One of the major challenges in modern medicine is how to accurately detect disease when people are still feeling healthy. Researchers and doctors alike have long since wondered how to diagnose diseases such as cancer before it progresses too far.

Now, the medical community may find that answer in a new development out of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology called the Na-Nose.

The Na-Nose is a newly developed device that can analyze the chemical signature of exhaled gases to diagnose diseases with 86 percent accuracy. The science behind the device uses carbon nanotubes and gold particles to isolate volatile biomarkers in a patient’s breath.

Researchers then used a computer algorithm to recognize the biomarkers, creating a tool that can quickly and accurately detect diseases such as ovarian cancer or multiple sclerosis in early stages without any invasive procedures.

“It works in the same way we’d use dogs in order to detect specific compounds,” Hossam Haick, co-author of the study, told Smithsonian. “We bring something to the nose of a dog, and the dog will transfer that chemical mixture to an electrical signature and provide it to the brain, and then memorize it in specific regions of the brain … This is exactly what we do. We let it smell a given disease but instead of a nose we use chemical sensors, and instead of the brain we use the algorithms. Then in the future, it can recognize the disease as a dog might recognize a scent.”

Recent trends in solar technology have led to transforming mundane surface to energy harvesting powerhouses. First, Elon Musk proposed his new solar roof. Now, rural France is taking a page from that book with the recent paving of paths with solar panels.

The solar road is part of the Wattway projects, which aims to pave nearly 3,000 roadways with solar panel tiles.

According to reports, the 1 kilometer road will produce 767 kWh hours of electricity every day. Because the panels are flat, the amount of energy produced is limited. However, the energy generated is enough to power an average family home for one year.

“We are still experimenting with Wattway,” says Jean-Charles Broizat, CEO of Wattway, in a statement. “Building an application site of this magnitude is a real opportunity for our innovation. This application site has enabled us to improve our process of installing photovoltaic panels as well as their manufacture, in order to optimize our solution as best as possible.”

For the last decade, the city of Las Vegas has been working toward generating 100 percent of its energy from renewable source. Now, city officials state that goal has been met.

About one year ago, the city partnered with the company NV Energy, a public utility that distributes energy across the state of Nevada, to help Las Vegas reach its clean energy goal. NV Energy official recently announced that everything from City Hall to community centers are now running on clean energy after the finalization of Boulder Solar 1.

The Boulder Solar plant was built by California sustainable energy company SunPower. The 100-megawatt solar plant is located in the Eldorado Valley of Boulder City, NV.

Las Vegas’ major, Carolyn Goodman, hopes that this move will but the city on the path to be a “world leader in sustainability.”

New research out of the University of California, Riverside reveals a transparent, self-healing, highly stretchable material that can be electrically activated to power artificial muscles or improve batteries and electronic devices.

The researchers behind the development believe that this new material could be used to extend the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, improve medical and environmental biosensors, and even allow robots to self-heal after mechanical failure.

“Creating a material with all these properties has been a puzzle for years,” says Chao Wang, co-author of the recently published research. “We did that and now are just beginning to explore the applications.”

According to the research, the low-cost material can stretch 50 times its original length and can complete heal in 24 hours after being cut.

Corrosion is a dangerous and extremely costly problem. Because of it, buildings and bridges can collapse, oil pipelines break, and water sources become contaminated. Currently, the global cost estimated to repair corrosive effects comes in around $2.5 trillion per year.

But researchers in the field of corrosion science and technology like Robert Kelly, the 2016 winner of ECS’s Corrosion Division H. H. Uhlig Award, are looking to change the way we deal with the effects of corrosion from reactive to predictive.

“One of the sayings about corrosion is that we can explain everything and predict nothing,” Kelly says. “We’re looking to turn that around.”

Corrosion time machine

Kelly, AT&T Professor of Engineering in the University of Virginia’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is working with his team to better understand what’s controlling the localized corrosion process with a newly designed accelerated test that can predict the corrosive effects on certain materials when they’re put into their natural environment.

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We’re wrapping up another year and reflecting on some of our top digital media of 2016. Check out the top five viewed videos and episodes of the ECS Podcast of the year.

Top 5 ECS Videos

The New Model for Scientific Publishing | watch

Free the Science | watch

The Critical Impact of Our Science | watch

Allen Bard in 1983 | watch

Why Join and ECS Student Chapter | watch

Top 5 ECS Podcasts

Khalil Amine on Next Generation Li-ion Batteries | listen

The Battery Guys | listen

K.M. Abraham on the Invention of Li-air and Other Lithium Batteries | listen

Science for Solving Society’s Problems Round Table | listen

Critical issues in Renewable Energy | listen

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See the rest of our videos and download all episodes of the ECS podcast.

The abstract submission deadline for the upcoming ECS Meeting in New Orleans, May 28 – June 2, 2017 has officially been extended to Dec. 30, 2016!

Do not miss this final opportunity to present your most recent work in one of 50 symposia covering the latest topics in in the fields of electrochemical and solid state science. In addition to longstanding symposia on batteries, semiconductors, and fullerenes, the New Orleans meeting will also cover newer areas such as sustainable materials, nature inspired systems, renewable fuels, 3D printing, flexible electronics, and the first ever Battery Student Slam.

Absolutely no abstracts will be accepted past Dec. 30, so make sure to submit your New Orleans abstract today and present your work at one of the premier technical events in the fields of electrochemistry and solid-state science!

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The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 and continues to honor individuals among us who strive to make the world a better place through innovation. With a simple mission to recognize inventors and invention, the National Inventors Hall of Fame announces a call for nominations for 2017 recognition.

ECS is proud to partner with the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The chair of the ECS Honors & Awards Committee serves as our representative for the four-year term; Dr. Peter Fedkiw is currently in both roles. The Honors & Awards Committee has an External Awards Subcommittee specifically designated to assist in applications such as these.

Take time to consider a scientist or engineer among us who is worthy of a nomination. View the new National Inventors Hall of Fame web site for details about the award program, the corresponding STEM education initiatives and the list of inventors whose ingenuity we take advantage of each day. Then reach out to us for assistance is the nomination process via awards@electrochem.org.

ECS has an inductee that you might be familiar with Dr. Esther Takeuchi — materials scientist, chemical engineer, ECS member since 1985 and former Society President — was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011 for developing the battery that enabled implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). The invention afforded Dr. Takeuchi the 2009 National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

The deadline for nominations for the class of 2018 is March 31, 2017.

Since 1902, ECS has continuously published innovative, impactful research in the field of electrochemical and solid state science and technology. From the first publication of the Transactions of the American Electrochemical Society over 100 years ago to the over 1,700 journal papers published in the Society’s Digital Library every year, ECS has disseminated a massive amount of research since its establishment.

One ECS member happened to have a good deal of that research sitting in his basement office.

John Murray joined ECS in 1962, which is when he began receiving the paper version of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES). Since then, he’s stowed the paperbound research in his basement, making sure to transfer it wherever his career took him. Now, that collection has made its way from his home in Timonium, MD to ECS headquarters in Pennington, NJ.

Cultivating a collection

Murray’s electrochemical career began at Allis-Chalmers Corp. Research Division in West Allis, WI, where he worked on catalysts and electrodes that would assist in the development of hydrogen oxygen fuel cells for NASA. When the company hit financial issues and sold its research division to Teledyne Technologies, Murray was one of just nine employees to keep his position. That took him and his wife Stephany to Timonium, MD, where they currently live.

And of course, where the around 700 pounds of ECS journals live as well.

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By: Andrew Maynard, Arizona State University and Dietram A. Scheufele, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Truth seems to be an increasingly flexible concept in politics. At least that’s the impression the Oxford English Dictionary gave recently, as it declared “post-truth” the 2016 Word of the Year. What happens when decisions are based on misleading or blatantly wrong information? The answer is quite simple – our airplanes would be less safe, our medical treatments less effective, our economy less competitive globally, and on and on.

Many scientists and science communicators have grappled with disregard for, or inappropriate use of, scientific evidence for years – especially around contentious issues like the causes of global warming, or the benefits of vaccinating children. A long debunked study on links between vaccinations and autism, for instance, cost the researcher his medical license but continues to keep vaccination rates lower than they should be.

Only recently, however, have people begun to think systematically about what actually works to promote better public discourse and decision-making around what is sometimes controversial science. Of course scientists would like to rely on evidence, generated by research, to gain insights into how to most effectively convey to others what they know and do.

As it turns out, the science on how to best communicate science across different issues, social settings and audiences has not led to easy-to-follow, concrete recommendations.

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