University of Nebraska

Six doctors in Nebraska have successfully operated a surgical robot aboard the ISS. This time, the operation was on only rubber bands, but the milestone could have meaning for future missions to Mars or for rural operating rooms here on Earth.

Among the cargo that just blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the ISS were two firsts: the world’s first metal 3D printer designed especially for use in orbit and the first miniaturized surgical robot to be sent to the station.

Name a type of organic matter and chances are some type of organism has evolved to eat it. Plants, meat, algae, insects and bacteria are all consumed by different creatures, but now scientists have discovered something new on the menu – viruses.

Although plain popcorn is a relatively healthy snack, it's still not one that most people would think of as being very nutritious. That could change, however, as a new variety reportedly offers nearly twice the normal levels of an important nutrient.

One shortcoming of carbon fiber that scientists have been working to address is its tendency to burn at high temperatures, and an international team of researchers have now found a low-cost and scalable solution to this problem.

The treatment of chronic wounds often involves the application of different medications, at different stages in the healing process. A new electronic bandage could allow this to happen, but without having to be removed for each application.

Over the last few years, perovskite has proven itself to be a promising material for photovoltaic solar cells, but it’s not without its problems. Now, a team has found a way to helps solve at least one of those issues, removing toxic lead from the device by substituting in titanium.

Aluminum is nice and light, but that comes at the cost of strength. By introducing faults into the metal’s crystalline structure, researchers at Purdue University have now developed new aluminum alloys that are about as strong as stainless steel, and they could make for corrosion-resistant coatings.

​Imagine if a bandage could release fresh doses of medication over time, or even different types of medication at specific times. Well, researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Harvard Medical School and MIT have developed just such a thing … and it could be controlled by a smartphone.

Physicists have created the brightest light ever produced on Earth, and it could be the first step towards more powerful X-rays. The researchers focused their Diocles Laser to a brightness a billion times that of the Sun, and found a change in the fundamental physics of how light enables vision.

Electronics don't work well in heat, which is a problem because heat is a byproduct of electricity. Researchers have developed a thermal diode that runs on heat instead of electricity. This could lead to heat-resistant computers that function in hot places like on Venus or deep inside the Earth.

After a male fishing spider mates, he dies and his female partner eats him. New research out of the the University of Nebraska-Lincoln postulates that the macabre ritual might have to do with ensuring healthy and abundant offspring.