Northwestern University
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Four independent experiments across the globe have found that it's possible to establish two-way communications with people in the weird, hallucinatory state of lucid dreaming, opening up a new field of real-time "interactive dreaming" research.
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Scientists have studied the brains of a group of elderly individuals with excellent memory known as SuperAgers, and found them to be far more resistant to the troublesome buildup of proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease.
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Ordinarily, if you want to change the shape in which an object is 3D-printed, you have to alter the computer model that tells the printer what to do. A new and simpler technique, however, allows the printer to initiate the changes itself, as the print job is in progress.
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The Japanese folding paper art form of kirigami has a lot of potential for engineering. Scientists have taken this technique down to the nanoscale for the first time, opening up new possibilities in applications ranging from robotics to aerospace.
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Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new soft robot that can walk at roughly the speed of a human, activated by light and magnetic fields. The robot can squeeze into tight spaces and pick up, carry and release objects on demand.
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As a way of demonstrating advances in energy and where they might lead us, a team of researchers has built a Game Boy that requires no battery, instead powering itself from a combination of solar energy and the user’s interactions with the device.
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Using a multi-modal approach to data analysis, scientists have identified a subtype of autism linked with a gene cluster known to affect neurodevelopment and lipid metabolism. It's suggested this subtype accounts for nearly seven percent of autism cases.
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While electric vehicles usually cost more for the consumer at the point of purchase, a new study has applied a much broader scope to the economics of green transportation, and found it could actually save the US tens of billions of dollars each year.
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Graphene, the electrically-conductive "wonder material" made up of a one-atom-thick sheet of linked carbon atoms, already has many uses. It now has another, however, as the active ingredient in a sensor that detects food spoilage.
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Promising research is reporting progress in the development of an anaphylaxis-preventing pill. The drug, initially designed as an alternative to chemotherapy for some types of cancer, could be taken before meals to prevent serious allergic reactions.
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Although we've seen many materials designed for removing oil spills from water, many of them are single-use, ultimately ending up in landfills. Now, however, scientists have created an oil-absorbing sponge that can be used over and over again.
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The universe is full of explosions, and now astronomers have described a brand new class of space signals. Named fast blue optical transients (FBOTs), these events are very bright and throw off incredible amounts of energy in a short amount of time.