Collaborate Disseminate
It’s a cruel irony that over 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, but it’s undrinkable. Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have now modeled the feasibility of a hypothetical system that can capture water vapor f… Continue reading Offshore structures could harvest city drinking water from ocean air
Just like many of the flowers in your garden, rice has traditionally been an annual plant – that means new crops have to be sown every year. A perennial version is now available, however, which comes back on its own over multiple growing seasons.Contin… Continue reading New perennial rice promises less labor, lower costs and higher profits
In a bid to reduce the environmental burden associated with both the manufacturing and disposal of plastics, scientists have demonstrated a new upcycling technique that turns one common form of it into another. The team says they also have the means to… Continue reading Recycling breakthrough turns one common type of plastic into another
Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have developed a device that can efficiently convert captured carbon dioxide into ethylene, a plastic precursor material. When run using renewable energy, the technique could make for net negative e… Continue reading “Net negative” system converts captured CO2 into plastic precursor
A team from the University of Illinois and UC Berkeley has demonstrated a new cooling method that sucks heat out of electronics so efficiently that it allows designers to run 7.4 times more power through a given volume than conventional heat sinks.Cont… Continue reading New heat spreading tech delivers 740% increase in circuit power density
An intriguing new study has zeroed in on a brain region that is central to the development of both alcohol abuse and anxiety in adults, and demonstrated how gene editing could be used to wipe clean a person’s predisposition to both disorders. Likened t… Continue reading “Factory reset” for the brain rewrites risk of anxiety and alcohol abuse
Scientists have created new artificial microbes by combining two very different organisms into one functioning entity. The hybrid of a yeast and a bacterium adds evidence to a long-standing hypothesis on how advanced life may have evolved.Continue Read… Continue reading New synthetic hybrids of yeast and bacteria demonstrate ancient evolution
As with most things, nature’s data storage system, DNA, far surpasses anything we’ve created. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have doubled its already incredible storage capacity by adding extra letters to its “alphabet,… Continue reading Adding new letters to DNA alphabet doubles density of data storage
As our cells interact with neighboring cells or surrounding material known as the extracellular matrix, they are subjected to subtle mechanical stresses that can influence their behavior. Part of this includes heightened proliferation and tissue growth… Continue reading Manipulating “molecular Velcro” may stop tumors in their tracks
Recreating the process of natural photosynthesis in which plants turn sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into energy is a long-pursued goal in science. Often described as an “artificial leaf,” these systems could play a key role in the fight against cl… Continue reading Novel “artificial leaf” design ups the carbon capture rate by 100x