This diagram shows the setup for an imaging method that mapped electrical signals using a sheet of graphene and an infrared laser. The laser was fired through a prism (lower left) onto a sheet of graphene. An electrode was used to send tiny electrical signals into a liquid solution (in cylinder atop the graphene), and a camera (lower right) was used to capture images mapping out these electrical signals. (Credit: Halleh Balch and Jason Horng/Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley)

Team creates a system to visualize faint electric fields. Scientists have enlisted the exotic properties of graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon, to function like the film of an incredibly sensitive camera system in visually mapping tiny electric fields in a liquid...

This illustration shows how a series of five borehole muon detectors could be deployed in a horizontal well below a carbon dioxide reservoir. Credit: PNNL

Muons, once used to explore the inside of pyramids and volcanoes alike, are enabling researchers to see deep underground with a technological breakthrough from PNNL. Invisible to the naked eye, muons are elementary particles created by the collisions of cosmic rays with molecules in the atmosphere. Muons are constantly raining down on the earth at various angles. They can pass through materials, such as earth and rock, and detecting these particles have helped researchers “see” the inside of structures such as the pyramids of Giza...

With a roof 2 m thick, lava tubes a kilometer or more in width can remain stable  according to computer modelling, supporting inferences from GRAIL observations. Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers with Purdue University has found evidence from lunar-mapping spacecraft that the moon may have large lava tubes that could conceivably be used to house astronauts and supplies. In their paper published in the journal Icarus, the team describes their study of data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) twin spacecraft and outline the evidence for large lava tubes.

Prior research here on Earth has shown that lava flowing across a surface can form a shell of sorts as it cools, and when the shell collapses, a hollowed-out underground space remains—geologists call ...

Stimulation of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Enhances Adaptive Cognitive Control: A High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study Oyetunde Gbadeyan, Katie McMahon, Marco Steinhauser and Marcus Meinzer Journal of Neuroscience 14 December 2016, 36 (50) 12530-12536; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2450-16.2016

A cutting edge, non-invasive brain stimulation technique could improve cognitive control for people with conditions such as schizophrenia and autism, ADHD. Researchers at The University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research have found the technique – which applies high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to a particular area of the brain – improves cognitive and conflict control.

PhD candidate Oyetunde Gbadeyan said the study provides th...