Science Nation

In recent years, the number and scale of wildfires in the U.S. has risen, threatening cities and forests, and forcing large-scale evacuations. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is supporting the WIFIRE initiative, led jointly by the University of California (UC), San Diego, and the University of Maryland, to better monitor, predict and mitigate wildfires in the future. WIFIRE merges observations, such as satellite imagery and real-time data from sensors in the field, with computational techniques like signal processing, visualization, modeling and data assimilation, to monitor environmental conditions and predict where and how fast a wildfire will spread. The project is part of the NSF Hazards SEES program, which enhances sustainability through the use of advanced technologies and new methods. Participants in WIFIRE include researchers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology's (Calit2) Qualcomm Institute, and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) department at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering. Also participating in the project is the University of Maryland's Department of Fire Protection Engineering. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1331615, Hazards SEES Type 2: WIFIRE: A Scalable Data-Driven Monitoring, Dynamic Prediction and Resilience Cyberinfrastructure for Wildfires. Grant #/URL: http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1331615&HistoricalAwards=false Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent Ann Kellan, Science Nation Producer

With support from the National Science Foundation, this University of Michigan team has built a new laser-based instrument called a quantum entanglement microscope. They’re using entangled photons in microscopy, research that was virtually impossible only a decade ago. The microscope generates high resolution images with low intensity beams, enabling the team to image delicate samples, such as living cells, without damaging them. Quantum entangled microscopy is an example of how quantum research is opening the door to advances in all the sciences. The research in this episode was supported by these NSF grants: #1607949 “Entangled Photon Imaging and Microscopy for Chemical and Biological Investigations” and #1836374 “QLC: EAGER: Collaborative Research: Developing Experiment and Theory for Entangled Photon Spectroscopy.”

With support from the National Science Foundation, electrical engineer Yan Wan and a team at the University of Texas at Arlington are developing a new generation of "networked" unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to bring long distance, broadband communications capability to first responders in the field. The research in this episode was supported by NSF grants #1714519 "CAREER: Co-Design of Networking and Decentralized Control to Enable Aerial Networks in an Uncertain Airspace" and #1522458 "EAGER: Aerial Communication Infrastructure for Smart Emergency Response."

With support from NSF, engineers Pablo Zavattieri and Santiago Pujol of Purdue University and Nilesh Mankame of General Motors Global R&D are collaborating to create architected materials with microstructures that can out-perform the natural systems that inspired them. The team is focused, in part, on improving the energy absorption of materials to increase safety and comfort. Think earthquake-resilient buildings, low turbulence air travel, safer sports helmets, and scratch and dent resistant cars. And some of their inspiration is coming from solutions evolution has engineered into natural materials, from honeycombs to woodpecker beaks. Many students also contribute to this research, including William G. Pollalis, Prateek P. Shah, Charles S. Kerby, Yunlan Zhang, and Kristiaan Hector, in addition to Reza Moini, who is featured in the video. The engineering research for this episode is supported by these NSF grants: #1538898 GOALI: Phase Transforming Cellular Materials, #1254864 CAREER: Multiscale Investigation and Mimicry of Naturally Occurring Ultra High-Performance Composite Materials, and #1562927 Collaborative Research: 3D Printing of Civil Infrastructure Materials with Controlled Microstructural Architectures, with co-principal investigators Jan Olek and Jeffrey Youngblood. Some of the research has been conducted in the Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research at Purdue University.

With support from NSF, a multidisciplinary team of material scientists, engineers and architects is using nature-inspired design and new materials to create smart building skins. A smart skin enables a building to function much like elements of some living systems. It allows a building to "breathe," but independent of centralized control. This Texas A&M University team is exploring the use of smart materials, such as shape memory alloys and stimuli-responsive polymers, in a variety of approaches to produce building systems that function in concert with the environment. NSF supports fundamental research that will shape the future of the nation's constructed civil infrastructure in the context of the natural environment, technological innovations and societal needs. The research team includes the following scientists and engineers: Zofia Rybkowski, Negar Kalantar, Ergun Akleman, Tahir Cagin and Terry Creasy, as well as the following students: Ruaa Al-Mezrakchi, Nikita Bhagat, Diya Dhannoon, Daniel Hirsch, Hyoungsub Kim, Maryam Mansoori, William Palmer and Saied Zarrinmehr. The research in this episode was supported by NSF grant #1548243, "EAGER: Interaction of Smart Materials for Transparent, Self-regulating Building Skins."

Spadefoot toads are master "shape-shifters," able to make drastic changes to their form and behavior in response to their environment. They're excellent candidates for research on plasticity in nature, or the ability of an organism to adapt to environmental changes or differences in habitats. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), evolutionary biologists David and Karin Pfennig and their teams at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study spadefoots to better understand the role plasticity plays in adaptive evolution. The research in this episode was supported by NSF grants #1643239, "EAGER: Does Adaptation Facilitate or Constrain Further Adaptation? Evaluating the Origins of Character Displacement;" #1753865 "Collaborative proposal: Evaluating phenotypic plasticity's role in adaptive evolution;" and #1555520, "Behavioral Dysfunction and the Evolution of Reproductive Isolation between Species."

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Megan Leftwich and her students at Georgie Washington University are conducting a comprehensive field study on the high-performance swimming of sea lions. With support from the National Science Foundation, the mechanical engineer aims to describe mathematically the unique style of these agile swimmers.

Renowned chemist, geochemist and materials scientist Alexandra Navrotsky has become a pioneer in her field over the last 50 years. She even has a mineral named after her – Navrotskyite. With support from the National Science Foundation, Navrotsky and her team at University of California, Davis (moving to Arizona State University) have invented an instrument to study high temperature materials, including rare earth oxides.

A University of Florida team is starting to gather real-time data on the impact of waves and rising water on bridges during hurricanes. Unlike studies that rely on tests in wave laboratories, this research will use data transmitted directly from bridges during actual storms. With support from the National Science Foundation, civil engineering Professor Jennifer Bridge and her students are investigating how best to provide early warning to communities when a bridge is in danger of failing due to storm damage.

This University of Washington research is advancing deep brain stimulation, or DBS, which is used to treat people with essential tremor, Parkinson's disease and other conditions. A team at the Center for Neurotechnology, an NSF Engineering Research Center, is designing and testing upgrades for DBS devices to make them smarter and less intrusive. Along with enhanced brain sensors, new control algorithms and machine learning techniques to improve device performance, the team is ensuring the design meets the day-to-day usability needs of patients. The research in this episode was supported by NSF grant #1028725, NSF Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (now the Center for Neurotechnology).

A quick check on a smartphone will provide you with the day's expected high temperature, but what if you could find out how hot it's going to be in your neighborhood? That type of finely tuned heat forecast would be as much for health as convenience. In fact, it could save lives. With support from NSF, a multidisciplinary University of Georgia team is compiling highly detailed, fine-resolution maps of the "urban heat island" in their town of Athens, Georgia. They're figuring out how temperatures vary in a city, block-by-block, so people can better prepare for severe heat in the future. The research in this episode was supported by NSF grant #1637277, "A Sensor Cloud-based Community-Centric Approach for Analyzing and Mitigating Urban Heat Hazards."

NSF's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, or National MagLab, is a global destination for groundbreaking research across scientific disciplines. Nearly 2,000 scientists from around the world use MagLab's facilities each year, leveraging the power of high magnetic fields to explore new physical phenomena, develop materials for future generation technology, overcome energy challenges, and increase understanding of the human brain and life in general. The research in this episode was supported by NSF grants #1644779, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Renewal 2018-2022; #1462383, CAREER: Fractal Bandstructure by Superlattice Patterning; and #1420634, MRSEC: Columbia Center for Precision Assembly of Superstratic and Superatomic Solids.

The Very Large Array, or VLA, is a complex of 27 massive antennas on the Plains of San Agustin in central New Mexico, all pointing skyward to monitor radio emissions from the cosmos. With support from NSF, astronomers, such as Claire Chandler, use this facility to observe the most dynamic, cataclysmic events in the universe. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1647378, National Radio Astronomy Observatory: Very Large Array Operations and Maintenance.

Imagine synthetic antibiotics that could fight infections like MRSA, custom pharmaceuticals to treat advanced prostate cancer, and new enzymes that will turn cellulose into fuel. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), chemist Kent Kirshenbaum and his team at New York University are engineering molecules to mimic the shape, structure and function of natural proteins. The ultimate goal of this biomimetic chemistry research is to develop a reliable way to build synthetic proteins that can be put to work at the industrial scale. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1507946, Functional Biomimetic Architectures.

The city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has turned to engineering research to tackle an issue facing many cities -- aging stormwater infrastructure -- during a time of tight budgets, growing populations and more extreme weather. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), civil and environmental engineer Branko Kerkez and a team at the University of Michigan are building a new generation of smart and connected stormwater systems, and they're testing them in Ann Arbor and other locations around the country. These retrofits are autonomous technologies that help the older systems perform better during storm events. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1737432, "Overcoming Social and Technical Barriers for the Broad Adoption of Smart Stormwater Systems."

This research team is sweating the small stuff -- in sweat! With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), device engineer Jason Heikenfeld of the University of Cincinnati and a multidisciplinary team are developing new technologies to take sweat biosensors to the next level. Their wearable patches allow tiny amounts of sweat to be captured and analyzed quickly and accurately with strong correlation to blood data. The researchers envision a day when data from continuous sweat monitoring will be an essential tool in health care, like blood tests. Heikenfeld is also part of a new start-up company called Eccrine Systems that's working to bring sweat biosensing to the marketplace. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1608275, Chronologically Correlated Sweat Biosensing.

Middle and high school students in Salt Lake City are helping scientists and the community better understand particulate matter pollution, which typically appears as a haze over the city in the winter. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), University of Utah chemical engineer Kerry Kelly and a team set up the partnership for outreach and education, as well as research. Acting as citizen scientists, the kids measure air quality with low-cost sensors in various areas around town, including their homes and schools. In school, they construct simplified sensors out of building blocks to learn how they work. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1642513, Community Network to Understand Air Quality and Sensor Reliability.

Mobile computing is accelerating beyond the smartphone era. Today, people wear smart glasses, smart watches and fitness devices, and they carry smartphones, tablets and laptops. In a decade, the very same people are likely to wear or carry tens of wireless devices and interact with the internet and computing infrastructure in markedly different ways. Computer scientist Xia Zhou is working to make sure there are no traffic jams with the increased demand. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Zhou and her team at Dartmouth College are developing ways to encode and transmit all that data faster and more securely with the visible light spectrum. They see visible light communication as a much-needed advance in wireless data transmission. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1421528, Networking and Sensing Using Visible Light Communications.

Scientists have long chalked up ocean mixing of salt, heat, nutrients and gases, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, to wind and tides. New research is investigating another possible contributor: krill. Mixing ocean water may seem like a big job for such a tiny creature, but krill are a force of nature when they migrate in giant swarms to feed at night. With support from the National Science Foundation, Stanford University engineer John Dabiri and his team are using lab experiments to understand the fluid dynamics of swarm migrations through a stratified water column. If the vertical migrations of krill and other organisms are playing a significant role in ocean mixing, that should impact future calculations about ocean circulation and the global climate. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1510607, Collaborative Research: Multiscale interactions between active particles and stratified fluids during collective vertical migration.