Researchers at the University of Minnesota have fully 3D printed an image sensing array on a hemisphere, which is a first-of-its-kind prototype for a “bionic eye.”
Credit: University of Minnesota, McAlpine Group

A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota have, for the first time, fully 3D printed an array of light receptors on a hemispherical surface. This discovery marks a significant step toward creating a “bionic eye” that could someday help blind people see or sighted people see better.

The research is published today in Advanced Materials, a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering materials science. The author also holds the patent for 3D-printed semiconducting devices...

The Great Red Spot is the dark patch in the middle of this infrared image. It is dark due to the thick clouds that block thermal radiation. The yellow strip denotes the portion of the Great Red Spot used in astrophysicist Gordon L. Bjoraker’s analysis.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Gordon Bjoraker

One critical question has bedeviled astronomers for generations: Is there water deep in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and if so, how much? Gordon L. Bjoraker, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, reported in a recent paper in the Astronomical Journal that he and his team have brought the Jovian research community closer to the answer.

By looking from ground-based telescopes at wavelengths sensitive to thermal radiation leaking from the depths of Jupi...

Schematic illustration of single-atom catalyst anchored on porous carbon.
Credit: WSU

Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new way to make low-cost, single-atom catalysts for fuel cells – an advance that could make important clean energy technology more economically viable. Hydrogen fuel cells are critical for the clean energy economy as they are more than two times as efficient at creating electricity than polluting combustion engines. Their only waste product is water.

However, the high price of the platinum-based catalysts that are used for the chemical reaction in fuel cells significantly hinders their commercialization. Instead of the rare platinum, researchers would like to use nonprecious metals, such as iron or cobalt...

ALMA revealed the distribution of molecular gas (left) and dust particles (right). In addition to the dense cloud in the center, the research team found two dense clouds several thousand light-years away from the center. These dense clouds are dynamically unstable and thought to be the sites of intense star formation. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Tadaki et al.

ALMA obtains most detailed view of distant starburst galaxy. Astronomers obtained the most detailed anatomy chart of a monster galaxy located 12.4 billion light-years away. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the team revealed that the molecular clouds in the galaxy are highly unstable, which leads to runaway star formation...