The information system PANGAEA is operated as an Open Access library aimed at archiving, publishing, and distributing georeferenced data from earth system research.  The system guarantees long-term availability of its content through a commitment of the operating institutions.  The data and any associated material in PANGAEA is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution license [...]

The undergraduate offerings at Stanford University’s School of Engineering could be engaged in a tug of war.  On one side is the foundation of math, science and major-specific courses students need to earn a degree now, or four years from now.  On the other, the skills, curiosity and bent toward problem solving that students will [...]

Metal atomic chain (MAC) is an ultimate one-dimensional structure with unique physical properties, such as quantized conductance, colossal magnetic anisotropy, and quantized magnetoresistance.  Therefore, MACs show great potential as possible components of nanoscale electronic and spintronic devices.  However, MACs are usually suspended between two macroscale metallic electrodes; hence obvious technical barriers exist in the interconnection [...]

Ever since Steven Spielberg’s 2002 sci-fi movie “Minority Report,” in which Tom Cruise stands in front of a transparent screen manipulating a host of video images simply by waving his hands, the idea of gesture-based computer interfaces has captured the imagination of technophiles.  Academic and industry labs have developed a host of prototype gesture interfaces, [...]

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab have taken a big step toward bridging the gap between mind and machine.  Using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — the molecular medium of energy exchange present in nearly all living cells — the team has created a novel transistor that could allow electronic devices that can be hooked directly [...]

A message from Chinese scientists: “Stop throwing out your cigarette butts!”  Researchers have devised a financially viable process for recycling cigarette leftovers to extract chemicals present in the filters.  And doing your part to recycle cigarette butts could help save one of our most precious resources — oil companies.  That’s right, oil companies.  Cigarette butts [...]

A biocompatible method for general construction of 3D structures by aggregation of micrometric polymeric subunits is presented.  Shape-controlled microgels are forced to self-assemble, in a structure similar to a brick wall, in different shapes by limiting their movement onto a surface.  Scaffolds with high spatial resolution in the aggregation and composed by the addition of [...]

Where PCs are concerned, faster is invariably better.  But things aren’t so clear-cut in human society.  The next generation of social robots will be better loved if they adopt more human-like behavior — even if that means losing some of their raw efficiency.  [NewScientist.com, 17 May 2010]

Man-made glues are mono-functional — their material properties are designed to stick one thing to another, and that’s it.  But researchers report that the ‘glue’ droplets that coat spiders’ webs are multi-functional.  Depending on the rate at which they are extended, the droplets act either as a viscous adhesive or as a rubber-like elastic solid.  [...]

We develop a probabilistic framework for global modeling of the traffic over a computer network.  This model integrates existing single-link traffic models with the routing over the network to capture the global traffic behavior.  It arises from a limit approximation of the traffic fluctuations as the time-scale and the number of users sharing the network [...]