Science Nation

A Stanford University engineering team has been busy bringing its grand achievement of 2013 -- the world's first carbon nanotube computer -- to a grand scale by making the performance competitive with silicon-based processors. And the researchers are much closer!

With continued support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and in collaboration with IBM and other industry leaders, the researchers are now making carbon nanotube transistors that rival conventional silicon. Building a multilayered chip -- carbon nanotube transistors and memory devices stacked on top of each other like the floors of a high rise -- is the Holy Grail for the team.

Ultimately, the researchers are aiming to launch a new generation of electronic devices that are smaller, cheaper, faster and more energy efficient than what is currently available.

Sunlight plays a key role in the natural degradation of oil after a spill, oxygenating the oil so it dissolves in seawater and comes in contact with microbes that will break it down. But, under certain conditions, sunlight can have negative effects, too. With continued exposure, the energy in sunlight drives chemical reactions that transform liquid oil into a sludge that has a consistency similar to peanut butter: thick, pasty and sticky. Supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), analytical chemist Matthew Tarr and his team at the University of New Orleans are using samples from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to learn more about how crude oil breaks down in seawater when it's exposed to sunlight and dispersants. The researchers' goal is to help refine the computer models that responders use to make cleanup plans. The research also adds to everyone's overall understanding and helps mitigate environmental damage from future oil spills.

As you can imagine, life is not very complicated for sea slugs. They use their brains mainly to find food, avoid becoming food and to reproduce. While the human brain and nervous system are wired with hundreds of billions of nerve cells, or neurons, sea slugs can get by with tens of thousands. Ironically, sea slugs can tell us a lot about the chemistry of the human brain and nervous system. In fact, they are ideal as study subjects for research on learning, memory and how neurons control behavior because sea slugs' neurons form well defined and relatively simple neuronal networks and because they are surprisingly large, giving researchers more material to work with, according to analytical chemist Jonathan Sweedler. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Sweedler and his team at the University of Illinois are working to develop new measurement tools that enable insights into the function of individual cells in the central nervous systems of slugs and other animals in order to uncover novel neurochemical pathways. In addition to learning more about the chemistry, the team is also discovering molecules that were previously unknown. Ultimately, Sweedler says learning how to turn specific chemicals in the brain on and off could lead to new methods for diagnosing and treating chronic pain, drug addiction and neurological diseases.

Lexie is an active, healthy 2-year-old and already lending a hand, or more specifically her wrist, to science. She's helping researchers test sensors designed to gauge something particularly difficult to measure scientifically -- emotional responses. The wrist sensor Lexie is wearing provides immediate feedback on the electrical changes in the skin that increase with her perspiration. With support from NSF, teams across the country like this one are working to advance a new field of research called computational behavioral science.

Computer scientist Rosalind Picard of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is developing wearable sensors to measure the subtle changes that naturally occur in the body during social interactions. Picard's group focuses largely on children with autism and other nonverbal learning disabilities that make it difficult for them to understand and communicate their emotions, and to be understood. Among the technologies Picard's group has developed is a new creative learning platform for the digital age called StoryScape, an open and customizable platform for creating animated storybooks that can interact with the physical world. It is available free on Android devices.

As money-makers, trees stand tall. The U.S. forest industry is an economic powerhouse. Southern states alone grow more commercial wood than any country in the world. The Center for Advanced Forestry Systems is using forestry science and collaborations among universities, industry and governments to make commercially grown forests more productive and sustainable. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), research teams at Virginia Tech, North Carolina State University and the University of Washington have teamed up through the center to study how new, slow-release fertilizers could improve growth and go easier on our waterways, and to look more closely at the role of forests in storing carbon.

From treetops to rivers to the bedrock below, there is constant activity going on in what we can think of as the "skin" of our planet. It's called the critical zone, the active layer of the Earth where life-forms, from microbes to humans, find habitat and use resources.

Preserving the environment and developing agricultural products that do not harm unintended targets are top priorities for many scientists and farmers, as well as environmentalists. It's a new era of crop management known as precision agriculture. It maximizes productivity while minimizing energy use and environmental impacts. One of the major challenges being addressed by precision agriculture is over-fertilization. About 30 percent of nitrate fertilizer applied to U.S. crops simply washes away. This wastes the fertilizer and the energy used to make it, in addition to posing possible harm to the environment . Support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) has led to the development by start-up SupraSensor Technologies of a novel sensor to detect nitrate fertilizer in soil. The SupraSensor device is designed to give farmers a highly accurate, virtually constant stream of data on nitrate levels. The device is an excellent example of highly applied science with roots in basic research -- in this case supramolecular chemistry at the University of Oregon. Supramolecular chemistry is a simple idea of how two or more molecules might interact or bind with one another without forming strong irreversible interactions. A supramolecular interaction is key to how the SupraSensor nitrogen sensor works. The research team has also since developed electronics to store data, wireless capability, even a smart phone app.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO HAS SCENES WITH FLASHING LIGHTS.

The tiny BioBots engineered at one NSF-funded Science and Technology Center (STC) move a bit like inchworms, but they represent giant strides in science and engineering. They can be controlled with electrical or optical signals and use muscle tissue for power. The mission of the STC on Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) is to develop the science and technology needed to engineer clusters of living cells. This will eventually help mankind address challenges in health, security and the environment. EBICS researchers at the forefront of this novel and multidisciplinary field are committed to sharing responsible and ethically conscious practices for forward engineering biological machines. Currently, researchers are focused on BioBots that mimic the body, but, perhaps one day, biological machines could replace animals for drug testing, or be used to detect and neutralize toxins in the environment or even sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Polina Anikeeva hopes to one day be able to regenerate the spinal cord to restore movement for paralyzed people or possibly bypass the spinal cord altogether with a device that mimics its function. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the materials scientist and her team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are engineering a nerve repair "tool kit," with an eye toward repairing damaged nerves and even growing new ones. They're designing multifunctional polymer strands -- thinner than a human hair -- that would be implanted right alongside damaged neurons. The strands can have hollow channels to deliver drugs, embedded electrodes to send electrical signals, or optical guides to transmit light for optogenetics, a method for switching nerve signals on and off. The team is also designing fibers that can act as tiny scaffolds or 3-D structures, to support new nerve tissue as it grows or even accelerate the growth. The ultimate goal is to help doctors treat diseases such as Parkinson's, schizophrenia and depression, in addition to healing spinal injuries. Anikeeva's research helps advance NSF's efforts to enable scientific understanding of the full complexity of the brain, in action and in context.

Working on a lobster boat in Swan's Island, Maine, typically means an early wake-up call. The boats head out around 5:30 in the morning. For University of Pennsylvania ecologist Peter Petraitis, California State Northridge biologist Steve Dudgeon and their team, it's not much later when they head out as well. But they're used to it. Petraitis and Dudgeon, along with Cheverus High School teacher Erika Rhile and her students, have been returning to this rocky intertidal zone every spring and summer for nearly two decades!