The day of racing has ended at Churchill Downs.  Tractors have plowed away the evidence of thousands of hoof marks left behind on the dirt track.  This is when University of Maine professor Mick Peterson goes to work creating a few more.  He uses a metal contraption attached to the back of a van to [...]

We developed thermally self-healing polymeric materials on the basis of furan-functionalized, alternating thermosetting polyketones (PK-furan) and bis-maleimide by using the Diels−Alder (DA) and Retro-Diels−Alder (RDA) reaction sequence.  PK-furan can be easily obtained under mild conditions by the Paal−Knorr reaction of the polyketones with furfurylamine.  The highly cross-linked polymers can be thermally remended to complete recovery [...]

Touch-screen technology has become wildly popular, thanks to smart phones designed for nimble fingers.  But most touch screens have a major drawback: you need to keep a close eye on the screen as you tap, to make sure that you hit the right virtual buttons.  As touch screens become more popular in other contexts, such [...]

General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs.  The storage advance, which G.E. is announcing on Monday, is just a laboratory success at this stage.  The new technology must be made to work in products that can be mass-produced [...]

It is now possible to print out components for flexible circuits, resilient displays, and even lightweight x-ray imaging panels.  But conventional energy-storage devices still weigh down these printed electronics.  Now researchers have made the first printable supercapacitor.  This high-performance energy-storage device performs better than conventional supercapacitors currently on the market.  The device, which is made [...]

Researchers at the University of Michigan have announced that they have developed a new type of concrete, which is able to heal itself, even when under extreme stress.  The team say that the innovative material does not split in large cracks, like average concrete does, but in tiny splinters, which can then fix themselves.  In [...]

There are no fish in these tanks.  Instead you’ll find gallons of mineral oil and computer parts.  As part of a computer technology class at East Burke High School, the students, assistant teacher Justin Walker from Appalachian State University, and teacher Wayne Whaley successfully submerged two functioning computers in mineral oil.  The oil acts as [...]

U.S. News surveyed 198 programs to get the information used in the ranking of top engineering schools; 189 responded.  Data were collected in fall 2008 and early 2009.  Rankings for the 189 schools that provided the data needed were calculated based on a weighted average of selected indicators (Peer Assessment Score, Recruiter Assessment Score, Mean [...]

A group representing the U.S. cement industry says a federal government plan for cutting emissions of mercury and other air toxins at its plants is unrealistic.  The Portland Cement Association said a regulation drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency would cause some plants to close.  The group said there would be shortages of cement, the [...]

“GO BADGERS” isn’t an unusual message to get from the University of Wisconsin at Madison — particularly when it’s a status update from Twitter, the texting service that limits users to 140 characters at a time.  The unusual thing about this message is how it got to Twitter in the first place: via brain waves.  [...]