Aha! Study examines people struck by sudden insight

Until now, researchers had not had a good way to study how people actually experienced “epiphany learning.” In new research, scientists at The Ohio State University used eye-tracking and pupil dilation technology to see what happens as people figured out how to win a strategy game on a computer. “We could see our study participants figuring out the solution through their eye movements as they considered their options,” said Assistant Professor Ian Krajbich, Ohio State. “We could predict they were about to have an epiphany before they even knew it was coming.”

Most decision-making research has focused on reinforcement learning, where people gradually adjust their behavior in response to what they learn, Chen said...

Illustrations of the design principles of using methyl viologen to form a stable coating to allow the stable cycling of lithium metal. Credit: UC Riverside

High performing lithium-ion batteries are a key component of laptops, smart phones, and electric vehicles. Currently, the anodes side of lithium ion batteries, are generally made with graphite or other carbon-based materials. But, the performance of carbon based materials is limited because of the weight and energy density, which is the amount of energy that can be stored in a given space. As a result, a lot of research is focused on lithium-metal anodes.

The success of lithium metal anodes will enable many battery technologies, including lithium metal and lithium air, which can potentially increase the capacity of today’s best lithium-...

A schematic shows the single-beam SAVI system developed at Rice and Northwestern universities. The system employs a single beam, multiple images and sophisticated software to capture detailed images from a distance. Click on the image for a larger version. Courtesy of Jason Holloway

Imaging array proves adept at capturing details as small as a fingerprint. A unique camera that can capture a detailed micron-resolution image from a distance uses a laser and techniques that borrow from holography, microscopy and “Matrix”-style bullet time. A prototype built and tested by engineers at Rice and Northwestern universities reads a spot illuminated by a laser and captures the “speckle” pattern with a camera sensor...

An image of a simulated galaxy cluster showing evidence for a boundary, or “edge” from a 2015 paper in the Astrophysical Journal by Surhud More, Benedikt Diemer and Andre Kravtsov.

University of Pennsylvania research could shed light on the distribution of one of the most mysterious substances in the universe. In the 1970s, scientists noticed something strange about the motion of galaxies. All the matter at the edge of spiral galaxies was rotating just as fast as material in the inner part of the galaxy. But according to the laws of gravity, objects on the outskirts should be moving slower. The explanation: dark matter, which affects everything from how objects move within a galaxy to how galaxies and galaxy clusters clump together in the first place...