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Copper lights the way, nano delivers for osteoarthritis, machine learning fast tracks a gene hunt and new tech breaks through sign language barriers. It's "4 Awesome Discoveries You Probably Didn't Hear About This Week."

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.

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.

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A new design for insulin that’s easy to swallow, deep-sea surprise game changer for climate, catching reefs on the flip side, and the physics of how bees chill Undersea Gases University of Southern California, The Australian National University, Lund University in Sweden Bee Cool Harvard University Insulin Pill MIT, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Novo Nordisk, KTH Royal Institute of Technology Reefs on the Flip Side NSF Moorea Coral Reef Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site

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This sustainable agriculture research relies on a unique contribution from humans -- urine. And, once you get beyond the "giggle" factor, it's an idea that is proving itself worthy of investigation. Fertilizer is made of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that require energy to produce. Human urine is full of those same nutrients, but we literally flush them down the toilet. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), University of Michigan environmental engineer Nancy Love and a team that includes the non-profit, Rich Earth Institute, are fine-tuning new methods to process human urine into fertilizer. The team wants to create a more sustainable fertilizer while at the same time eliminating a waste that contributes to water pollution. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1639244, INFEWS/Track 3: Advancing Technologies and Improving Communication of Urine-Derived Fertilizers for Food Production within a Risk-Based Framework.

Many children on the autism spectrum respond positively to robots, and interaction with socially assistive robots generally improves the social behaviors of children with autism, in addition to motivating them to learn. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), roboticist Maja Matarić, educational psychologist Gisele Ragusa and a team in the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California are developing fundamental computational techniques that will enable the design, implementation and evaluation of robots that encourage social and cognitive growth in children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental challenges. Clinicians and families struggle to provide individualized educational services for children with social and cognitive difficulties. This research aims to support the children with socially assistive robots, customized to each child's individual needs, to help guide the children toward long-term behavioral goals. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1139148, Collaborative Research: Socially Assistive Robots.

Catching brain hijackers, landscaping for the birds, a mussel shell tell and faster protein sequencing… much faster! EdHR: New Protein Sequencing New protein sequencing method could transform biological research UT Austin ENG: Alzheimer's Domino Effect Model maps 'domino effect' of Alzheimer’s protein misfolding Stevens Institute of Technology Stanford University Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford BIO: For the Birds Non-native plants in homeowners' yards endanger wildlife University of Delaware Migratory Bird Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute GEO/ENG: Freshwater Mussels Fracking wastewater accumulation found in freshwater mussels' shells Penn State Union College

Spooky Antarctic vibes, moving magma matters, tracking the tropics and aging ancient animals. It’s 4 Awesome Discoveries You Probably Didn’t Hear About This Week.

Tim Gatautis suffered a spinal cord injury in a swimming accident nearly a decade ago, and he's had to use a wheel chair ever since. He'd like to be able to do more for himself and that's what brings him here to the Wyss Institute and the Biodesign Lab in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Gatautis is testing out new wearable robotic devices designed for hand and arm rehabilitation, and the experience is making him feel much more hopeful about living more independently. That's one of the goals of designer roboticist, Conor Walsh. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Walsh and team are developing lightweight, soft, wearable robots that people can wear all day, every day, to help them regain use of their upper extremities. Walsh wants to shift the paradigm of rehabilitation from one where the therapist manipulates the fingers and thumb through some range of motion to one where a soft robotic glove can help the patient do the work themselves. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1454472, CAREER: Soft Robotics for Upper Extremity Rehabilitation. CAREER is NSF's Faculty Early Career Development program.

Illuminating danger, fighting ice with ice, modeling dragonfly wings and new personality choices – which is yours? It’s 4 Awesome Discoveries You Probably Didn’t Hear About This Week, all with funding from NSF. Lord of the Wings https://www.seas.harvard.edu/content/lord-of-wings Harvard University Scientists determine four personality types based on new data https://news.northwestern.edu/for-journalists/press-kits/scientists-determine-four-personality-types-based-on-new-data? Northwestern University World’s first passive anti-frosting surface fights ice with ice https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2018/09/worlds-first-passive-anti-frosting-surface.html Virginia Tech Oak Ridge National Laboratory Blazes of light reveal how plants signal danger long distances https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2018/blazes-of-light-reveal-how-plants-signal-danger-long-distances/ University of Wisconsin-Madison Michigan State University Japan Science and Technology Agency University of Missouri

People with acquired prosopagnosia recognize few faces, a condition known also as "face blindness." These are people who have suffered brain damage that interferes with their ability to recognize faces, even the faces of people they have met many times. The condition is rare. Only a few thousand people across North America have it. With support from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, psychologist Brad Duchaine and his team at Dartmouth College are studying the brains of 20 people with acquired prosopagnosia to better understand the computational and neural basis of face processing in general. The research will help scientists develop a classification system for the condition and advance understanding of how different face processing abilities, such as identity, expression and gaze, are organized in the brain. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1634098, Testing and building models of face perception via acquired prosopagnosia.

A new target for antibiotics, a dodecahedron device for the deep sea, electronic stickers to scale up the Internet of Things and self-fertilizing bacteria with rhythm. It's your weekly briefing on the latest discoveries you might not hear about anywhere else, all with funding from the National Science Foundation. For more information, refer to these news articles:

Something special in seal blood; a whole new angle on prosthetic ankles; a nanotech inspiration from single-celled architects; and sure, there may be "gold in them thar hills," but there's a quadrillion tons of diamonds in the Earth's interior. It's your weekly briefing on the latest discoveries you might not hear about anywhere else, all with funding from the National Science Foundation. For more information, refer to these news articles:

A University of Utah research team is perfectly situated to study rock arches. Arches National Park in Utah has thousands of them, including one of the longest in the world, spanning 290 feet -- Landscape Arch. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), geologist Jeff Moore and his team at the University of Utah are pioneering a new method of structural health monitoring to keep tabs on the structural integrity of these spectacular geological landmarks. The researchers have discovered that each arch has its own "voice," because it naturally vibrates, like a guitar string, with its own distinct resonant frequency. Natural rock arches and bridges may appear to be stationary, but they are in constant motion and impacted by seismic sources hundreds of miles away or even helicopters flying close-by. The team's research has important implications for the conservation and management of these dynamic natural structures, which are so symbolic of the U.S. western landscape. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1424896 Structural Monitoring of Rock Arches.

Zombie ants, DNA robots, growing organs & an app for assessing autism. It’s your weekly briefing on the latest discoveries you might not hear about anywhere else, all with funding from the National Science Foundation. For more information, refer to the following news articles: 1. Climate change forced zombie ant fungi to adapt 2. Breakthrough in controlling DNA-based robots 3. Synthetic tissues build themselves 4. Mobile app for autism screening yields useful data

Butterflies and moths constitute 10 percent of all known biodiversity in terms of numbers of named species. Understanding the formation of color patterns has long played a central theme in understanding biology, and butterfly wing color patterns represent a prime model to explore the history, genes and mechanisms underlying wing patterning. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), developmental biologist Arnaud Martin and his team at George Washington University are using cutting-edge genomic techniques, such as CRISPR, to better understand how the rich stripes and swirls of a butterfly's wing take their shape. "The wing patterns are used in nature for camouflage, avoiding predators, indicating toxicity and to find mates," says Martin. "So, we know why they are all so diverse, but now the question, I would say, is to understand how it happens, how do you create such an explosive diversity during deep evolutionary time." A single gene (WntA) drives shape changes across the wing surface in many distantly related species, thus suggesting a fundamental and ancestral function in butterfly wing formation. Together with research teams at the University of Puerto Rico and Cornell University, Martin's lab is setting the foundation for understanding how the DNA code can give rise to tremendous diversity of living beings on the planet. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1656553, Collaborative Research: cis-Regulatory Basis of Butterfly Wing Pattern Evolution.

Structural engineers at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) are using downtown Los Angeles as a testbed to broaden the design of earthquake-resistant buildings to earthquake-resilient communities. In this case, resilience means that in the event of a major earthquake, or even "the big one," tall buildings would better withstand the initial impact, and clusters of skyscrapers would be able to recover more quickly from any disruptions, such as water and power outages. The key is in the data and computer modeling. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the UCLA team is creating new models that incorporate performance data not only from shake-table tests, but from sensor networks in actual buildings. The models and new systems the team engineers are meant to guide safety inspections following earthquakes, helping engineers get to hotspots more quickly. The research tackles an important and challenging problem and will advance the ability to model and design more resilient tall buildings by also considering the impact of their performance on urban centers. The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1538866, Utilizing Remote Sensing to Assess the Implication of Tall Building Performance on the Resilience of Urban Centers.