The Discovery Files

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a technique for powering nano-scale devices without the need for bulky sources such as batteries. The devices contain tiny wires that convert simple motion (e.g., vibration, bending) into electricity. This discovery could one day be perfect for implantable medical devices or powering portable devices by the movement of their users and a variety of other applications.

A recent discovery in China offers rare insight into mammals' evolutionary process, offering clues that paleontologists and evolutionary biologists have sought for more than a century. An international team of paleontolgists discovered a beautifully preserved fossil of a new species of mammal that lived 125 million years ago. The tiny (only about 5 inches long!) animal offers rare insight into the evolution of one of the most important features for all modern mammals -- the middle ear.

A recent discovery out of the University of California, Davis might one day help to minimize the devastation of major earthquakes. Researchers have developed a process to convert loose, sandy soil into rock by using injections of cultures from a natural bacterium. So far, their process has only been tested in the lab, but they are working on scaling it up to a practical size. Then, it could be used to solidify the ground beneath buildings and steady them in the face of quakes.

It's so complex it takes a numerical matrix of more than 400,000 rows and columns to describe it. After four years, 77 hours of supercomputer time and calculation of 200 billion numbers, 18 mathematicians have been able to map E8--a 57-dimensional object that might eventually help explain the structure of the universe.

A team of researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder has developed a new technique to generate laser-like X-ray beams, removing a major obstacle in the decades-long quest to build a tabletop X-ray laser. Their discovery might make it possible to improve X-ray imaging resolution by a thousand times, requiring much smaller equipment, with impacts in medicine, biology and nanotechnology.

Stanford and Tokyo scientists have discovered that tiny, "silent" earthquakes might hold the key to forecasting larger, catastrophic quakes. Their work offers new insight into using different types of seismic activity to monitor regions prone to giant quakes.

Researchers developed a record-breaking methane storage system using corncob waste to create carbon "sponges" capable of storing natural gas at an unprecedented density. This breakthrough from Kansas City, Mo., is a significant step forward in the nationwide effort to enable automobiles to run on methane -- a cleaner-burning and domestically-produced alternative to gasoline.

UCLA psychologists present the first neuroscience research comparing how our brains evaluate the possibility of gaining versus losing when making risky decisions. In their study, the researchers were able to predict people's tolerance to risk by analyzing their brain patterns. They found for the first time that the neural response to potential losses is larger than the neural response to potential gains.

Most snakes are born with poisonous bites they use to ward off predators. But what's a non-poisonous snake to do? Researchers from Old Dominion University have identified some clever snakes that are relying on their diets for protection. They are "recycling" poison obtained from their diet of toxic frogs.

When Princeton University engineers want to increase the power output of their new fuel cell, they just give it a little more gas -- hydrogen gas, to be exact. They have developed a new mechanism to efficiently control hydrogen fuel cell power -- a breakthrough that could be practical for such small machines as lawnmowers and chainsaws.

Engineers at Purdue University created a tiny wireless device that can be implanted in a tumor to allow doctors to pinpoint its exact position to more effectively administer radiation treatments. Their device will be like a capsule placed into a tumor with a needle. It requires no batteries--it will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the body. A radiation dosimeter and tracking device will be contained in the same capsule.

Researchers in Southern California identified specific regions of the brain that are associated with the recognition of identity, gender and ethnicity in faces. They found evidence of neurons that are tuned to these cues in an area of the brain not previously thought to be responsible for face processing. Their findings help in the understanding of how face categorization develops and have some interesting implications for conditions like autism spectrum disorders.

A study out of the University of Michigan is tracking the battle between blue spruce trees and red squirrels -- a struggle that has become a survival of the wittiest. Earlier research documented the "swamp and starve" strategy of trees, in which they produce an overabundance of cones (more than the squirrels can harvest) every few years and then produce very few cones in the between years. But, in a remarkable counter strike, it seems the squirrels have figured out a clever way around the trees' maneuver -- a population boom that coincides with the seed boom!

Working with platinum nanowires 100 times thinner than a human hair, a team of U.S. and Japanese researchers demonstrated a technique that may one day allow doctors to monitor individual brain cells and perhaps provide new treatments for neurological diseases such as Parkinson's. The researchers used blood vessels as conduits to guide the wires, and explained that these nanowires could be threaded through the circulatory system to any point in the body without blocking the normal flow of blood.

Most of us are familiar with the smell from a handful of coins, or perhaps a sweaty dumbbell or metal pipe. Turns out that so-called "metallic" odor is actually not from the metal object itself. Researchers from Virginia Tech found that the smell is really a body odor produced as a reaction of metal touching the skin.