Major natural carbon sink may soon become a carbon source Until humans can find a way to geoengineer ourselves out of the climate disaster we’ve created, we must rely on natural carbon sinks, such as oceans and forests, to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. These ecosystems are deteriorating at the hand of climate change, and once destroyed they may not only stop absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, but start emitting it. Learn More
Holiday travel: New technology paves the way for fewer orange barrels and safer, quicker road repairs A Purdue University team developed a method and equipment to better repair paved roadways and highways using electrical resistance measurements to measure the optimum curing time for asphalt emulsions Learn More
Targeted delivery: Purdue cancer identity technology makes it easier to find a tumor’s ‘address’ An improved drug delivery method from Purdue University uses nanoparticles to help treat people with various tumors and ease the painful side effects of chemotherapy. Learn More
New flexible, transparent, wearable bio-patch, improves cellular observation, drug delivery Minimally invasive patch developed by Purdue researchers delivers exact doses directly into cells, lessens pain, toxicity. Learn More
Bringing ‘space trash’ safely back to Earth Orbital debris from the defunct satellites and fragments of spent rockets left suspended in Earth’s atmosphere are slowly making their way back to Earth. Objects usually return after a few years, but debris trapped in higher orbits can remain for more than a century. Purdue University’s David Spencer, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics, aims to develop a system that in the future would deorbit spacecraft launched by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, and Boeing, as the spacecraft complete their missions. Learn More
Teaching computers to interpret ideology: Purdue professor uses AI to deduce bias in social media and news A Purdue professor is combining machine learning with models of social relationships and behavior to read between the lines of text and capture the author’s intent in a deeper way. The technology could help identify biases in social media posts and news articles, the better to judge the information’s validity. Learn More
Research on clots could make pancreatic cancer more treatable Pancreatic cancer symptoms often arrive after the cancer has already spread, making the disease one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the U.S. However, a team of researchers believes that targeting how blood clots form and are naturally cleared could make the cancer more treatable. Learn More
Light-bending tech shrinks kilometers-long radiation system to millimeter scale A new device bends visible light inside a crystal to produce “synchrotron” radiation (blue and green) via an accelerating light pulse (red) on a scale a thousand times smaller than massive facilities around the world. Learn More
Underground crater reveals how broken rocks can flow like liquid Chicxulub, which lies underneath the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, is the best-preserved large impact crater on Earth. It’s also the only crater on the planet with a mountainous ring of smashed rocks inside its outer rim, called a peak ring. How these features form has long been debated, but a new study in Nature shows they’re a product of extremely strong vibrations in the Earth that let rock flow like liquid for a crucial few minutes after the impact. Learn More
MRI tool watches how electrical stimulation could cure digestive disorders Purdue University researchers used an MRI to show a play-by-play of how sending an electric impulse to the vagus nerve successfully corrects stomach complications. The technique paves the way for more precise treatment that drugs and dietary changes have not achieved. Learn More
Structures of spherical viruses aren’t as perfect as we thought Determining the structure of a virus is an important step in understanding and treating viral disease. Flaviviruses, such as dengue and Zika, were assumed to be symmetrical icosahedrons. But these icosahedral viruses might not be perfectly symmetrical after all, according to a new study. Learn More
Faster, liquid biopsies could replace invasive, tissue cancer detections Purdue startup introduces new, less invasive technology for early detection of diseases using liquid biopsies shown to reduce anxiety, enable faster detection and treatment. Learn More