The Discovery Files

A new prosthetic ankle, developed by Vanderbilt University scientists, aids its users by adjusting to terrain that would typically present a challenge. It works by using a tiny motor, actuator, chip and sensors that work together to either conform to the surface the foot is contacting or remain stationary, depending on what the user needs.

The discovery of a family of enzymes with an affinity for lignin -- components of plants that make them rigid and less susceptible to pathogens -- could represent a breakthrough in the recycling of plant waste and production of sustainable chemicals needed for nylon, fuels and plastics. Scientists have been trying for decades to more efficiently break down lignin into its basic chemical building blocks, and a U.S.-U.K. engineering team believes these enzymes could be engineered to be super effective at doing so.

Scientists have discovered that seal blood has the ability to minimize the effects of an inflammatory response during dangerous deep-sea dives. The inflammatory effects of a bacterial toxin -- lipopolysaccharide -- are 50 to 500 times greater in humans than seals, and tests on mice immune cells suggest that the special properties of seal blood could protect the lungs of human deep divers.

To enable plants to take advantage of Earth's nitrogen-rich atmosphere -- and reduce the need for fertilizer -- scientists have genetically engineered bacteria that can make use of nitrogen gas, a process called nitrogen fixation. If scientists can apply this engineering method -- in which nitrogen-fixing genes are inserted into a specimen that normally doesn't fix nitrogen -- to plants, it could change the face of agriculture, making more food available in less time with fewer environmental costs.

A multi-university study reveals that E. coli has managed to keep a big secret about its defenses, the astonishing physical strength of the thin outer membrane that clings to E. coli's stout cell wall. The new study shows that the thin outer membrane physically protects the cell and could be a good target for a new class of antibacterial drugs.

Researchers from Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota and Western Michigan University have homed in on a fatty molecule that directs the destructive migration of sea lampreys -- a type of eel -- and the results of their study could lead to better ways to control them. One sea lamprey can kill more than 40 pounds of fish, and the U.S. and Canadian governments spend approximately $20 million annually to control them in the Great Lakes.

Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic researchers have found that one type of clay, Oregon blue clay, may help fight disease-causing bacteria in wounds, including treatment-resistant bacteria. In laboratory tests, the researchers found that the clay has antibacterial effects against bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, including strains such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Adolescents don't distinguish between negative emotions as clearly as younger children and adults in their twenties, according to new findings. The study sheds light on how experiences of emotion vary at different ages and why adolescence may be a particularly vulnerable period in emotional development.

In a new study, a passive anti-frosting surface fashioned out of an aluminum sheet provides a proof of concept for keeping surfaces 90 percent dry and frost free indefinitely -- all without any chemicals or energy inputs. The material manages this thanks to "ice stripes" -- microscopic raised grooves on the surface -- and it could help prevent the kind of ice buildup that leads to power outages and flight delays, potentially reducing the billions of dollars spent on such events.

Columbia engineers have made white paint whiter -- and cooler -- by removing white pigment, and have invented a polymer coating, with nano-to-microscale air voids, that acts as a spontaneous air cooler and can be fabricated, dyed and applied like paint. Research in Arizona showed that the coating reduced air temperatures under the coated surface by 11 degrees, which suggests the coating could help stem energy costs from cooling in a rapidly warming world.

Researchers have found neural evidence of early learning among infants who were coupled with a peer, as compared to those infants who viewed the instruction alone. Critically, the more often that new, unfamiliar partners were paired with the infants, the better results the babies showed.

Researchers have developed an implantable, biodegradable device that delivers regular pulses of electricity to damaged peripheral nerves in rats, helping the animals regrow nerves in their legs and recover their nerve function and muscle strength more quickly. The size of a quarter, the device lasts about two weeks before being completely absorbed into the body.

Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists have found that a brain region -- the ventral pallidum -- appears to be strongly connected to food preference decisions. Researchers found robust neural activity related to food choice in this previously overlooked part of the brain, suggesting this spot could be key to developing therapies and treatments to encourage healthy eating.

Stanford researchers have modified small flying robots to anchor onto surfaces and pull heavy loads, moving objects 40 times their weight with the help of powerful winches and two previous inventions -- gecko adhesives and microspines. The small size of these machines, called FlyCroTugs, means they can navigate through snug spaces and fairly close to people, making them useful for search and rescue.

Stanford researchers have developed an electronic glove that bestows robotic hands with some of the manual dexterity humans enjoy. The research team demonstrated that the sensors work well enough to allow a robotic hand to touch a delicate berry and handle a ping-pong ball without squashing them, and the team believes this technology puts us on a path to one day giving robots the sort of sensing capabilities found in human skin.

Scientists at the University of Cincinnati say the hungrier ticks are, the harder they try to find people or other hosts -- a finding that could have implications for the spread of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The researchers explain that starved ticks' metabolisms speed up, causing them to hunt more aggressively.

Scientists have developed a crop system that takes advantage of Guiera, a plant native to West Africa, to help sustain food supply for a growing population. A new study shows that the shrub, abundant in the Sahel region, can share the precious water they draw in and boost production of one of the primary grains, called millet, that provides nutrition to West Africans. The process can provide crop yields nine times greater than normal.

Researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed safer alternatives to phthalate plasticizers -- which can leach out of plastics into food water and the environment -- potentially preventing a variety of health problems. The alternatives can still enhance the suppleness, flexibility and longevity of plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), but they can't leach out of them because they are chemically bonded to the polymer chain.

From their laboratories on a rocky planet dwarfed by the vastness of space, Clemson University scientists have managed to measure all of the starlight ever produced throughout the history of the observable universe. According to the new measurement, the number of photons (particles of visible light) that escaped into space after being emitted by stars translates to 4 times 10 to the 84th power, or 4 followed by 84 zeroes.

Engineers at Rutgers and Oregon State Universities have found an inexpensive way to make thin, durable heating patches by using intense pulses of light to fuse tiny silver wires with polyester. It's estimated that 42 percent of the energy used for indoor heating is wasted to heat empty space and objects instead of people. However, the new heating patches can be sewn into clothing, so they can be more localized to specifically warm humans.