News by Subject Technology & Engineering

A new study in Frontiers in Neuroscience used virtual reality to determine how people plan their movements by 'seeing' gravity using visual cues in the landscape around them, rather than 'feeling it' through changes in weight and balance.

Scientists have refined a technique called mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) that translates reams of data into detailed visuals of the molecular makeup of biological samples. Their work, published this week in Analytical Chemistry, features images with mass resolution so high that every color in the image represents a distinct kind of molecule.

Improperly mixed chemicals cause a shocking number of fires, explosions, and injuries in laboratories, businesses, and homes each year. A new open source computer program called ChemStor developed by engineers at the University of California, Riverside, can prevent these dangerous situations by telling users if it is unsafe to mix certain chemicals.

Take biomass-derived acetone -- common nail polish remover -- use light to upgrade it to higher-mass hydrocarbons, and, voila, you have a domestically generated product that can be blended with conventional jet fuel to fly while providing environmental benefits, creating domestic jobs, securing the nation's global leadership in bioenergy technologies, and improving U.S. energy security.

Online discourse by users of social media can provide important clues about the political dispositions of communities. New research suggests it can even be used by governments as a source of military intelligence to estimate prospective casualties and costs incurred from occupying foreign territories.

Tropical Cyclone 09S formed on Jan. 22, 2020 in the Southern Indian Ocean despite being affected by vertical wind shear, and one day later wind shear caused its demise. The end of 09S was caught by NASA's Aqua satellite.

An article published ahead-of-print in the April issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) details how a Stanford University team developed a quantitative framework able to sonographically differentiate between benign and malignant thyroid nodules at a level comparable to that of expert radiologists, which could provide second-opinion malignancy risk estimation to clinicians and ultimately help decrease the number of unnecessary biopsies and surgical procedures.

Researchers from Michigan State University measured the extent to which mass shootings are committed by domestic violence perpetrators, as well as identyifying how they illegally obtain guns, suggesting how firearm restrictions may prevent these tragedies.