Matt Shipman

Mar 19, 2013

Researchers Devise Hidden Dune Filters to Treat Coastal Stormwater Runoff

When it rains, untreated stormwater can sweep pollutants into coastal waters, potentially endangering public health. Now researchers from North Carolina State University have developed low-cost filtration systems that are concealed beneath sand dunes and filter out most of the bacteria that can lead to beach closures. 

Mar 18, 2013

Unexpected Entrepreneur

From electrical engineer to entrepreneur: when Ph.D student Vindhya Kunduru came to NC State, she didn't know she'd soon be bringing vaccines to market. 

Mar 18, 2013

Researchers Trap Light, Improve Laser Potential of MEH-PPV Polymer

Researchers from North Carolina State University have come up with a low-cost way to enhance a polymer called MEH-PPV’s ability to confine light, advancing efforts to use the material to convert electricity into laser light for use in photonic devices. 

Mar 18, 2013

The Heat Is On to Understand Thermal Transport between Materials

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Mark Losego, a research assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State. Losego recently co-authored a News and Views article about nanoscale heat flow in Nature Materials with David Cahill of the University of Illinois. The basics of heat flow have long been overlooked, but now,… 

Mar 15, 2013

Study Offers New Insights on Invasive Fly Threatening U.S. Fruit Crops

Humans aren’t the only species with a sweet tooth. Research from North Carolina State University shows that the invasive spotted-wing vinegar fly (Drosophila suzukii) also prefers sweet, soft fruit – giving us new insight into a species that has spread across the United States over the past four years and threatens to cause hundreds of… 

Mar 13, 2013

New Technique Creates Stronger, Lightweight Magnesium Alloys

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating stronger, lightweight magnesium alloys that have potential structural applications in the automobile and aerospace industries. 

Mar 11, 2013

Researchers Solve Riddle of What Has Been Holding Two Unlikely Materials Together

For years, researchers have developed thin films of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) – which converts heat into electricity or electricity to cooling – on top of gallium arsenide (GaAs) to create cooling devices for electronics. But while they knew it could be done, it was not clear how – because the atomic structures of those unlikely… 

Mar 5, 2013

Seniors Who Play Video Games Report Better Sense of Emotional Well-Being

New research finds that older adults who play video games report higher levels of emotional well-being. It’s correlation, not causation, but it is interesting. Researchers at NC State’s Gains Through Gaming lab asked 140 people aged 63 and older how often they played video games, if at all. The study participants then took a battery of… 

Mar 5, 2013

Seniors Who Play Video Games Report Better Sense of Emotional Well-Being

New research from North Carolina State University finds that older adults who play video games report higher levels of emotional well-being. 

Mar 4, 2013

Researchers ID Queens, Mysterious Disease Syndrome as Key Factors in Bee Colony Deaths

A new long-term study of honey bee health has found that a little-understood disease study authors are calling “idiopathic brood disease syndrome” (IBDS), which kills off bee larvae, is the largest risk factor for predicting the death of a bee colony. 

Feb 27, 2013

Researcher Finds Faster, More Efficient Technique for Creating High-Density Ceramics

A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed a technique for creating high-density ceramic materials that requires far lower temperatures than current techniques – and takes less than a second, as opposed to hours. Ceramics are used in a wide variety of technologies, including body armor, fuel cells, spark plugs, nuclear rods and superconductors. 

Feb 22, 2013

NC State Research Helps Shape Yellowstone ‘Winter Use’ Plan

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Dr. Chris Frey, distinguished university professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Frey is also chair of the EPA Science Advisory Board’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. On February 22, the National Park Service released a plan to guide winter use of over snow vehicles (OSVs), including snowmobiles and… 

Feb 19, 2013

Researchers Create Semiconductor ‘Nano-Shish-Kebabs’ With Potential for 3-D Technologies

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new type of nanoscale structure that resembles a “nano-shish-kebab,” consisting of multiple two-dimensional nanosheets that appear to be impaled upon a one-dimensional nanowire. However, the nanowire and nanosheets are actually a single, three-dimensional structure consisting of a seamless series of germanium sulfide (GeS) crystals. The structure… 

Feb 18, 2013

Researchers Coat Spinal Polymer Implants With Bioactive Film to Improve Bonding With Bone

Researchers from North Carolina State University have for the first time successfully coated polymer implants with a bioactive film. The discovery should improve the success rate of such implants – which are often used in spinal surgeries. 

Feb 15, 2013

Thor’s Hammer Is Not That Heavy (But It Is Scientifically Interesting)

In early February, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said on Twitter that the superhero Thor’s Hammer (aka Mjolnir) “weighs as much as a herd of 300 billion elephants.” News outlets pounced on this, and the news was quickly circulating online. Sadly, Tyson was wrong. Tyson’s reasoning was based on the idea that Mjolnir was “made of…