Electronics rule our world, but electrons rule our electronics. A research team at The Ohio State University has discovered a way to simplify how electronic devices use those electrons—using a material that can serve dual roles in electronics, where historically multiple materials have been necessary. The team published its findings March 18 in the journal Nature […]
Breakthrough In Controlling DNA-Based Robots
Researchers have devised a magnetic control system to make tiny DNA-based robots move on demand—and much faster than recently possible. In the journal Nature Communications, Carlos Castro and Ratnasingham Sooryakumar and their colleagues from The Ohio State University report that the control system reduced the response time of prototype nano-robot components from several minutes to less […]
Buckeye Pi: The Most Powerful Student-Built Supercomputer Made From Raspberry Pis
“We’re geeks, and we’re motivated.” That’s how Amin Amooie, a doctoral student in earth sciences at The Ohio State University, explained his team’s efforts to build the supercomputer they’ve dubbed “Buckeye Pi.” They are just learning how to write computer code for scientific simulations, he said, so it doesn’t make sense to test their code on full-scale academic […]
A Fossil Fuel Technology That Doesn’t Pollute
Engineers at The Ohio State University are developing technologies that have the potential to economically convert fossil fuels and biomass into useful products including electricity without emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In the first of two papers published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the engineers report that they’ve devised a process that […]
Cybersecurity For Your Car
When you and your family are zooming along the freeway, the last thing you’re worried about is the security of your car’s computer systems. That’s one reason Ohio State University Associate Professor Emre Koksal devotes most of his time to thinking about how to protect vehicles from cyberattacks. Koksal’s electrical and computer engineering research team […]
New Tech May Give Electric Car Drivers More Miles Per Minute of Charging
Researchers have designed a thin plastic membrane that stops rechargeable batteries from discharging when not in use and allows for rapid recharging. The patent-pending technology controls how charge flows inside a battery, and was inspired by how living cell membranes transport proteins in the body. It could find applications in high powered “supercapacitors” for electric cars and […]
Scientists Glimpse Why Life Can’t Happen Without Water
Scientists are getting closer to directly observing how and why water is essential to life as we know it. A study in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesprovides the strongest evidence yet that proteins–the large and complex molecules that fold into particular shapes to enable biological reactions–can’t fold themselves. Rather, the work of […]
Computers in Your Clothes? A Milestone for Wearable Electronics
Researchers who are working to develop wearable electronics have reached a milestone: They are able to embroider circuits into fabric with 0.1 mm precision — the perfect size to integrate electronic components such as sensors and computer memory devices into clothing. With this advance, the Ohio State University researchers have taken the next step toward […]
How 3D Gaming Affects Video Game Players
Playing violent video games in 3D makes everything seem more real – and that may have troubling consequences for players, a new study reveals. Researchers found that people who played violent video games in 3D showed more evidence of anger afterward than did people who played using traditional 2D systems – even those with large […]
World’s First ‘Solar Battery’ Runs on Light & Air
Is it a solar cell? Or a rechargeable battery? Actually, the patent-pending device invented at The Ohio State University is both: the world’s first solar battery. In the October 3, 2014 issue of the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that they’ve succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device. […]