Rice helping study how soil health improvement can boost crops
America’s farmers rely on a host of practices such as cover cropping and crop rotation to maintain soil health, grow more productive crops and feed the U.S. and countries around the world. However, current research is too sparse to precisely demonstrate how these practices can actually affect the yields and bottom line for farmers.
Decontamination method zaps pollutants from soil
A rapid, high-heat electrothermal soil remediation process developed by Rice scientists and collaborators at the United States Army Engineer Research and Development Center flushes out both organic pollutants and heavy metals in seconds without damaging soil fertility.
Rice University welcomes US Navy research official on campus visit
Rice University welcomed Brett Seidle, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, test and engineering, on a campus visit Oct.13.
Rice-engineered material can reconnect severed nerves
Rice neuroengineers designed the first self-rectifying magnetoelectric material and showed it can not only precisely stimulate neurons remotely but also reconnect a broken sciatic nerve in a rat model.
A new National Science Foundation-funded study by Rice University will examine whether design strategies aimed at improving civic engagement in stormwater infrastructure could help reduce catastrophic flooding.
DREAM tool for gene therapies uses ‘locally sourced’ components
Rice bioengineers developed a tool that activates silent or insufficiently expressed genes using human-derived building blocks and a CRISPR-based genome-targeting platform.
Robotic cup helps wheelchair users stay hydrated
Rice undergraduate engineering students Thomas Kutcher and Rafe Neathery designed a robotic device that enables people with limited mobility to stay hydrated without caretaker help.
Interdisciplinary Rice team tackles the future of semiconductors
An interdisciplinary team of Rice University scientists has won a $1.9 million National Science Foundation grant for research on materials that could serve as the basis for next-generation energy-efficient computing devices.
Two Rice bioengineers win NIH Director’s New Innovator awards
Rice bioengineers Jerzy Szablowski and Julea Vlassakis received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award for their respective research projects. Szablowski’s work seeks to develop a noninvasive method of mapping gene expression, while Vlassakis is studying complex, single-cell level processes and interactions in pediatric bone cancer.
NSF backs Rice processor design, chip security research
Rice computer scientists have won two grants from the National Science Foundation to explore new information processing technologies and applications that combine co-designed hardware and software to allow for more effective and efficient data stream analysis using pattern matching.
It's easier to get valuable metals from battery waste if you ‘flash’ it
A battery recycling process developed by Rice scientists can retrieve valuable metals from mixed cathode and anode waste with a yield exceeding 98% in less time than normal using low-concentration acid, reducing both the cost and negative environmental impact.
NIH funds new Baylor/Rice genome editing testing center
A five-year, $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will help establish a joint Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University center to support the development and testing of new genome editing technologies.
Tiny CRISPR tool could help shred viruses
Rice scientists mapped out the three-dimensional structure of one of the smallest known CRISPR-Cas13 systems then used that knowledge to modify its structure and improve its accuracy.
Feds fund $45M Rice-led research that could slash US cancer deaths by 50%
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health has awarded a Rice-led team $45 million to rapidly develop an implant with sense-and-respond technology that could slash U.S. cancer-related deaths by more than 50%.
Copper-based catalysts efficiently turn carbon dioxide into methane
Copper-based catalysts developed by Rice University materials scientists help speed up the rate of carbon dioxide-to-methane conversion.
