Technology has been improving at a quick rate compared to the centuries before; our smartphones have much more power than supercomputers made decades ago. Although this is true, the semiconductor industry has to come up with new ways to improve current technology. We’re reaching the smallest we can make components that make our devices work. One way researchers… Read more
Researchers are investigating alternative sources of energy to replace conventional fossil fuels. One highly-talked about method is the creation of artificial photosynthetic systems. Similar to how plants use sunlight to produce carbohydrates, these processes use sunlight to synthesize renewable energy and chemical products usually made from fossil fuels and plastics. Kesley Sakimoto Ph.D and Peidong… Read more
Solar energy is a growing source of renewable energy in the United States. Since 2008, installations of solar photovoltaic devices have increased from 1.2 gigawatts to approximately 30 gigawatts, generating enough energy to power 5.7 million American homes. Additionally, costs for solar photovoltaic technology have decreased, allowing it to become an affordable and accessible alternative… Read more
The world’s dependence on fossil fuels as energy sources is accompanied by various benefits and detriments. Over the last two hundred years, utilization of these nonrenewable resources, like coal, oil and natural gas, bolstered progress in economic and social development. However, despite the advancements made for human civilization, long-term use of fossil fuels has released… Read more
A lot of focus has been on the hurricanes hitting the southeast United States this year. Hurricane Harvey devastated much of Texas and Hurricane Irma flooded parts of Florida. Additionally, there have also been multiple other hurricanes and tropical storms this season that did not receive as much press. Irma and Harvey were… Read more
The City That Never Sleeps Nicknamed the “concrete jungle” for its seemingly endless, untamed concentration of buildings, New York City isn’t known for being kind to anyone. This includes birds. From the infamous pigeons to more mysterious owl species, hundreds of birds are injured in the Big Apple every day, just as their human counterparts are…. Read more
While the past decade has led to incredible advances in cancer treatment, much is left to desire for patients who do not respond to traditional treatment. For most patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the outlook is relatively good. The five year survival rate for the average child affected with the disease is about 80%… Read more
For those of you who don’t know about climate change (How could you not?), climate change is a blanket term used to describe the myriad of not only climate anomalies, but also meteorological, oceanic, atmospheric, and geographic events responsible for various environmental issues. These issues include but are not limited to stratospheric ozone depletion, climbing… Read more
If you live in a technologically-developed country or in any (sub)urban center, you’ve most definitely heard of it. Whenever you wake up it’s there: the jackhammers whirring, jets shooting above the skyline, drivers honking in frustration. It’s noise. While to us noise pollution may just be a simple annoyance that some good headphones can do away with, fragile ecosystems relying on silence and the audibility of natural sounds have little respite from human hum.
New ways to store and send digital information pose exciting opportunities for the future. Many remember the recent hoopla over USB 3.0. Computer nerds everywhere became ecstatic over the new transfer speed to grace the next generation of PCs. However, rarely do you see “file storage” and its optimization outside the context of SSDs and HDDs. Many… Read more