Science & Technology

Scientists in biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech have succeed in using xylose, a sugar found in plants to produce large quantities of hydrogen in an environmentally friendly way. 

Unlike current methods of making hydrogen gas, Associate Professor Percival Zhang’s process is done at low temperatures, uses no heavy metals and releases almost no green house gases.  His team designed an enzyme cocktail for splitting of the hydrogen.  The result is energy production at a rate of more than 100% efficiency; a level current methods do not reach.

Most educators agree that kids learn best when teachers tailor their approach, working one-on-one with students, but it’s too expensive for every child to have his or her own teacher. 

Now, however, a Virginia psychologist is hoping to create a computer that can teach individualized lessons, adjusting speed and content based on a student’s face.  

Could we create talking, thinking robots to work in our classrooms – providing individualized instruction?  Could a computer be taught to tell when a student is losing focus or getting confused?

Architects spend a fair amount of time putting pencils to paper and building small models of what they’d like to construct – but how do they know their designs will work in the real world, and what does it take to get something built.  That’s what Virginia Tech hopes to teach in a whole new way.  It’s called a Design-Build Laboratory,  it’s gaining favor at schools around the country.
 

If you’ve been saving photos, notes and videos to your favorite social media sites and are counting on them to be there indefinitely, think again.....the Web may not the best place for storing the record of your life.