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Technograph Articles

What is a bitcoin?

Bitcoins, a virtual currency, boomed and then flopped. They are used as a commodity on the Internet, and they can be used to purchase stuff online.

Posted on Apr 24, 2013 12:00 am by Brian Yu
Tagged with: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, bitcoin, currency, virtual currency, commodity, money READ MORE ›

Technology by University student takes caring for plants to a new level

When most people see plants start to wither, they respond in one of a few different ways. Typically they will pour a little extra water on it or take it out of the sunlight. But when Eduardo Torrealba, recent winner of the Lemelson-Illinois prize for engineering, student co-founder of OSO Technologies and graduate student, found his basil plant in the same condition, he set to work on a very different solution.

Posted on Apr 23, 2013 11:47 pm by Ashish Valentine
Tagged with: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, OSO Technologies, Eduardo Torrealba, Lemelson-Illinois prize, Plant Link READ MORE ›

Weathering the storm: Changes in climate intrigue, might devastate

Climate change has been hyped up in the media, and it has become political issue often debated. But what is it?

Posted on Apr 23, 2013 11:23 pm by Tim Van der Aa
Tagged with: University of Illinois. The Weather Channel, severe weather, climate change READ MORE ›

University researchers create heart cell-powered robots

It sounds like something straight out of a science fiction book, but scientists have created a “bio-bot,” a walking biological machine powered by heart cells. Before you start preparing for the upcoming robot apocalypse, bear in mind that these bio-bots are only 7 mm in length. Resembling small springboards, the machines rest on a thick supporting leg while being propelled forward by a thin leg covered with rat cardiac cells. Each time the heart cells beat, the bio-bot takes a step.

Posted on Feb 20, 2013 7:34 pm by Brian Yu
Tagged with: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, bio-bots, Vincent Chan, 3D Printing of Biological Machines for Biology and Medicine, 3D printers READ MORE ›

Researchers use ‘quantum dots’ to screen for diseases

Researchers at the University are working to make your next doctor visit much more colorful. They are adapting quantum dot nanoparticles, which are tiny fluorescent crystals, to screen for diseases from heart disease to cancer with the hopes of literally highlighting such ailments for diagnosis.

Posted on Feb 20, 2013 7:13 pm by Joseph Caffarini
Tagged with: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Andrew Smith, Wawrzyniec Dobrucki, Beckman Institute Molecular Imaging Laboratory, PET scans, quantum dots, cadmium selenide crystals, cancer research READ MORE ›

Circuit Jungle: Breaking down the technology CITES maintains at the University

In a typical day, a student might use the Wi-Fi on a laptop, check email on a smartphone and log in countless times to computer labs and course websites. But behind the monotonous login screen is a huge operation of employees and physical infrastructure we take for granted. CITES handles thousands of wireless connections, many devices and the WebStore and connects the campus to the world.

Posted on Feb 20, 2013 5:24 pm by Tim Van Der Aa
Tagged with: cites, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, campus information technologies and educational services, WebStore, wi-fi, Joe Yun, AKAMAI READ MORE ›

E-Motions: Using facial recognition technology to build interactive avatars

University researchers are exploring innovative ways for people to interact with computers, such as reading and responding to users’ emotions, automatically identifying the elements of multimedia and reducing the amount of data transfer in video communications.

Posted on Feb 20, 2013 4:05 pm by Tom Thoren
Tagged with: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Beckman Institute, thomas huang, facial recognition technology, interactive avatars READ MORE ›

How CheckLight helps detect head impact in football and other sports

Concussions and other head injuries aren’t an exact science. Consider this example: A football player takes an 80g hit and shows concussionlike symptoms. That same player next week takes a 120g hit, but he’s fine. So what gives?

Posted on Feb 19, 2013 9:40 pm by Darshan Patel
Tagged with: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, concussions, football, CheckLight, brain injuries, john rogers, swanlund chair, Ridell, Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, Isaiah Kacyvenski, Steven Broglio, University of Michigan Neurotrauma Research Laboratory, 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show READ MORE ›

Drone journalism brings reporting into the future

Thanks to modern news media conditioning, whenever one hears the word “drone,” one invariably associates the word with military-operated wraiths of the night, waging covert warfare against terrorist groups. However, not all drones are weapons of war. The emerging field of drone journalism aims to use remote-controlled and autonomous robots to aid journalists in collecting information and in reporting the news.

Posted on Feb 19, 2013 2:19 pm by Ashish Valentine
Tagged with: tag1, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, drone journalism, matt schroyer, national science foundation, enLiST, Entrepreneurial Leadership in STEM Teaching and Learning, The Professional Society of Drone Journalists, dronejournalism.org, Matt Waite, university of nebraska-lincoln, kate middleton, kodak brownie READ MORE ›

Be wary of troubled iPhone maps

While some of you may be planning your trip away for the holidays, you and your family should be careful which map service to use to plan your winter break trip, especially if you have an iPhone.

Posted on Dec 10, 2012 10:37 pm by Brian Yu
Tagged with: READ MORE ›

You can ignore conspiracy theorists, but pay attention to UN meeting on Internet

This week in the sunny and extravagantly wealthy Dubai, the United Nations brought together delegates from around the world in secret to discuss how exactly they will destroy the Internet and change life on earth forever. Whoa, scary! Right?

Posted on Dec 06, 2012 11:09 pm by Tim Van Der Aa
Tagged with: READ MORE ›

Researchers study learning through patent race game

The economics and psychology departments at the University of Illinois teamed up to learn how people think competitively. Their findings help explain strategic behavior and potential causes of neurological disorders; their experience provides a taste of what it is like to conduct multidisciplinary research.

Posted on Nov 29, 2012 12:49 am by Joe Caffarini
Tagged with: tag1, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kyle Mathewson, belief learning, competitive learning, ming hsu, haas school of business, helen wills neuroscience institute, university of california berkley READ MORE ›

UI professor lights up the future with continued development of LEDs

Nick Holonyak Jr. couldn’t care less about receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics — or any prize for that matter. For him, his achievements are symbolized through what we see, how we communicate and how we solve some of our toughest challenges. This year marks the 50th anniversary of his historic invention: the visible LED, or light-emitting diode.

Posted on Nov 28, 2012 1:16 am by Christopher Gozali and Darshan Patel
Tagged with: tag1, audio, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, LED lights, light-emitting diode, Nobel Prize, Nick Holonyak Jr., John Bardeen chair, department of engineering, ECE, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, ECE building, Reader's Digest, General Electric, Georgia Institute of Technology, Russell Dupuis, George Craford, Wolfgang Huhn, U.S. Department of Energy READ MORE ›

Lending a helping hand: Nonprofit design studio provides inexpensive prosthetic arms to those in need

As a subsistence farmer, Maranio Acensio Aragon has to grow and harvest enough crops every year to feed himself and his family. However, ever since the Guatemalan farmer lost his right hand in a machete attack, he has found it very hard to do so. But in October 2011, he was able to return to work in his fields using a cheap and reliable prosthetic arm designed by several engineering students from the University.

Posted on Nov 28, 2012 1:05 am by Brian Yu
Tagged with: prosthetic limbs, bump, Illini Prosthetic Technologies, Adam Booher, Maranio Acensio Aragon, Jonathan Naber, OpenSocket, University of Illinois Research Park, MIT Illinois Student Prize, Range of Motion Project READ MORE ›

University alumni found startup to reform Web education

There stands a house in Palo Alto, Calif., which until recently held 10 people in thier low- to mid-20s. Many of them had college experience, but you wouldn’t have said a college education was their primary interest. The nine-bedroom house and its residents were really no different from any other home and its inhabitants in the heart of Stanford University country.

Posted on Nov 28, 2012 12:43 am by Thomas Thoren
Tagged with: tag1, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Palo Alto, Stanford University, Bloc, Claco, Silicon Valley, education reform, Roshan Choxi, Hani Sharabash, Dave Paola, Coursera, Khan Academy, HTML, CSS, Ruby, Javascript, web development, Matt Frisbie READ MORE ›

Why video games can predict how well, quickly you will learn

Kyle Mathewson, post-doctoral fellow at the Beckman Institute, has been researching the neural activity that occurs when completing a complex task, such as a video game, and the learning curve that accompanies doing something new.

Posted on Nov 27, 2012 10:47 pm by BY Tim van der aa | Technograph Writer
Tagged with: tag1, education, video games, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Call of Duty, Halo, Mario Party, Kyle Mathewson, Beckman Institute, neural activity, Monica Fabiani, Gabriele Gratton, brain waves, electroencephalography, Counter-Strike, EEG, Space Fortress, sensory processing, alpha waves, benefits of alpha waves, brain function READ MORE ›

Fingertip sensors pave the way to high-tech surgical techniques

Doctors may soon be able to quantify temperature, measure movement, perform more accurate surgical operations and monitor internal organ health — all with the touch of a finger.

Posted on Nov 27, 2012 7:01 pm by By Thomas Thoren
Tagged with: READ MORE ›

University professor's statistical analysis predicts Obama's reelection highly likely

Forecasting elections has long been a popular pastime for political pundits and news junkies. But a group at the University thinks they can do it better, with hard statistics backing up every claim.

Posted on Sep 20, 2012 12:00 am by Nathaniel Lash
Tagged with: technograph, 270towin.com, Barack Obama, Bayesian estimators, Bracket Odds, Department of Computer Science, Election Analytics, elections_2012, electoral college, Fivethirtyeight.com, Jason Sauppe, Mitt Romney, republican_national_convention, Sheldon Jacobson READ MORE ›

Probable discovery of Higgs boson illuminates some areas of physics, brings more questions to others

The discovery of the Higgs-like boson, to some physicists, means the end of an era. The Higgs boson, named after theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, is the last missing piece of the Standard Model, which accounts for the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces in the universe. But to University faculty who have been a part of the search for the Higgs boson, discovering this final piece is only the start to understanding the universe.

Posted on Sep 19, 2012 11:14 pm by Nora Ibrahim
Tagged with: technograph, bosons, CERN, dark energy, dark matter, Deborah Errede, Einstein Rings, European Organization for Nuclear Research, Fermilab, Higgs boson, JJ Thompson, Large Hadron Collider, leptons, Mark Neubauer, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Peter Higgs, Standard Model, Steve Errede, Superconducting Super Collider, Tevatron particle accelerator, TileCal, Tony Liss READ MORE ›

Self-healing circuits could pave way to longer-lasting computers, phones

Smartphones make a particular sound when they die. Perhaps it’s the tinny clatter of an iPhone as it hits the ground. Or the creak of overbent plastic from the Blackberry you sat on.

Posted on Sep 12, 2012 10:51 pm by Danny Wicentowski
Tagged with: Benjamin Blaiszik, electronic waste, Gallium-Indium, Jeffrey Moore, Nancy Sottos, Scott White, self-healing circuits, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign READ MORE ›

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