Research News Archive: 2017

Cybersecurity

Two researchers in a lab with a laptop and some other instruments

Ransom(a)ware

Posted: July 13, 2017

Cybersecurity researchers have developed a new form of ransomware that was able to take control of a simulated water treatment plant. The simulated attack was designed to highlight vulnerabilities in control systems used to operate industrial facilities.

A microscope image showing nanowire fibers

Expertise

Simpler Nanowires

Posted: July 13, 2017

A simple technique for producing oxide nanowires directly from bulk materials could dramatically lower the cost of producing the one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructures.

Closeup of a researcher's face looking through a three-inch glass panel that has several lines and dots etched in it

Testing Boosts Gene Therapies

Posted: July 13, 2017

Using tiny snippets of DNA as “barcodes,” researchers have developed a new technique for rapidly screening nanoparticles for their ability to selectively deliver therapeutic genes to specific organs of the body.

Materials

A false-color view of Titan shows a marble-like surface with light and dark patches

Electric Sand

Posted: July 12, 2017

New experiments suggest the particles that cover the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, are electrically charged, and clump together in a way not observed in sand grains on Earth.

A crown of thorns sea star under the water on a reef, eating a large piece of coral

For Marine Protected Areas, Size Matters

Posted: July 12, 2017

Marine protected areas may be especially vulnerable to attack by crown-of-thorns sea stars, which can devastate coral reefs.

Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure

A pair of gloved hands holds a small reactor made of a metal cylindrical piece with several wires and valves coming off it

Like a Champ

Posted: July 12, 2017

A new process makes producing hydrogen for fuel out of natural gas at significantly lower temperatures than the current standard.

Public Service, Leadership, and Policy

A pair of entrepreneurs having a conversation at a long standing height table in a modern office lobby, with several others conversing while seated in small groups

File

Launch Pad

Posted: July 12, 2017

Since 1980, Tech’s startup incubator has helped companies generate $12 billion in revenue

A scientist in a lab coat and blue protective gloves touches a small flat piece of equipment resting on a table in front of a large box that has a complicated metal structure on one side

New Power for Mass Spec

Posted: July 12, 2017

Researchers have harnessed triboelectric nanogenerator technology to dramatically boost the sensitivity of mass spectrometers.

People and Technology

Close up photo of enormous stacked sandwich

Sounds Important

Posted: July 12, 2017

Lower pitches in voices or music in advertisements lead consumers to infer a larger product size, a new study has found.

A wide swath of sky with six distant airplane-like drones all flying in one general direction

A Swarm First: Dogfighting

Posted: July 12, 2017

In what may have been the first aerial encounter of its kind, researchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the Naval Postgraduate School pitted two swarms of autonomous aircraft against each other over a military test facility.

Bioengineering and Bioscience

Portrait of Alexis Noel sitting in front of a table in the Invention Studio

Profile

Mechanical Menagerie

Posted: July 12, 2017

Meet Alexis Noel, a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering and an expert in cat tongues.

Robotics

Portrait of Sonia Chernova standing in front of a robotic arm mounted to a counter, which is gripping a coffee cup

User Friendlier

Posted: July 12, 2017

A new interface for robots designed by Georgia Tech researchers is much simpler and more efficient than the traditional interface — the user simply points and clicks on an item.

Georgia Institute of Technology

Research Horizons