Research news from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. http://www.rpi.edu/news/research/index.html en-us Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2007 May 6, 2008: An undergraduate student at Rensselaer has learned very quickly that a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. In fact, with his invention, the sugar may actually be the medicine. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2432 6 May 12:00:00 EST April 25, 2008: The mysterious death of patients around the world following a routine dosage of the common blood thinner, heparin, sent researchers on a frantic search to uncover what could make the standard drug so toxic. A researcher at Rensselaer was among a small group of scientists with the expertise and the high-tech equipment necessary to determine the source of the contamination. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2427 25 April 12:00:00 EST April 16, 2008: A handheld device to detect skin cancer and a disposable robot capable of removing land mines are just two of the winning ideas in the Change the World Challenge, which supports entrepreneurship education and stimulates ideas to improve the human condition http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2424 16 April 12:00:00 EST March 14, 2008: Ideas for a "wired" law enforcement badge and an online ordering platform have both received funding as the winners of Rensselaer’s Class of '51 Entrepreneurship Fund, established to help transform student ideas into sustainable ventures. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2414 14 March 13:00:00 EST March 13, 2008: Researchers at Rensselaer have created a road map that brings academia and the semiconductor industry one step closer to realizing carbon nanotube interconnects, and alleviating the current bottleneck of information flow. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2412 13 March 13:00:00 EST March 10, 2008: A group of researchers from Rensselaer is working to engineer Second Life characters with the capacity to have beliefs and to reason about the beliefs of others. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2410 10 March 13:00:00 EST February 28, 2008: Martin Schubert, a doctoral student in electrical, computer, and systems engineering, has developed the first polarized LED, an innovation that could vastly improve LCD screens, conserve energy, and usher in the next generation of ultra-efficient LEDs. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2406 28 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST February 26, 2008: The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer has launched an initiative, called the Lighting Technology Greenhouse, to support the growth of new and existing lighting companies in and around New York state. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2405 26 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST February 19, 2008: Researchers at Rensselaer in a project led by Theodorian Borca-Tasciuc have demonstrated that liquids embedded with nanoparticles show enhanced performance and stability when exposed to electric fields. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2402 19 Feb 2008 13:00:00 EST January 28, 2008: Researchers at Rensselaer and Polyset Company have developed a new inexpensive, quick-drying polymer that could lead to dramatic cost savings and efficiency gains in semiconductor manufacturing and computer chip packaging. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2394 22 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST January 22, 2008: Researchers at Rensselaer and Rice University have created the darkest material ever made by man. The material absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2393 22 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST January 17, 2008: Two theoretical physicists at Rensselaer have uncovered what they believe is the long-sought-after pathway that an HIV peptide takes to enter healthy cells. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2392 17 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST January 8, 2008: A new study by a management professor at Rensselaer suggests that the prevalence of telecommuters in an office can adversely impact coworkers who do not telecommute in terms of their job satisfaction. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2387 08 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST January 8, 2008: Jacob Fish, the Rosalind and John J. Redfern Chaired Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer and director of the university’s Multiscale Science and Engineering Center, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2386 08 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST December 19, 2007: Rensselaer professor E. Fred Schubert and doctoral student Brian Schulkin have been named to the 2007 Scientific American 50 — the magazine’s prestigious annual list recognizing leadership in science and technology from the past year. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2378 19 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST December 18, 2007: Researchers from Rensselaer have developed a new set of modeling tools that could enable safer, more accurate, and more effective radiation therapy and nuclear medicine imaging procedures for pregnant women. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2377 18 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST December 17, 2007: A new biochip technology could eliminate animal testing in the chemicals and cosmetics industries, and drastically curtail its use in the development of new pharmaceuticals. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2376 17 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST December 9, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer, on a team led by Ravi S. Kane, have developed a new way to seek out specific proteins, including dangerous proteins such as anthrax toxin, and render them harmless using nothing but light. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2369 9 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST December 5, 2007: Ecovative Design LLC, a company started by two recent graduates of Rensselaer, was recently awarded £10,000 (approximately $20,500 U.S.) as a winner of the 21st Century Challenge Competition — hosted by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2368 5 Dec 2007 09:00:00 EST November 29, 2007: Leslie Hayden’s research into deep Earth interactions has led to some important findings, particularly for someone so new to the field, and the scientific world is paying attention. Hayden, a graduate student at Rensselaer, is first author on a paper to be published in the scientific journal Nature. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2362 29 Nov 2007 09:00:00 EST November 13, 2007: Two Rensselaer student start-up companies — Ecovative Design LLC and JDAxis Corporation — took first and second place at this year’s inaugural Innovation Showcase competition. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2355 13 Nov 2007 09:00:00 EST November 8, 2007: Engineers at Rensselaer have transformed a polymer found in common brown seaweed into a device that can support the growth and release of stem cells at the site of a bodily injury or at the source of a disease. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2351 08 Nov 2007 09:00:00 EST November 1, 2007: Rensselaer is leading a $3 million research project that will pair two of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to boost the safety and reliability of next-generation nuclear power reactors. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2344 01 Nov 2007 09:00:00 EST October 23, 2007: Blocks of carbon nanotubes can be used to create effective and powerful pressure sensors, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2339 23 Oct 2007 09:00:00 EST October 23, 2007: Chang Y. Ryu, polymer chemist from Rensselaer, is the recipient of a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a partnership between American and Korean researchers. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2340 23 Oct 2007 09:00:00 EST October 9, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer have won a competitive $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to identify the perfect combination of technology and financial incentives that could help alleviate daytime traffic congestion and boost economic growth in New York City. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2323 9 Oct 2007 09:00:00 EST September 27, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer have developed a simple new technique for identifying and repairing small, potentially dangerous cracks in high-performance aircraft wings and many other structures made from polymer composites. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2321 27 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 24, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer have created a razor-like material that is truly on the "cutting edge" of nanotechnology. Called nanoblades, these first-of-their-kind magnesium nanomaterials challenge conventional wisdom about nanostructure growth, and could have applications in energy storage and fuel cell technology. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2318 24 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 20, 2007: A group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can help trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background. The team’s findings will be published in the September 2007 edition of the journal PLoS Genetics. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2315 20 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 20, 2007: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute had an impressive showing at the 234th American Chemical Society Meeting held in late August. Along with professor Jonathan S. Dordick winning a pair of major awards, nearly 60 faculty, researchers, and students presented papers and research findings on diverse topics ranging from proteomics to bioinformatics and the design of functional nanostructure materials. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2314 19 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 19, 2007: Rensselaer geochemists are challenging commonly held ideas about how gases are expelled from Earth. Their theory, which is described in the Sept. 20 issue of the journal Nature, could change the way scientists view the formation of Earth's atmosphere and those of our distant neighbors, Mars and Venus. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2311 19 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 17, 2007: Rich Radke was one of a dozen researchers to participate in the 2007 CS Study Panel, a competitive program administered by the Institute for Defense Analyses for the DoD’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2310 10 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 14, 2007: George Makhatadze is a designer. But instead of expensive jeans and haute handbags, he is creating custom proteins that could improve everything from medication to detergent. Makhatadze is bringing his expertise in biology, chemistry, and computation to Rensselaer as a chaired professor in the Biocomputation and Bioinformatics research constellation. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2309 10 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 10, 2007: Engineers at Rensselaer have developed tools to help solve two of the main problems slowing the progress of stem cell research - how to quickly test stem cell response to different drugs or genes, and how to create a large supply of healthy, viable stem cells to study from only a few available cells. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2307 10 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 10, 2007: A new partnership between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Sandia National Laboratories, and a select group of leading universities and corporations will present Rensselaer graduate students with a host of new cutting-edge internship and research experiences. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2305 10 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST September 7, 2007: Scientists have long known that the human body runs like clockwork, guided by a circadian system that responds to daily patterns of light and darkness. Now a team of researchers is developing a personal device to measure daily light intake and activity, which could allow them to predict optimal timing for light therapy to synchronize the circadian clock to the 24-hour solar day and relieve psychosocial stress. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2303 07 Sep 2007 09:00:00 EST August 29, 2007: As summer temperatures cool in the United States, fewer mosquitoes whir around our tiki torches. But mosquitoes swarming around nearly 40 percent of the world's population will continue to spread a deadly parasitic disease — malaria. Now an interdisciplinary team led by researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has found a key link that causes malarial infection in both humans and mosquitoes. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2302 29 Aug 2007 09:00:00 EST August 13, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer have developed a new energy storage device that easily could be mistaken for a simple sheet of black paper. The nanoengineered battery is lightweight, ultra thin, completely flexible, and geared toward meeting the trickiest design and energy requirements of tomorrow's gadgets, implantable medical equipment, and transportation vehicles. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2280 13 Aug 2007 08:00:00 EST July 23, 2007: Saroj Nayak, associate professor of physics, has worked with graduate student Philip Shemella and others for two years to determine how graphene's extremely efficient conductive properties can be exploited for use in nanoelectronics. After running dozens of robust computer simulations, the group has demonstrated for the first time that the length, as well as the width, of graphene directly impacts the material's conduction properties. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2253 23 Jul 2007 13:00:00 EST July 2, 2007: The ability of carbon nanotubes to withstand repeated stress yet retain their structural and mechanical integrity is similar to the behavior of soft tissue, according to a new study from Rensselaer. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2217 02 Jul 2007 08:00:00 EST June 29, 2007: A new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, ATT Labs, and the University of Nevada, Reno suggests that an Internet where all traffic is treated identically would require significantly more capacity than one in which differentiated services are offered. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2204 29 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EST June 27, 2007: The new supercomputer at Rensselaer has been ranked seventh in the world, and it is the most powerful of any system based at a university, according to the 29th edition of the closely watched Top500 list. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2200 27 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EST June 18, 2007: Mimicking the agile gecko, with its uncanny ability to run up walls and across ceilings, has long been a goal of materials scientists. Researchers at Rensselaer and the University of Akron have taken one sticky step in the right direction, creating synthetic "gecko tape" with four times the sticking power of the real thing. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2200 18 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EST June 14, 2007: Specialized pulsed lasers have been used to inject individual cells with a variety of materials, but little is known about how this type of injection might affect living cells. For the first time, researchers at Rensselaer have analyzed this nanoscale injection process on living cells and discovered that minor changes in the intensity of the laser could mark the difference between a healthy cell and a dead one. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2188 14 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EST June 6, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer have developed a new method of compacting carbon nanotubes into dense bundles. These tightly packed bundles are efficient conductors and could one day replace copper as the primary interconnects used on computer chips and even hasten the transition to next-generation 3-D stacked chips. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2186 06 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EST May 30, 2007: With a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers from Rensselaer are developing a physics-based virtual model that can simulate a patient's breathing in real time. When used in conjunction with existing 3-D models, adding the fourth dimension of time could significantly improve the accuracy and effectiveness of radiation treatment for lung and liver cancers. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2169 30 May 2007 08:00:00 EST May 29, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer are challenging current thinking on the causes and prevention of Alzheimer's disease, offering a new hypothesis that could be the key to preventing this form of dementia. The researchers have found that a specific imbalance between two peptides may be the cause of the fatal neurological disease that affects more than five million people in the United States. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2168 29 May 2007 08:00:00 EST May 18, 2007: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute today offered the first glimpse of what is planned to be the world's most powerful university-based supercomputing center. The Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) is designed to continue advancing semiconductor technology to the nanoscale, while also enabling key nanotechnology innovations in the fields of energy, biotechnology, arts, and medicine. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2157 18 May 2007 08:00:00 EST May 16, 2007: Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to bond materials that don't normally stick together. The team's adhesive, which is based on self-assembling nanoscale chains, could impact everything from next-generation computer chip manufacturing to energy production. http://news.rpi.edu/campusnews/update.do?artcenterkey=2156 16 May 2007 08:00:00 EST April 16 2007: With a major grant from the Office of Naval Affairs, Rensselaer researchers are collaborating with four other universities to address a hot topic in today's military: how to keep modern ships cool in extreme environments. http://news.rpi.edu:80/update.do?artcenterkey=2087 16 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST March 29, 2007: New research suggests that carbon nanotubes may soon be integrated into cell phones, digital audio players, and personal digital assistants to help ensure the equipment does not overheat, malfunction, or fail. http://news.rpi.edu:80/campusnews/update.do?artcenterkey=1960 29 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST March 26, 2007: Nanomaterials are being used in everything from golf clubs to computer circuitry, but little is known about the effects these minuscule materials could have on our health and environment. Rensselaer scientists recently worked to better understand the effect of nanomaterials on both mammalian cells and bacteria. http://news.rpi.edu:80/campusnews/update.do?artcenterkey=2037 26 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST March 22, 2007: The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and resulting tsunami are now infamous for the damage they caused, but at the time many scientists believed this area was unlikely to create a quake of such magnitude. In the March 23 issue of the journal Science, geophysicist Rob McCaffrey urges the public and policy makers to consider all subduction-type tectonic boundaries to be "locked, loaded, and dangerous." http://www.rpi.edu/news/research/032207-earthquake.html?artcenterkey=2034 22 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST March 12, 2007: You might want to reconsider your feelings about bacteria. These microscopic creatures have been assaulted by hand soap and antibacterial gels, but a shining star among these organisms could one day transform the way we remove polychlorinated biphenyls from our environment. Rensselaer researchers have discovered an organism that could be the key to developing methods that help detoxify commercial PCB compounds on site — without the need for dredging. http://news.rpi.edu:80/campusnews/update.do?artcenterkey=1973 12 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST March 12, 2007: Rensselaer researchers have discovered what likely triggered the eruption of a "supervolcano" that coated much of the western half of the United States with ash fallout 760,000 years ago. Their research sheds light on what causes these large-scale, explosive eruptions, and it could help geologists develop methods to predict such eruptions in the future. http://news.rpi.edu:80/campusnews/update.do?artcenterkey=1971 12 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST