Science Nation

Children who have difficulty learning to read, in addition to being at risk for depression, also can suffer from increased rates of bullying and can experience poorer relationships with their parents and teachers, according to some child development researchers. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), cognitive neuroscientist Sarah Laszlo and her team at Binghamton University are developing a test designed to diagnose reading difficulties early on. And, that's critical because studies show many methods now used to help struggling readers become less effective after the second grade. The test is essentially a computer game, played while the child's brain activity is being monitored by electroencephalography (EEG) that detects electrical activity in the brain. If a child struggles with any of the answers, it shows up in his or her EEG signals. The researchers read the signals and can tell where a child might be having difficulties. Laszlo's reading research may also have applications in biometrics, the measurement of people's physical or behavioral characteristics. Biometrics authentication is a common security measure; an example is using a fingerprint to gain access to a mobile device. Laszlo is collaborating with NSF-funded bioengineer Zhanpeng Jin to investigate whether brain signals are as unique as fingerprints.

The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1252975, Neural-computational Analysis of Reading (and Reading Impairment) in Individuals, made under NSF's Faculty Early Career Development program. Another award, #1564046, Brain Hacking: Assessing Psychological and Computational Vulnerabilities in Brain-based Biometrics, is also related to the research.

We can't see them, but nanomaterials, both natural and human-made, are literally everywhere, from our personal care products to our building materials -- we're even eating and drinking them.

At the NSF-funded Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT), headquartered at Duke University, scientists and engineers are researching how some of these nanoscale materials affect living things. One of CEINT's main goals is to develop tools that can help assess possible risks to human health and the environment. A key aspect of this research happens in mesocosms, which are outdoor experiments that simulate the natural environment -- in this case, wetlands. These simulated wetlands in Duke Forest serve as a testbed for exploring how nanomaterials move through an ecosystem and impact living things.

CEINT is a collaborative effort bringing together researchers from Duke, Carnegie Mellon University, Howard University, Virginia Tech, University of Kentucky, Stanford University, and Baylor University. CEINT academic collaborations include on-going activities coordinated with faculty at Clemson, North Carolina State and North Carolina Central universities, with researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Environmental Protection Agency labs, and with key international partners.

The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1266252, Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology.

Anyone who has ever driven in freezing rain knows all too well the potential hazards of an ice storm. These powerful winter weather events are also capable of catastrophic ecological and socio-economic impacts on forest ecosystems, affecting forest species and productivity, and even increasing the risk of fire. Syracuse University bio-geochemist Charley Driscoll and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service ecologist Lindsey Rustad are part of a team supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to scientifically monitor more precisely how a forest ecosystem responds to and recovers from ice storms. And, the researchers are not waiting on Mother Nature to provide the right weather. They're creating their own ice storms in New Hampshire's Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

University of Chicago scientists supported by NSF are collaborating with researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory to build out a wide-ranging urban sensing project in Chicago known as the Array of Things (AoT). One could think of it as a fitness tracker for a city -- a network of 500 computer nodes designed to gather data on livability factors all over Chicago, from climate, weather and air quality to noise and traffic, on a city block scale. Each AoT node is equipped with power, Internet and sensors to measure environmental health and safety factors, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels. The nodes also have a camera, which temporarily records images. Once the data of interest is extracted, the images are purged from the system. The data is gathered in real time and available to the public, as well as urban planners, health workers and others who can use the information to make better informed decisions.

Mechanical engineer Junhong Chen and a team at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM), have developed what you might think of as a "canary in the coal mine" for lead in water. With support from NSF, they designed a sensor with a graphene-based nanomaterial that can immediately detect lead and other heavy metals. The new platform technology can be used for one-time testing of lead in tap water through a handheld device. The small sensors also can be integrated into water meters and purifiers, with the goal of continuous monitoring to prevent exposure to lead that could be introduced between the water treatment plant and the home. The team is now working with manufacturers, including A.O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter Inc., Baker Manufacturing Company LLC and NanoAffix Science LLC, to put the sensors into use. In addition to real-time detection and continuous monitoring, this lead sensor system is a low cost way to mitigate lead contamination in water.

Towering gypsum dunes span hundreds of square miles in New Mexico's White Sands National Monument, the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Hundreds of animal species thrive in this unique ecosystem, but it's the lizards, in particular, that have attracted biologists from the University of California, Berkeley. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Bree Rosenblum and her team are studying evolution in action. White Sands lizards are undergoing adaptation and speciation on an extraordinarily rapid timescale. The lizards have become white to camouflage against predators, and may even be diverging into new species. Rosenblum says understanding the process of evolution is as important as ever, given the large number of species facing extinction around the world. White Sands provides a compelling, accessible example of evolution and a tremendous opportunity for research and public outreach.

Engineers at the University of New Hampshire are raising the bar on what 21st century infrastructure systems can do. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), they're outfitting the Memorial Bridge, which links Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Kittery, Maine, with sensors to monitor everything from structural stability to traffic to environmental health. The bridge's new sensors will even be powered by tidal energy, a renewable energy source. They call it a "living bridge," and it exemplifies the future of smart, sustainable, user-centered transportation infrastructure. Ultimately, a suite of 40 sensors will create a self-diagnosing, self-reporting smart bridge that engages innovators in sensor and renewable technology by creating an incubator platform on a working bridge, from which researchers can field test and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of emerging technologies.

The Lemhi Valley is a high desert sagebrush steppe environment in eastern Idaho, along the border with Montana. It's a critical habitat and a gorgeous piece of intact sagebrush landscape, according to University of Idaho mammalian ecologist Janet Rachlow. It also happens to be home to the pygmy rabbit, which is the reason Rachlow and her colleague, Washington State University foraging ecologist Lisa Shipley, are here with a group of research students. Data from tracking collars the team puts on the rabbits and imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles help generate maps that show where and when the rabbits spend their time, and ultimately, how the mammals use and shape this ecosystem. Rachlow and Shipley, along with Boise State University physiological ecologist Jennifer Forbey, have chosen a broad approach, looking at behavioral, nutritional, chemical, spatial and physiological ecology to evaluate comprehensively the factors that influence habitat use. What they learn about the links between habitat features and habitat use could help inform future decisions involving land management and restoration for these types of environments.

The Mines Park apartment complex may look like typical student housing but these apartments are pioneering new water treatment methods for a cleaner future. Wastewater from this complex isn't actually wasted. This is one of the pilot projects of the NSF's Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Re-Inventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure, or ReNUWIt. Researchers and students here combine engineering innovations with expanded use of smart natural systems to help address growing water needs in cities and towns. ReNUWIt is a collaborative group of urban water researchers from the Colorado School of Mines, New Mexico State University, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Infrastructure upgrades are part of the researchers' focus because decentralized water treatment at the neighborhood scale can be more efficient than transporting water miles away to one large facility.

The world's population is projected to increase by 2-3 billion over the next 40 years. Already, more than three quarters of a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 85 percent live in the driest areas of the planet. Those statistics are inspiring chemist Ben Hsiao and his team at Stony Brook University. With support from NSF, the team is hard at work designing nanometer-scale water filters that could soon make clean drinking water available and affordable for even the poorest of the poor. Traditional water filters are made of polymer membranes with tiny pores to filter out bacteria and viruses. Hsiao's filters are made of fibers that are all tangled up, and the pores are the natural gaps between the strands. The team's first success at making the new nanofilters uses a technique called electrospinning to produce nanofibers under an electrical field. Hsiao's team is also looking to cut costs even further by using "biomass" nanofibers extracted from trees, grasses, shrubs -- even old paper. Hsiao says it will be a few years yet before the environmentally friendly biomass filters are ready for widespread use in developing countries, but the filters will eliminate the need to build polymer plants in developing areas. Ultimately, those filters could be produced locally with native biomass or biowaste.