Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a stamp-sized sensor that can detect trace amounts of certain chemical warfare agents, such as sarin, within minutes. The research is published in ACS Omega. Sarin is a man-made nerve agent that can spread as a gas or liquid. According to the Center for Disease…
Satellites, Supercomputers, and Machine Learning Provide Real-Time Crop Type Data
Corn and soybean fields look similar from space – at least they used to. But now, scientists have proven a new technique for distinguishing the two crops using satellite data and the processing power of supercomputers. “If we want to predict corn or soybean production for Illinois or the entire United States, we have to…
New Study Shows Producers Where and How to Grow Cellulosic Biofuel Crops
According to a recent ruling by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 288 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel must be blended into the U.S. gasoline supply in 2018. Although this figure is down slightly from last year, the industry is still growing at a modest pace. However, until now, producers have had to rely on…
Researchers Develop Spectroscopic ‘Science Camera’ System for Smartphones
The latest versions of most smartphones contain at least two and sometimes three built-in cameras. Researchers at the University of Illinois would like to sell mobile device manufactures on the idea of adding yet another image sensor as a built-in capability for health diagnostic, environmental monitoring, and general-purpose color sensing applications. Three years ago, the…
