Science360
Science in Motion: Teaching Robots to Swim
A lively, informal look at research into the most efficient ways to move in the water, based on studies by Vassar College scientists. What they found about using flippers may surprise you.
Science360
Science Nation Celebrates Its 100th Episode
Science Nation celebrates its 100th episode by speaking with its producers and looking back on some favorites thus far.
Science360
The Secret Of A Snake's Slither
Snakes certainly make it look easy when they slither forward, leaving perfect S-curve tracks behind them, but scientists have long been puzzled by the mechanics of their locomotion. Now, after a series of experiments and some computer...
Science360
Science in Motion: Making Earthquakes... Indoors
A lively, informal look at earthquake research conducted by NSF's NEESWood project, featuring a full-size, three-bedroom house built on an indoor ""shake table"" at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Science360
NSF Science Now: Episode 22
In this week's episode we discover hidden dangers in crib mattresses. We learn about a new stretchable antenna for wearable health monitoring devices. We study the dynamics of deep Earth and finally we explore Antarctic ice sheets from...
Science360
Cooperative Robots That Learn = Less Work For Human Handlers
It is an unusual scientific partnership. With support from the National Science Foundation, Linguist Jeff Heinz and mechanical engineer Bert Tanner are teaching robots about cooperative behavior, by observing how children learn to...
Science360
Virtual Reality Fires
In a year when many Floridians have experienced first-hand the dangers of raging wildfires, University of Central Florida researchers are preparing to study whether interactive, virtual reality simulations of wildfires can make residents...
Science360
Pioneering effort to detect Ebola
According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola outbreak that started in West Africa in 2014 has sickened nearly 30,000 people, killing about one third of them. Detection of the Ebola virus is currently the only way to keep the...
Science360
3D Proteins: Getting The Big Picture
Proteins are the workhorses of cells. With support from the National Science Foundation, University of Arkansas biochemist James Hinton has been researching their structure and function for decades. Back in the 1990's, he had a vision to...
Science360
Living Bridge Project shows off potential of smart infrastructure to provide services
Engineers at the University of New Hampshire are raising the bar on what 21st century infrastructure systems can do. With support from the National Science Foundation, they're outfitting the Memorial Bridge, which links Portsmouth, New...
Science360
Biomedical textiles: these smart threads could save lives
Engineers are joining forces with designers, scientists and doctors at Drexel University to produce new biomedical textiles, and the resulting smart clothes are not only fashionably functional, but could also be life savers. With support...
Science360
NSF Science Now Episode 17
This week's episode explores silicon chip technology that could possibly extend cell phone battery life, babies and higher math ability, a drone helping farmers better manage their crops, and finally how more than 83,000 volunteer...
Science360
Pig manure paves road to sustainable asphalt
A new replacement for petroleum is coming from an unlikely source -- pig manure! It turns out that pig waste is particularly rich in oils that are very similar to petroleum. And while these oils are too low grade to produce gasoline,...
Science360
Education research team successfully launches innovative computer science curriculum
Jane Margolis is an educator and researcher at UCLA, who has dedicated her career to democratizing computer science education and addressing under-representation in the field. Her work inspires students from diverse backgrounds to study...
Science360
NSF Science Now: Episode 43
In this week's episode, we follow a construction site drone, examine tunable window technology, learn how words are represented in the brain and, finally, we examine 240 million-year-old fossils.
Science360
Bacteria - Energy Producers of the Future?
All of us use water and in the process, a lot of it goes to waste. Whether it goes down drains, sewers or toilets, much of it ends up at a wastewater treatment plant where it undergoes rigorous cleaning before it flows back to the...
Science360
Decoding Disasters: Are We Prepared For Another 9-11?
The Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware aims to help communities become as prepared as possible for unplanned, sometimes unthinkable events. The Center's work and guidelines have been adopted by the Federal Emergency...
Science360
Tongue Driver
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Maysan Ghovanloo at Georgia Tech designs technology that allows disabled people to control everything - from wheelchairs to computers - with their tongue! We visit his lab and meet Jason...
Science360
Trading Textbooks For Twitter
What are the benefits of social networks? Boston College Professor Jerry Kane has received an National Science Foundation career award to study the use of social media technology in the classroom and in business. In the classroom, he has...
Science360
Acrobatic Robots
Visit Dennis Hong's lab and you'll see robots climbing walls, negotiating bumpy uneven terrain, even typing a letter. One has a human-like hand, another slithers like a snake, another has human-like legs that it used to stand up and...
Science360
Leaf Cutter Ants
Leaf cutter ants could be called the overachievers of the insect world. They are farmers, medicine makers, and green energy producers. With support from the National Science Foundation, bacteriologist Cameron Currie studies the complex...
Science360
Worker robots that can 'think' on their feet
Assembly line workers won't be swapping stories with their robotic counterparts any time soon, but future robots will be more aware of the humans they're working alongside. With support from the National Science Foundation), roboticist...
Science360
Unvraveling Tornadoes
The project is called VORTEX2, but it could also be called The Amazing Chase. For five weeks in the spring of 2009, and again in spring 2010, 100 researchers and scientists from 16 universities will deploy about 40 vehicles armed with...
Science360
Computational behavioral science develops tools, methods to reach children with autism
Lexie is an active, healthy 2-year-old and already lending a hand, or more specifically her wrist to science. She's helping researchers test sensors designed to gauge something particularly difficult to measure scientifically --...