Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan, became passionate about the loss of pollinators after watching a TV documentary. He remembers thinking: “I need to create something to solve this problem.”In 2007, he had tried to make a gel that conducts electricity, but it was “a complete failure,” he says. So he poured the liquid into a jar, put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Cleaning out his lab in 2015, he accidentally dropped and broke the jar. Read more

The age of intelligence is here. According to IDC, the worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics will grow from $130.1 billion in 2016 to more than $203 billion in 2020. Today there is an immense opportunity for enterprises to differentiate themselves from the competition by leveraging big data and advanced analytics solutions. If you’re already capturing or plan to capture IoT data, you can mine your data for unprecedented insights that may change the way you do business. Read more

Engineers have invented a method to control light propagating in confined pathways, or waveguides, with high efficiency by using nano-antennas. They built photonic integrated devices that had record-small footprints and were also able to maintain optimal performance over an unprecedented broad wavelength range. The method could lead to faster, more powerful, and more efficient optical chips, which in turn could transform optical communications and optical signal processing. Read more

Researchers have created a simulator that predicts in less than 10 minutes the behaviour of tsunamis generated by landslides. The system reduces the time spent in calculating different situations up to 60 percent. With this simulator, it is possible to immediately obtain information and thus facilitate more effective performance of authorities and rescue teams. The numerical model developed by the researchers accurately predicts the effects of the wave and performs a simulation before the actual events in real life. The impact of a tsunami on the coast can range from 10 minutes to several hours from the time it occurs. The simulation takes between five and 10 minutes and provides information on the time it will take to land, the magnitude and height of the wave, the coastal penetration and the flood that it would cause, which allows researchers to anticipate the course of action that should be followed in each case. Read more

The future is here: The first-ever production-ready flying car is set to be revealed in just over a week. Slovakia-based engineering firm Aero Mobil unveiled its flying-car prototype in 2014, but it was not made commercially available at the time. The company recently announced, however, that its latest model will be available for preorder this year (though there has been no word on pricing yet). This new model has not yet been revealed, but it's set to debut at the Top Marques Monaco, known as the world's most exclusive supercar show, on April 20. Read more

Our research group at the University of Oklahoma is leading NASA's latest Earth Venture Mission, the Geostationary Carbon Observatory, or GeoCarb. This mission will place an advanced payload on a satellite to study the Earth from more than 22,000 miles above the Earth's equator. Observing changes in concentrations of three key carbon gases – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO) – from day to day and year to year will help us to make a major leap forward in understanding natural and human changes in the carbon cycle. Read more

People who are in a deep slumber may not be able to say whether they're dreaming, but their brain waves might. In a new study, scientists say they can predict whether people are dreaming by looking at the brain activity in a region at the back of the brain, which they dub the posterior cortical "hot zone."  "Monitoring this posterior 'hot zone' in real time predicted whether an individual reported dreaming or the absence of dream experiences … suggesting that it may constitute a core correlate of conscious experiences in sleep," the researchers wrote in the study, published online April 10 in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Read more

New research from Yale University reveals four genes linked to cystic diseases of the liver and kidney. These findings provide a more complete definition of the spectrum of dominant human polycystic diseases. Researchers need to identify which gene mutations cause the disease in order to diagnose and find treatments for a genetic disorder. Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a common and often devastating genetic disease that results in cysts in both the liver and kidney. Cysts are pockets of fluid in an organ that develop over time and crowd out the normal functioning parts. The more common form of polycystic kidney disease, which affects adults and approximately half of their children, typically leads to kidney failure by the sixth decade of life. It is caused by mutations in the genes PKD1 or PKD2. The more rare juvenile form is caused by mutations inherited from both parents in a gene called PKHD1. Read more

Over the next three weeks, about 100 people will travel in a prototype shuttle on a route in Greenwich, London. The vehicle, which travels up to 10mph (16.1kmph), will be controlled by a computer. However, there will be a trained person on board who can stop the shuttle if required. Oxbotica, the firm that developed the shuttle, said 5,000 members of the public had applied to take part in the study. "Very few people have experienced an autonomous vehicle, so this about letting people see one in person," chief executive Graeme Smith told the BBC.

"We hope to gain acceptance from members of the public for vehicles sharing this kind of space with them. Read more