Matt Shipman

Feb 12, 2013

The Big Picture: Helping Companies Make Products We Actually Want

Researchers have developed a model that will, hopefully, help companies develop innovative products that people actually want to use. The model is a first step towards capturing the behavior of both companies and consumers, so that we end up with more iPods and fewer Edsels. This concept may sound obvious, but companies have difficulty grasping… 

Feb 11, 2013

Researchers Find Asian Needle Ants Displacing Other Aggressive Invaders

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that one of the most aggressive invasive ant species in the United States – the Argentine ant – appears to have met its match in the Asian needle ant. Specifically, the researchers have found that the Asian needle ant is successfully displacing Argentine ants in an urban… 

Feb 7, 2013

Koch Elected to the National Academy of Engineering

Dr. Carl Koch, Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Koch is one of 69 new members and 11 foreign associates joining the academy in 2013. He is the 11th current NC State faculty member to… 

Feb 5, 2013

Flexible Classroom Design Saves Money, Improves Flexibility, Accessibility of Instruction

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a classroom design that gives instructors increased flexibility in how to teach their courses and improves accessibility for students, while  slashing administrative costs. 

Jan 28, 2013

Why Doesn’t Plastic Dry as Easily as Glass in the Dishwasher?

An Abstract reader recently sent me this question: “Why doesn’t plastic dry in the dishwasher? Or why doesn’t it dry as quickly/easily as glass? This drives me totally nuts.” Good question! That phenomenon drives me nuts too. The answer appears to have a lot to do with the amount of energy (in the form of… 

Jan 23, 2013

Researchers Create Self-Healing, Stretchable Wires Using Liquid Metal

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed elastic, self-healing wires in which both the liquid-metal core and the polymer sheath reconnect at the molecular level after being severed. 

Jan 17, 2013

Pulitzer-Winning Civil War Historian James McPherson to Speak at NC State

What: James McPherson, Civil War historian and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of “Battle Cry of Freedom,” will be speaking on “Lincoln’s Legacy for Our Time” as part of North Carolina State University’s History Weekend. 

Jan 15, 2013

Researchers Create Flexible, Nanoscale ‘Bed of Nails’ for Possible Drug Delivery

Researchers at North Carolina State University have come up with a technique to embed needle-like carbon nanofibers in an elastic membrane, creating a flexible “bed of nails” on the nanoscale that opens the door to development of new drug-delivery systems. 

Jan 7, 2013

Drawing on Real Life

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Jennifer Landin, a teaching assistant professor of biology at NC State who teaches a course on biological illustration. Check out why she thinks biological illustration is valuable – and some of the art created in her classroom. While other universities have biological illustration courses, as far as I… 

Dec 19, 2012

Trivial Pursuits: The Abstract’s 2012 Quiz

The Abstract staff will be taking off for a couple of weeks to prepare for 2012. In an attempt to amuse and entertain ourselves you, we’ve pulled together a quick quiz on some of the research we’ve written about over the past year. See how you do! QUESTIONS 1). Peanut butter can be healthier if… 

Dec 18, 2012

Researchers Use Liquid Metal to Create Wires That Stretch Eight Times Their Original Length

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created conductive wires that can be stretched up to eight times their original length while still functioning. The wires can be used for everything from headphones to phone chargers, and hold potential for use in electronic textiles. To make the wires, researchers start with a thin tube made… 

Dec 17, 2012

Engineers’ Neutrino Communications Named a Top 10 Physics Breakthrough

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post that first ran on the website of NC State’s College of Engineering. Research that produced the world’s first message sent using tiny neutrino particles — a project led in part by NC State engineers — has been named one of Physics World magazine’s top 10 breakthroughs for 2012. Earlier this… 

Dec 10, 2012

Innovation to Save Lives: A Student’s Story, Part II

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by NC State grad student Tate Rogers. Rogers came up with an idea to address the life-threatening challenge of human waste disposal in the developing world, and was part of a team that received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pursue the idea further. Rogers presented… 

Dec 6, 2012

Researchers Craft Tool to Minimize Threat of Endocrine Disruptors in New Chemicals

Researchers from North Carolina State University, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a host of other institutions have developed a safety testing system to help chemists design inherently safer chemicals and processes. 

Dec 6, 2012

Looking back at the Science of Santa’s Workshop

Two years ago, a team of researchers from NC State participated in a visiting scholars program at Santa’s Workshop-North Pole Labs (NPL). They learned a lot, and shared their findings with us in a series of posts from that frostbitten font of seasonal science. Santa’s annual moment in the spotlight is coming up fast, so we…