Flexible, biocompatible implant slips into the spinal cord
Lausanne, France (SPX) Jan 11, 2015 -
EPFL scientists have managed to get rats walking on their own again using a combination of electrical and chemical stimulation. But applying this method to humans would require multifunctional implants that could be installed for long periods of time on the spinal cord without causing any tissue damage.
This is precisely what the teams of professors Stephanie Lacour and Gregoire Courtine h ...
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Survey finds regional patterns of soot and dirt across snow packs
Seattle WA (SPX) Jan 11, 2015 -
Snow is not as white as it looks. Mixed in with the reflective flakes are tiny, dark particles of pollution. University of Washington scientists recently published the first large-scale survey of impurities in North American snow to see whether they might absorb enough sunlight to speed melt rates and influence climate.
The results, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, show th ...
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New research outlines global threat of smoldering peat fires
Reno NV (SPX) Jan 11, 2015 -
The natural disaster plays out like a movie script - ash falling from the sky, thick smoke shutting down airports and businesses across the globe, and uncontrollable fires burning for days and weeks. But this is not from a script; rather, it is a vivid description of a future climate change scenario in which the Earth's peat-rich regions become more susceptible to drying and burning.
New r ...
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Surviving typhoons
Okinawa, Japan (SPX) Jan 11, 2015 -
It is no secret that typhoons are capable of churning the seas and wreaking destruction. But it is tough to examine what exactly happens during a typhoon, particularly in the ocean. The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University has launched an underwater observatory to monitor what happens in the ocean over long periods of time.
Researcher Mary Grossmann, in the Marin ...
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Map of Mysterious Molecules Sheds New Light on Century-old Puzzle
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 11, 2015 -
By analyzing the light of hundreds of thousands of celestial objects, astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have created a unique map of enigmatic molecules in our galaxy that are responsible for puzzling features in the light from stars.
The map (http://is.gd/dibmap) was unveiled at the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle. "Seeing where these myste ...
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Sunshield is Taking Shape
Fairfax VA (SPX) Jan 11, 2015 -
ManTech International has announced that its NeXolve subsidiary has completed manufacturing and shape testing of the first layer of the James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield system. NeXolve is subcontractor to Northrop Grumman in manufacturing the one-of-a-kind sunshield membranes.
The Webb Telescope is NASA's largest science mission and will be the most powerful space telescope ever buil ...
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Machines Teach Astronomers About Stars
Paksadena CA (JPL) Jan 11, 2015 -
Astronomers are enlisting the help of machines to sort through thousands of stars in our galaxy and learn their sizes, compositions and other basic traits. The research is part of the growing field of machine learning, in which computers learn from large data sets, finding patterns that humans might not otherwise see.
Machine learning is in everything from media-streaming services that pre ...
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