Science & Technology

The University of Virginia is one of six university medical centers to win a $7  million dollar grant from the federal government that should save patients time and money while providing better care.

When you go to your primary care doctor with a complaint, he or she might refer you to a specialist, but the University of Virginia Medical Center has another idea – one that could save time and money.  The E-Consult program allows family doctors who are part of UVA’s health sustem  to send a patient’s medical record along with a request for advice.

If you think it’s windy outside, that’s nothing compared to the wind speeds inside the wind tunnel at Virginia Tech.  Built by NASA during World War Two to test aircraft stability, it remains one of the best of its kind in the world.

Towns and cities in Virginia are perpetually short of cash, but a Charlottesville man says there’s an easy fix.  If they could get one state commission to share a single computer file, they could collect at least $200 million.  

Waldo Jaquith heads U.S. Open Data - a non-profit set up to help people in government understand how to use all the information they gather to better serve the public.  Lately he’s been looking at the State Corporation Commission. 

There’s a Hackathon set for this weekend at Virginia Tech. Students from around the country will be in Blacksburg. ---But no need to worry. These are not the same hackers who stage attacks on computers. 

"We need to throw out the misnomer. Hackathons are not really about getting together and hacking in to mainframes," says Computer Science major Brandon Potts, Transportation Coordinator for this weekend’s Hackathon at Virginia Tech.

Scientists may have discovered a way to clean up radioactive waste at Japan’s Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant.  A common substance found in plant cell walls may be part of the solution.