The National Science Foundation’s Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) program is intended to spur visionary systems-oriented activities in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and integrative research.  CCSS supports systems research in hardware, signal processing techniques, and architectures to enable the next generation of cyber systems that leverage computation, communication, and algorithms integrated with physical domains.  CCSS offers new [...]

The National Science Foundation’s Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) program seeks to improve the fundamental understanding of devices and components based on the principles of micro- and nanoelectronics, photonics, magnetics, optoelectronics, electromechanics, electromagnetics, and related physical phenomena.  The program enables discovery and innovation advancing the frontiers of nanoelectronics, spin electronics, molecular and organic electronics, [...]

A prototype implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients is believed to contain the first complete millimeter-scale computing system.  And a compact radio that needs no tuning to find the right frequency could be a key enabler to organizing millimeter-scale systems into wireless sensor networks.  These networks could one day track pollution, monitor structural integrity, [...]

A newly created lithium-ion battery that can heal itself may improve the life span and safety of today’s energy-storage technologies, researchers report.  [Science News, 21 Feb 2011]

There have been a variety of nanoparticles created for in vivo uses ranging from gene and drug delivery to tumor imaging and physiological monitoring.  The use of nanoparticles to measure physiological conditions while being fluorescently addressed through the skin provides an ideal method toward minimally invasive health monitoring.  Here we create unique particles that have [...]

A light-sensitive, externally powered microchip was surgically implanted subretinally near the macular region of volunteers blind from hereditary retinal dystrophy. The implant contains an array of 1500 active microphotodiodes (‘chip’), each with its own amplifier and local stimulation electrode. At the implant’s tip, another array of 16 wire-connected electrodes allows light-independent direct stimulation and testing [...]

TiO2-based photocatalysis has been widely used to decompose various organic pollutants for the purpose of environmental protection.  Such a “green” photochemical process can ultimately degrade organic compounds into CO2 and H2O under ambient conditions.  We demonstrate here its extended application on the engineering of single- or few-layer graphene. Using a patterned TiO2 photomask, we have [...]

The machine has won.  Watson defeated the two biggest Jeopardy winners of all time: Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.  The IBM computer finished the final round of competition on Wednesday night with $77,147 in winnings, over Jennings’ $24,000 and Rutter’s $21,600.  Since Watson won, IBM is awarded $1 million — all of it going to [...]

The National Science Foundation’s Energy for Sustainability program supports fundamental research and education that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels.  Processes for sustainable energy production must (1) be environmentally benign, (2) reduce greenhouse gas production, and (3) utilize renewable or bio-based resources that are abundant in the United [...]

If they could be easily exfoliated, layered materials would become a diverse source of two-dimensional crystals whose properties would be useful in applications ranging from electronics to energy storage.  We show that layered compounds such as MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, MoTe2, TaSe2, NbSe2, NiTe2, BN, and Bi2Te3 can be efficiently dispersed in common solvents and can [...]