Go to page: 123456

The sea cucumber and the brain
Science sometimes moves in mysterious ways - for example, a lesson learned from the sea cucumber may someday help spinal cord patients.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are developing a better way to communicate with the human brain by studying how a simple sea creature defends itself. In this week’s Exploradio, how chemistry borrowed from the lowly sea cucumber allows bioengineers to build a better brain probe.
(more )

The Kinect connection
Researchers at the University of Akron are out to prove that a picture may be worth a thousand words in modern education.

Some educators believe analog education -  think chalk boards and lectures -  is failing to reach a generation of kids raised on high-tech video games and virtual worlds. In this week’s Exploradio, we meet a team of researchers at the University of Akron who believe a 3-D gaming consul can help bridge education’s digital divide.
(more )

The papyrus window
Kent State students are among a handful of undergrads nationwide given access to ancient papyrus texts from Egypt

The discovery of a huge stash of papyrus scrolls in the Egyptian desert 100 years ago is gradually adding to our understanding of life in ancient times.  But it’s taken scholars decades to translate the thousands of fragile papyrus texts. For the first time, a small number of undergraduate students have been enlisted to study the rare finds. In this week’s Exploradio we decipher the papyrus of Oxyrynchus.
(more )

The art of the skull menders
A small start-up in Cleveland uses cutting edge technology and an artist's eye to create custom implants for brain surgery patients

This spring, congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords underwent surgery in which doctors patched her bullet-damaged skull with a custom-made piece of plastic.  In this week’s Exploradio we visit a Cleveland start-up that creates skull implants like the one doctors used for Giffords.  It’s equal parts high-tech science and hands-on artistry.
(more )

Graftech out of the ashes
Caught up in a global carbon cartel in the 1990's Cleveland's Graftech reinvents itself; celebrates 125 years by innovating new uses for a humble material

A company born 125 years ago in Cleveland’s industrial heyday continues to thrive despite declines in heavy industry.  In this week’s Exploradio we look at how the maker of the most humble of materials survived graft and the global downturn by stressing innovation.
(more )

Monkshood patrol
One of America's rarest wild-flowers is clinging to life in Cuyahoga Falls and it takes constant vigilance to keep it safe

A sheltered cliff along the Cuyahoga River is home to one of the last patches of a critically threatened wild-flower.  In this week’s Exploradio we meet the man whose job is to keep critters and people away from the endangered northern monkshood.
(more )

The whirring heart
The Cleveland Clinic's Innovation Summit looks at the business of heart care, but the keynote speaker will share his experiences as the nation's most famous heart patient.

For people with severe heart disease, a small motor implanted in the chest can take over for a heart that’s ready to give out.  It’s a 20 year-old technology that’s suddenly gaining attention thanks to one very famous patient. In this week’s Exploradio, we look at a life without a pulse.
(more )

The Rx for hospital design
Experience Design is a new field that looks at the emotional impact of an architectual space.  It's used in retail, at Disney theme parks, and now, in hospitals.

The developers of theme parks, high-end retail, and Las Vegas casinos all know something about creating the right ‘experience’.  Now an area hospital is applying lessons from the field of ‘experience design’ to help enhance the patient experience. In this week’s Exploradio, we meet a former multi-media artist researching  what goes into the ideal hospital stay.
(more )

The liquid crystal kingdom
The future is now at Kent State's Liquid Crystal Institute, the world's foremost lab dedicated to research in this mysterious state of matter.

Look around and you’re likely to encounter liquid crystal technology -  your computer screen, alarm clock, cell phone, calculator -- even  the parking meter.  What was once an obscure branch of chemistry is now indispensible technology, and the world center for liquid crystal research is at Kent State University. In this week’s Exploradio, we meet the new head of the program, and learn what’s next at the Liquid Crystal Institute.
(more )

Wooster's solar record
The College of Wooster installs the largest solar array of any school in the country without spending any cash

The College of Wooster flipped the switch last month on the largest solar array for any college or university in the country.  They didn’t plan it that way, and they didn’t pay anything for it. In this week’s Exploradio, going off the grid, bigtime.
(more )

The natural origins of music
The sounds and rhthyms of nature help a Cleveland composer make the most of summer's passing glory

From the Exploradio archives, as the waning days of warm weather give way to autumn's embrace: It’s late August, and summer is winding down.  Song birds will soon head south, and the frost will silence the nightly chorus of crickets, katydids, and singing insects.  In this week’s Exploradio, a Cleveland composer shares her exploration of the natural origins of music in tribute to the sounds of the fading season.
(more )

The Power of Crystals
A legacy industry born in Cleveland struggles to compete in the 21st century.

Crystals have long fascinated with their geometric beauty and promise of hidden properties.   They are at the heart of early radios, electronic devices, and quartz watches, but new materials have dimmed the power of crystals.  In this week’s edition of Exploradio we look at the art of growing synthetic quartz, an industry born in Cleveland and now struggling to survive.
(more )

Dragons and Damsels
Summer is the season of dragonflies and damselflies.  The ancient insects have ephemeral lives in Ohio's ponds, rivers, and backyards.  A new guidebook opens up the world of Odonata to discovery.

Everywhere there’s water, you’ll find ancient winged predators -  dragonflies.  They date back to before the dinosaurs, when their ancestors cruised primordial swamps on three-foot wings.   Today 140 types of dragonfly, and their smaller cousins, the damselflies hunt mosquitoes in the backyards, rivers, and ponds of Northeast Ohio. On this week’s Exploradio we hunt them with Larry Rosche, part of the team of naturalists at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who wrote the book on dragons and damsels…
(more )

Swellable Glass
Wooster chemist takes accidental invention out of the lab and into production, and cleans up.

In science, an accidental discovery can quickly take you into unchartered territory, where sometimes it’s best to follow along and see where it leads you.    This week on Exploradio, a Wooster chemist follows up on an experiment gone wrong, and is now ‘cleaning up’.
(more )

Inside the Cloud
The new AT&T Akron data center feeds the wireless world with power hungry infrastructure

One third of American adults now own a smart phone, according to a recent Pew study.   We talk, text…send pictures, but seldom consider how of these bits of data travel from here to there.  The answer is in the basement of a non-descript building in downtown Akron. In this week’s edition of Exploradio:  a glimpse at the infrastructure powering the wireless world.
(more )

Whale necks and noses
How research in Ohio is revealing mysteries of Alaskan whales, and how whale secrets could help humans with sore backs

Each spring the Inupiat Eskimos of Barrow, Alaska gather to hunt the bowhead whale.  Researchers from Northeast Ohio are joining them to learn more about the massive creatures.    In this week’s edition of Exploradio -  how discoveries by researchers at the Northeast Ohio Medical University may help protect the whales’ Alaskan habitat, and someday help humans suffering from sore backs.
(more )