony held at the San Mateo Marriott in San Francisco, California. The R&D 100 Awards have…

A Purdue University-affiliated agbioscience startup is creating technology to help meet the growing global demand for bioenergy and, in partnership with Purdue, has received new support from the U.S. government. GRYFN offers precise geomatics solutions for coaligned and repeatable multi-sensor drone data collection. The approach enables breeders to scale research operations and empowers them with…

MIT researchers have devised a method that accelerates the process for creating and customizing templates used in medical-image analysis, to guide disease diagnosis. One use of medical image analysis is to crunch datasets of patients’ medical images and capture structural relationships that may indicate the progression of diseases. In many cases, analysis requires use of…

PerkinElmer’s  Spectrum Two FT-IR spectrometer solution is onboard a research trip led by eXXpedition, a not-for-profit organization running all-women sailing voyages investigating ocean plastic pollution causes and solutions. The latest mission, launched October 2019 from Plymouth, England, runs through Spring 2021 and features over 30 stops­– from the Azores, Aruba, and the Galapagos, to Fiji,…

  Scientists have developed a new approach for making metal-metal composites and porous metals with a 3-D interconnected “bicontinuous” structure in thin films at size scales ranging from tens of nanometers to microns. Metallic materials with this sponge-like morphology—characterized by two coexisting phases that form interpenetrating networks continuing over space—could be useful in catalysis, energy…

BioCity, the pioneering life science incubator and business collective recently released its biennial publication, the UK Life Science Start-Up Report, an in-depth analysis of emerging businesses within the life sciences across the UK. The report has collected, analyzed, and interpreted data for nearly a decade and a half and is a key publication for the…

A new type of material for next-generation solar cells eliminates the need to use lead, which has been a major roadblock for this technology. Solar cells, incorporating the mineral perovskite, have been the focus of attention since the material was first shown to work in 2009. Solar cells that are built using this material are…

Mitigating ongoing threats to national security requires timely intelligence data, including signals intelligence surveillance (SIGINT). Modern SIGINT systems provide this information by monitoring electronic communications transmitted over the air. In order to improve capability and reduce cost in a terrestrial direction-finding antenna, Southwest Research Institute developed novel sleeved electric dipoles that boost useable bandwidth by…

Southwest Research Institute engineers developed a new certification cycle, the Low-Load Cycle (LLC), to gauge the performance of heavy-duty diesel engine after-treatment systems in low-load conditions. Aftertreatment systems filter exhaust emissions and reduce pollutants escaping into the environment. SwRI’s Low-Load Cycle challenges aftertreatment systems by analyzing them in unfavorable, but common, low-load conditions, such as…

Sponsored content from PatSnap As global growth is expected to remain sluggish by the end of 2019, we explore the role of R&D as a conduit for an economic boom. Innovation has had a profound impact on economic growth throughout history—although many experts say it is now harder to reap big gains from a good…

Qosina introduces Build-It-Yourself Assemblies, a visual reference that helps customers easily find and order components for their next project.     “With our customer-centric approach, we are constantly trying to innovate our products and services,” said Scott Herskovitz, President and CEO of Qosina. “Our Build-It-Yourself Assemblies program features everyday applications for components displayed in the Qosina…