Harvard SEAS and University of Chicago researchers have tested and validated lightweight nanofabricated structures that can passively float in the mesophere, which is about 45 miles above Earth’s surface. The devices levitate via photophoresis, or sunlight-driven propulsion, which occurs in the low-pressure conditions of the upper atmosphere.

In a new study, archaeologists analyzed iron artifacts spanning more than 400 years of American colonial history using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Their results show that differences in the purity of iron and the trace elements it contains can be reliably used as a diagnostic feature to identify iron artifacts from different time periods.

A transdisciplinary team of University of Pittsburgh and Kenyan researchers has developed a discrete event simulation (DES), a computer-based model, that reveals gaps in the blood transfusion continuum to help optimize the “vein-to-vein” process from collection to storage to delivery and transfusion in Kenya. The research, which provides the first quantitative model of the blood continuum in a low- to middle-income country (LMIC), is published in the article “Simulating the blood transfusion system in Kenya: Modelling methods and exploratory analyses” (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004587) in PLOS Global Public Health. I

Researchers from Georgia Tech have created a material inspired by seashells to help improve the process of recycling plastics and make the resulting material more reliable.

The structures they created greatly reduced the variability of mechanical properties typically found in recycled plastic. Their product also maintained the performance of the original plastic materials.

Six Binghamton University, State University of New York faculty members have received more than $4.4 million in National Science Foundation CAREER Awards to pursue groundbreaking research in materials science, psychology, high-tech manufacturing and more.