Why Academic Tenacity Matters

 

By Scott Barry Kaufman | April 14, 2014 |  

For academic achievement, ability is not enough. What’s also needed are mindsets and strategies for overcoming obstacles, staying on task, and learning and growing over the long-term. According to Gregory Walton and colleagues, academic tenacity is not about being smart, but learning smart.

Academically tenacious students:

1. Feel as though they belong in school, academically and socially.
2. See the relevance of education for achieving their personal future goals.
3. Value effort.
4. Seek challenging tasks that will help them learn rather than stick with easy tasks that offer no opportunity for growth.
5. View setbacks as an opportunity for learning rather than an indication of their low innate ability or worth.
6. Have a number of self-regulation strategies at their disposal to remain motivated and avoid distractions over the short and long haul.
7. Believe in their ability to learn and perform.
8. Enter the classroom with the goal of mastering the material, not outcompeting other students.
9. Have a sense of purpose, and feel that their learning will contribute value to the world beyond themselves.
10. Have positive, supportive relationships with teachers and peers.

Tenacity Interventions

“A well-timed, well-targeted psychological intervention can improve students’ relationships, experiences, and performance at a critical stage and thus improve their trajectory through their school careers.” — David Yeager, Gregory Walton, and Geoffrey Cohen

The good news about academic tenacity is that it can be developed, and a number of interventions exist. While these interventions are not magic, it’s promising that such brief adjustments in the classroom can produce such long-lasting effects. As Walton and colleagues point out, psychological interventions can “trigger enduring changes in the way students perceive their ongoing school experience.” What’s more, these interventions can work in tandem with other reforms aimed more at curriculum and instruction. Indeed, academic tenacity interventions are most effective when they utilize the student’s abilities and the classroom resources for growth.

Here’s a list of some empirically valid interventions to increase academic tenacity:

• Changing mindsets. Changing the mindsets children hold about the malleability of intelligence can change the way students react to setbacks and deal with challenges in the classroom. Students who were explicitly taught that the brain grows new connections and “gets smarter” when working on challenging tasks showed increased effort, perseverance, state-wide achievement test scores, and a change in attitude toward mastery. Mindset interventions also have been shown to eliminate the gender gap on math achievement test scores.

• Increasing social belonging. Strengthening students’ sense that they belong in the learning environment can alleviate their fears about performance, especially among at-risk minority students. In one intervention, first-year college students were reassured from more senior students that, regardless of ethnicity, it is normal to worry about their social belonging in the beginning of college, but that over time they will feel at home. Students then wrote essays reflecting on what they heard from the older students, and how it relates to their own personal experiences. They were told that their essays would be shared with incoming freshman in subsequent years. While the essay-writing task didn’t have much effect on white students, African American students who wrote the essays earned better grades over the next 3 years, and the Black-White achievement gap was reduced by 52%. African american students who underwent the intervention also took greater advantage of opportunities for learning.

Geoffrey Cohen & Julio Garcia: Identity, belonging, and achievement: A model, interventions, implications

• Increasing school identification. In one “values affirmation” intervention among 7th grade students in an ethnically diverse middle school, students were asked to come up with a list of personal values, and rank them in order of importance. Students then wrote for about 15 minutes why their top ranked value was important to them. Those who were part of this intervention showed increased grades during the course of the semester, and were assigned to less remedial classes and more advanced math classes. The effects were particular pronounced among African American students with a history of poor performance, who are often considered the hardest to reach. In another intervention among low-income Black and Hispanic 8th graders in an inner city school district, students took part in a ten-session workshop in which they were asked to imagine a future “possible self,” list the obstacles they might encounter to realizing that self, and strategies they would use to overcome the obstacles. Students in the workshop showed greater academic initiative, improved standardized test scores and school grades in 9th grade, had fewer absences and instances of misbehavior in the classroom, scored lower in depression, and were 60% less likely to repeat 8th grade. The effects remained over a 2-year follow-up, and were found to be directly caused by changes in the students’ view of their possible selves.

Geoffrey Cohen, Julio Garcia, Nancy Apfel, & Allison Master: Reducing the racial achievement gap: a social-psychological intervention

Geoffrey Cohen, Julio Garcia, Valeria Purdie-Vaughns, Nancy Apfel, & Patricia Brzustoski: Recursive processes in self-affirmation: intervening to close the minority achievement gap

• Increasing self-regulation. The Student Success Skills Program is an excellent example of a school counseling program that increases academic tenacity through the cultivation of goal-setting and self-management strategies. Grounded in humanistic theory, the K-12 program is “aimed at increasing the sense of agency and individual capacity of the student as a learner and a meaning-making entity within the school environment.” Each week, students (most of whom are struggling in reading or math) select a personal goal and write a plan to help them reach it. They announce their intention with a partner, and then the following week they update their partner with their progress, and if unsuccessful, they brainstorm adjustments to their strategy. Stories and activities are used each week to strengthen academy tenacity. For instance, to increase stress management, students are told to imagine, in stressful situations, a “safe place where [you] feel protected and in control . . . a caring, supportive, and encouraging place to learn.” The students then practice breathing deeply and imagining their safe space. These activities help nip the “downward spiral” of negative thoughts and anxious feelings that are common in school. In one study, children participating in the program (including academically at-risk minority students) scored higher on statewide math and reading tests than students in a control group. These test score gains remained two years after completion of the program.

This is just a sampling of successful interventions designed to improve academic tenacity, but they illustrate the potential for change among students. Sometimes all it takes is sending the message that all students belong and are capable of great accomplishments with the proper mindset, effort, and strategies for success.

Mesmo os pequenos países emitindo menos CO2 protegem o clima global

 

A Suíça é responsável por apenas 0,1% das emissões globais de CO2. (Keystone)

Por Luigi Jorio, con la collaborazione di Gaby Ochsenbein, swissinfo.ch 12. Novembro 2013 - 11:00

O último relatório sobre o clima confirma a responsabilidade do homem no aquecimento terrestre. O mundo político agora é chamado a agir para reduzir as emissões. Mas o que podem fazer pequenos países como a Suíça, cujo impacto sobre o clima global é praticamente nulo? Foi a o perguntamos a representantes de diversos setores.

Ioane Teitiota è o primeiro e provavelmente não será o último. O homem de Kiribati, uma ilhota do Pacifico, perdeu sua casa, invadida pela água. Ele se refugiou na Nova Zelândia, onde pediu asilo alegando um motivo sem precedentes: mudança climática.
O resultado de seu pedido é incerto. Nenhuma lei reconhece o aquecimento global como motivo para conceder asilo. O certo, porém, é que o aumento do nível do mar é provocado pela atividade humana. Em seu último relatório, O Grupo Intergovernamental de Especialistas em Mudança Climática (IPCC) confirma que 95% do aquecimento global é de responsabilidade antropogênica.

Para os pesquisadores, a ciência fez sua parte. Agora cabe à política agir. A reação não deve demorar, advertem os climatologistas. Dois terços do orçamento para de diminuir os gases de efeito estufa – ou seja a quantidade máxima de emissões se quisermos manter em 2°C o aumento da temperatura média do globo- já foram utilizados.
Muitos esforços são esperados principalmente dos países que produzem mais CO2.

A Suíça, responsável por cerca de 0,1% das emissões globais, está entre os “pequenos” poluidores. Mesmo que cessasse suas emissões, a consequência sobre o clima global seria insignificante. Então por que agir?

Na Suíça, o tráfego é o principal responsável das emissões de CO2. “Os automóveis e a calefação não emitem somente CO2, mas também outros poluentes”, acrescenta o porta-voz do Greenpeace Suíça, Clément Tolusso.
Embora a qualidade do ar melhore de ano em ano, os valores do ozônio, da poeira final do azoto continuam muito elevados, afirma o último relatório da Rede Nacional Suíça de Observação dos Poluentes Atmosféricos, publicado no início de outubro. Em 2012, o objetivo de redução de C02 na Suíça não foi atingido.
Reduzindo o CO2 contribuímos a proteger não somente o clima, mas nossa própria saúde, o que nos beneficia diretamente”, sublinha Clément Tolusso.
«Riducendo il CO2 contribuiamo a proteggere non solo il clima, ma pure la nostra salute, ciò che è direttamente a nostro beneficio», sottolinea Clément Tolusso.

Uma pessoa na Suíça emite cerca de seis toneladas de C02 por ano. Na realidade, essa cifra é mais elevada, observa Urs Neu do Fórum Suíço sobre o Clima e Mudança Global (Pro Clim). “Também temos de considerar, de fato, as emissões geradas por produtos importados.”

 

Clima, energia e medidas a serem tomadas, sob o ângulo suíço.  [...]

Em um estudo de 2010, os cientistas da organização americana Carnegie Institution for Science demonstraram que um terço das emissões atribuídas ao consumo de bens e serviços nos países ricos vinham de fora de suas fronteiras. Alguns países, entre eles a Suíça, “deslocalizam” suas metas de CO2, sublinha o estudo.
Para Regula Rytz, deputada federal ecologista na Câmara suíça, devemos fixar limites para a importação. “Os produtos que comportam altas emissões de CO2 não devem ser importados”. Na Suíça, acrescenta Regula Rytz, temos de agir no setor de transportes. “Por exemplo introduzindo uma taxa sobre o CO2 para os combustíveis e adotar normas mais severas para os gases no escapamento dos carros.”
Christian Wasserfallen, deputado federal do Partido Liberal Radical, acha que a Suíça deve evitar adotar medidas unilaterais, que podem prejudica-la. Pensar que a Suíça possa influenciar o clima global é pura pretensão, observa o deputado de centro-direita. “Precisamos sim é pressionar países emergentes como a China.”

Nova conferência sobre o clima

A 19a Conferência sobre o clima em Varsóvia, de11 al 22 de novembro de 2013, pretende concretizar a decisão tomada no ano passado em Doha (prorrogar o Protocolo de Kyoto até o final de 2020) e definir a estrutura do regime climático a adotar no futuro.
Em particular, discute-se como tornar operativo o Fundo Verde para o clima que a partir de 2020 deve mobilizar 100 bilhões de dólares por ano para aplicar em políticas climáticas nos países em desenvolvimento.
Em Varsóvia, a delegação suíça se empenha em obter medidas para redução real das emissões de gases de efeito estufa. Quer também o emprenho voluntário de todos os países de para definir um modo “preciso e transparente”, indica a Secretaria Federal do Meio Ambiente (UFAM). “Os países industrializados que não aderiram ao
Protocolo de Kyoto devem reduzir suas emissões de maneira equivalente aos países que aderiram” afirma um comunicado da UFAM de 30 de outubro.

A pesquisa suíça é vanguardista, afirma Andreas Schellenberger, da seção “Relações Climáticas e adaptação às mudanças” da Secretaria Federal do Meio Ambiente. “O país dispões de conhecimento, tecnologia e meios financeiros; deve, portanto, assumir sua responsabilidade e reduzir as emissões.”
No plano internacional, a Suíça já manifestou sua vontade de fazer avançar as coisas, explica à swissinfo.ch Franz Perrez, que representa a Suíça nas negociações ambientais internacionais. “Fazemos com propostas concretas e críveis. No ano passado em Doha, por exemplo, fizemos uma proposta muito ambiciosa: limitar transferir de um período a outro os certificados de redução de emissões não utilizados.”
É do nosso interesse agir, nota Franz Perrez. “A Suíça é particularmente afetada pela mudança climática. Além disso, se deixarmos todo o processo nas mãos das grandes potências, não creio que se possa avançar de maneira significativa.”

Se quiser convencer a maioria dos países a adotar uma política climática coordenada, é indispensável que a Suíça reduza suas emissões e comunique suas decisões, afirma Urs Näf, responsável de questões energéticas na Federação das Empresas Suíças (economiesuisse). “Assumir sua própria responsabilidade significa lançar um forte sinal internacional.”
É importante que os pequenos países façam pressão sobre as grandes potências, afirma Franz Perrez. Apesar da reticência de alguns governos, os negociadores suíços se dizem confiantes. “Creio que em um acordo global vinculativo. Será provavelmente diferente de Kyoto, mas estou certo que o oberemos até 2020.”

 

Toyota's astonishing new Atkinson Cycle engine delivers 78 mpg

 

In order to achieve significant improvements in thermal efficiency, the Atkinson Cycle engines have been lavished with numerous innovations including a reshaped intake port, increased compression ratio, idling-stop, Variable Valve Timing intelligent Electric (VVT-iE) and a cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation system (highlighted in image)

Toyota has announced the development of two hyper-fuel-efficient small-displacement petrol Atkinson cycle engines: a three-cylinder 1.0-liter and four-cylinder 1.3-liter which will be introduced across the range from next year in 14 different variations. The smaller engine will deliver 78 mpg (US) in the Toyota Aygo, an improvement of 30 percent.

The fuel-efficiency of the one-liter engine in particular is remarkable. The engine it will replace won the the One liter category of the International Engine of the Year awards four years in a row from 2007-2010.

At this year's Geneva Motor Show just a month ago, a revised version of the award-winning three-cylinder 1.0-liter engine was announced as the powerplant for the new Aygo.

Numerous tweaks were used on the reengineered engine such as a higher 11.5:1 compression ratio, an improved combustion chamber design, reduced frictional losses and a weight reduction courtesy of a cylinder head with a built-in exhaust manifold.

With all these changes, the unit's fuel economy had been reduced to 3.9 l/100 km (60 mpg US) at the same time as more power (68bhp – 51kW @ 6,000rpm) and more torque (95Nm @ 4,300rpm).

Now the new improved unit will be replaced again with an Atkinson Cycle engine of the same three-cylinder, 1.0-liter layout, which it has jointly developed with Daihatsu.

Though Toyota has previously used Atkinson cycle engines in its hybrids, it's the first time that the Atkinson design will be used as a stand-alone unit, and Atkinson Cycle engines aren't known for their low- and mid-range torque, but Toyota claims it has addressed this issue with a number of innovations.

These innovations include a reshaped intake port designed to generate a strong tumble flow (whereby the air-fuel mixture flows in a vertical swirl) inside the cylinder, and a cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system, Toyota's Variable Valve Timing intelligent Electric (VVT-iE) technology, an idling-stop function, high compression ratio and various unnamed fuel consumption reduction technologies.

The end result is a maximum thermal efficiency of 37 percent and a fuel efficiency improvement of "approximately 30 percent over current vehicles" – that's the difference between 60 mpg (US) and 78 mpg (US) and it's an astonishing improvement.

Toyota Aygo owners prize the car for its performance at the petrol pump, not the traffic light Grand Prix, and the Aygo is largely purchased for use in tight, congested, urban roads. The appeal of the Aygo and the other compact Toyota vehicles which will use the unit will be greatly increased.

The Japanese manufacturer plans to introduce 14 variations of the 1.0-liter three-cylinder and its 1.3-liter four-cylinder bigger brother by 2015.

The larger 1.3-liter Atkinson cycle engine uses a high compression ratio (13.5) and all the same engine innovations to achieve thermal efficiency of 38 percent. The efficiency results in the 1.3-liter engine aren't quite as spectacular as the one-liter engine but fuel efficiency gains of approximately 15 percent have been realized by comparison with current vehicles.

 

Three Questions for iRobot’s CTO Paolo Pirjanian

 

The Roomba maker is working on technology that could enable robots to help with more household chores.

• By Tom Simonite on April 14, 2014

Thanks to iRobot, the idea of having a robot vacuum your floors no longer seems futuristic—the company has now sold more than 10 million of its Roombas around the world. But most housework is still far beyond the capabilities of any robot on the market. Engineers in iRobot’s R&D labs are hoping to change that by developing technology to enable robots to understand and interact with their environment. The company’s chief technology officer, Paolo Pirjanian, met with MIT Technology Review’s Tom Simonite last week to explain.

You say you want robots to take on more tasks around the home. What technologies must you develop to do that?

The missing link in robotics is low-cost manipulation. Manipulation is most successful in industry where they use very high precision motors and rigid links between everything, and grippers that wouldn’t be safe in the home. Low-cost means tens of thousands of dollars [in that world]. We’re working on making manipulation much cheaper, for example using plastic parts, not steel, that can tolerate less precision (see “Cheaper Joints and Digits Bring the Robot Revolution Closer”).

Navigation is also a key area, because it allows robots to move around freely and intelligently. In the consumer space the state of the art is Northstar, used by our Braava robot. It projects infrared spots onto the ceiling that act as guidance markers. The next generation that we’re working on uses a camera combined with inertial sensors like in a cell phone. It uses photos as landmarks for navigation, and that can extend to larger areas, even outdoors.

We’re also being helped by the availability of low-cost 3-D sensors. If you combine photos with a 3-D map of a room you get something like a CAD model or a video game environment. That can enable more autonomy for a robot because it can understand things like where a door or chair leg is; it could allow robots to understand the environment all the way down to the level of individual objects. That kind of map also provides a common language for the robot and human to talk through. I can say: “Stay out of this room,” “mop the kitchen on Tuesdays,” or even “find this book.”

Can you really make robots smart enough to do that?

A high-fidelity map will require a lot of storage. And it’s not possible to conceive a system that would let a robot understand hundreds of thousands of objects. But the cloud can have all that knowledge. A robot can use the cloud to start learning things about its environment. For example, this object is a cup and so I have to grab it like this; it looks like it’s glass so I need to grip it tight enough so it doesn’t slip but not too hard so it breaks.

What might robots built with this technology do in our homes?

They are most valuable for what you might call chores—things that we have to do over and over again. Consumer research tells us that laundry is the number one household task that people spend their time on, so a laundry robot would be on top of the list. But that is a ways off. Before that we might look at moving from the Roomba to other surfaces and things we have to clean—windows, for example, or the bath and the shower. Through our government and defense business we have a lot of experience with things that work in rugged outdoor environments, so you can imagine us going into the backyard.

If you look at our enterprise teleconference robot Ava, which can navigate on its own, you can also imagine a robot that you use to stay in touch with or assist and monitor people bound to their homes. If I had a grandmother that lived in Florida and hadn’t heard from her, I could ask the robot to find her and call me so I can help. Or perhaps a health-care service does that.

 

A New Pathway for Neuron Repair is Discovered

 

Main Content

 

This image shows a single neuron in a whole animal 5 hours after dendrites were removed with laser surgery (left). The same cell was imaged at 48 hours and 96 hours after the dendrites were removed. At 48 hours (middle) a new dendrite arbor extends from the cell body, and by 96 hours the new arbor fills the entire space normally occupied by the cell. Credit: Melissa Rolls lab, Penn State University

09 January 2014 — Penn State University molecular biologists have discovered a brand-new pathway for repairing nerve cells that could have implications for faster and improved healing. The researchers describe their findings in a paper titled "Dendrite injury triggers DLK-independent regeneration," which will be published in the 30 January 2014 issue of the journal Cell Reports. These findings demonstrate that dendrites, the component of nerve cells that receive information from the brain, have the capacity to regrow after an injury.

Previous studies using many models have shown that when nerve cells, or neurons, are injured they repair the damage through regrowth of axons, the component of a neuron that sends information to other cells, explained co-author Melissa Rolls, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. "For example, if you break your arm and the bone slices some axons, you may lose feeling or movement in part of your hand. Over time you get this feeling back as the axon regenerates."

Given neurons' capacity for axon regeneration, Rolls and her colleagues wondered whether dendrites, also, could regenerate after injury. This question hadn't been asked in the scientific community, save for a couple of previous limited-scale studies that yielded mixed results.

Using the fruit fly (Drosophila) as a model system, the researchers took what Rolls calls a "radical approach," cutting off all of the dendrites in neuron cells. "We wanted to really push the cells to the furthest limit," she said. "By cutting off all the dendrites, the cells would no longer be able to receive information, and we expected they might die. We were amazed to find that the cells don't die. Instead, they regrow the dendrites completely and much more quickly than they regrow axons. Within a few hours they'll start regrowing dendrites, and after a couple of days they have almost their entire arbor. It's very exciting—these cells are extremely robust."
Moreover, it appears that dendrite regeneration happens independently of axon regeneration. When Rolls and her colleagues blocked the key signaling molecules that are required for axon regeneration in all animals, they found that dendrites were unaffected and continued to regrow. "This means that, not only do these neurons have an incredible ability to generate, they have two different regeneration pathways: one for axons and one for dendrites," she said. "Because it has not even been clear that dendrites can regenerate, it's a complete open question about what might be involved in that process. The next step will be to look for markers for dendrite regrowth -- proteins that are required or genes that are turned on in the process -- so we can learn more about what's going on during dendrite repair. We don't even know in what scenarios dendrite regeneration might happen in people yet because no one has known that it exists."
The implications for human health -- although a long way down the road -- are important, Rolls said. For example, in the case of stroke, when a region of the brain suffers blood loss, dendrites on brain cells are damaged and can be repaired only if blood loss is very brief. Otherwise, it is thought those brain cells die. But if those cells are able to regenerate dendrites, and if scientists learn how dendrite regrowth happens, researchers may be able to promote this process.
"We've provided some cause for hope when it comes to neuron damage," Rolls said. "This is optimistic work we are doing. It's just great to know there is this whole other pathway for survival that no one has even looked into before."
In addition to Rolls, scientists who contributed to this research include Michelle C. Stone, Richard M. Albertson, and Li Chen, all from Penn State. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health Grant #R01 GM085115 and the Pew Charitable Trusts (Rolls was a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences).

 

Enabling Nerve Cell Regeneration

 

Main Content

Apc2 localizes to branch points in dendrites. We propose it recruits the machinery to direct microtubule growth to the branch point where it acts. Credit: Melissa Long, Rolls Lab.

Nerve cells are amazing in their ability to regenerate themselves. How they do this is still a mystery. Researchers led by Melissa Rolls recently discovered that motor protein kinesin-2 is critical for this rebuilding. Nerve cells extend two long structures from their cell body: axons (sends signals) and dendrites (receives signals). For efficient nerve cell operations, microtubules (the neuronal highways) must line up in a specific way (polarity) in each part of the cell.

Previously Rolls and her team found that when an axon is removed, microtubules in a dendrite reorient themselves in the axonal direction and enable growth of a new axon. Now by preventing kinesin-2 production in Drosophila, the dendrite microtubules were unable to be rebuilt in the correct polaity. Further understanding of this signal transport control may contribute toward the development of therapeutic treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic neural injury.

Nanoparticle Opens the Door to Clean-Energy Alternatives

 

Main Content

A transmission-electron microscope image of a collection of quasi-spherical nickel phosphide nanoparticles. A team led by Raymond Schaak of Penn State University has found that these nanoparticles can catalyze an important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water. Credit: Eric Popczun, Penn State University

13 June 2013 — Cheaper clean-energy technologies could be made possible thanks to a new discovery. Led by Raymond Schaak, a professor of chemistry at Penn State University, research team members have found that an important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water is effectively triggered -- or catalyzed -- by a nanoparticle composed of nickel and phosphorus, two inexpensive elements that are abundant on Earth. The results of the research will be published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Schaak explained that the purpose of the nickel phosphide nanoparticle is to help produce hydrogen from water, which is a process that is important for many energy-production technologies, including fuel cells and solar cells. "Water is an ideal fuel, because it is cheap and abundant, but we need to be able to extract hydrogen from it," Schaak said. Hydrogen has a high energy density and is a great energy carrier, Schaak explained, but it requires energy to produce. To make its production practical, scientists have been hunting for a way to trigger the required chemical reactions with an inexpensive catalyst. Schaak noted that this feat is accomplished very well by platinum but, because platinum is expensive and relatively rare, he and his team have been searching for alternative materials. "There were some predictions that nickel phosphide might be a good candidate, and we had already been working with nickel phosphide nanoparticles for several years," Schaak said. "It turns out that nanoparticles of nickel phosphide are indeed active for producing hydrogen and are comparable to the best known alternatives to platinum."

Image showing hydrogen gas bubbling off of the surface of a nickel phosphide crystal. A team led by Raymond Schaak of Penn State University is studying nanoparticles made from nickel phosphide as a means to create cleaner energy technologies. Credit: Eric Popczun, Penn State University

To create the nickel phosphide nanoparticles, team members began with metal salts that are commercially available. They then dissolved these salts in solvents, added other chemical ingredients, and heated the solution to allow the nanoparticles to form. The researchers were able create a nanoparticle that was quasi-spherical -- not a perfect sphere, but spherical with many flat, exposed edges. "The small size of the nanoparticles creates a high surface area, and the exposed edges means that a large number of sites are available to catalyze the chemical reaction that produces hydrogen," Schaak explained.

The next step was for team members at the California Institute of Technology to test the nanoparticles' performance in catalyzing the necessary chemical reactions. Led by Nathan S. Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, the researchers performed these tests by placing the nanoparticles onto a sheet of titanium foil and immersing that sheet in a solution of sulfuric acid. Next, the researchers applied a voltage and measured the current produced. They found that, not only were the chemical reactions happening as they had hoped, they also were happening with a high degree of efficacy.

"Nanoparticle technology has already started to open the door to cheaper and cleaner energy that is also efficient and useful," Schaak said. "The goal now is to further improve the performance of these nanoparticles and to understand what makes them function the way they do. Also, our team members believe that our success with nickel phosphide can pave the way toward the discovery of other new catalysts that also are comprised of Earth-abundant materials. Insights from this discovery may lead to even better catalysts in the future."

In addition to Schaak and Lewis, other researchers who contributed to this study include Eric J. Popczun, Carlos G. Read, Adam J. Biacchi, and Alex M. Wiltrout from Penn State; and James R. McKone from the California Institute of Technology.

A Bandage That Senses Tremors, Delivers Drugs, and Keeps a Record

 

A flexible electronic skin patch has strain gauges to measure tremors, and heating elements to release drugs held inside nanoparticles.

• By David Talbot on April 1, 2014

Why It Matters

Existing medical devices for monitoring disorders or delivering treatments are clunky.

Drug patch: A new prototype of an electronic skin patch can detect muscle tremors and deliver drugs from nanoparticles.

Offering a preview of what future wearable medical devices may look like, researchers in Korea have built a skin patch that’s thinner than a sheet of paper and can detect subtle tremors, release drugs stored inside nanoparticles on-demand, and record all of this activity for review later.

While still under development, the technology might someday be useful to sufferers of Parkinson’s disease or other movement disorders. “The system represents a new direction in personalized health care that will eventually enable advanced diagnostics and therapy on devices that can be worn like a child’s temporary tattoo,” says Dae-Hyeong Kim, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Seoul National University, who led the work (see “Innovators Under 35: Dae-Hyeong Kim”).

The work was done with researchers at MC10, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is working on commercializing the underlying “stretchable electronics.” MC10, which has investments from big medical device companies including Medtronic, is working with partners in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to launch products that would do part of what the Korean group demonstrated: detect and store signals like tremors, respiration, heart rate, and temperature so that doctors can review data about neuromuscular and cardiovascular disorders.

“Existing classes of electronics are rigid and packaged, leading to bulky strap-on monitors; the new technology would be unobtrusive and practically unnoticed by the wearer, says Roozbeh Ghaffari, cofounder of MC10 (see “Innovators Under 35: Roozbeh Ghaffari”).

A paper released on Sunday in Nature Nanotechnology describes multiple nanoscale membranes packaged as a system for motion sensing, drug delivery, and data storage—all of it integrated on a stretchable patch, like a Band-Aid, that would adhere on the skin. Drug therapy tests on human patients are still a few years off; so far, the group has demonstrated how it can release a dye on a patch of pig skin.

Spring-like strain gauges measure muscle activity. These consist of silicon nanomembrane sensors in a serpentine shape, each curve several hundred micrometers apart. When stretched, changes in electrical resistance on the filaments are detected, and the frequency of the signals indicates whether a stretch was from a normal arm movement or a fast tremor.

The data is recorded on a simple memory system, consisting of memory cells just 30 nanometers thick; these cells record high resistance versus low resistance states due to changing electrical properties across the membranes. In the future, these data could be accessed through an RFID tag integrated into the device, or might be streamed to a nearby smartphone; however, the communications component has not yet been added.

The patch also contains heating elements that can be activated remotely to release drugs. The heating elements raise the patch temperature several degrees, which in turn releases drugs surrounded by porous silica nanoparticles. When heated, the physical bond between the drug and nanoparticles breaks, leading to a diffusion-driven release of molecules through the skin.

“Ultimately we will develop a fully automated system that incorporates these sensors and a memory- and drug-release mechanism together with a microcontroller to deliver automated drug release in an epidermal patch,” Ghaffari says.

While the prototype is focused on detecting movement disorders, other versions could sense things like perspiration, temperature, heart rate, or blood oxygen, and use those changes as a triggering mechanism for various therapies. The teams are working to bring this platform through regulatory and clinical studies.

The work builds on the fundamental research of John Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois. Three years ago, he introduced the idea of “epidermal electronics,” or ultrathin, skin-like semiconductor materials that could monitor vital signs on the skin.

“What this paper does is take the epidermal electronics and couple it with memory onboard, and therapy. You can close the loop from diagnosis to therapy on a single patch,” Ghaffari says.

Other researchers have demonstrated competing approaches. For example, a beneath-the-skin drug-release chip is being developed commercially by MicroChips of Lexington, Massachusetts. That company was cofounded by Robert Langer, a biomedical engineer at MIT.

 

Pay with Your Fingerprint

 

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is the first smartphone that can use a fingerprint to authorize payments in stores and online.

• By Tom Simonite on April 2, 2014

Why It Matters

Using fingerprints to authenticate payments could significantly improve security and ease of use.

Anyone with an iPhone 5 can use its fingerprint reader to unlock the device and pay for apps or music in Apple’s iTunes store. Owners of Samsung’s latest flagship device, the Galaxy S5 smartphone, which launches on April 11, will be able to make much broader use of their fingerprints to pay for things. If they visit a website or app that accepts PayPal using the device, they can authorize payments by swiping a finger across the phone’s home button. And PayPal’s own mobile app can be used to pay for goods in some physical stores in the U.S.

Fingerprint payments are likely to be offered on many more smartphones in the near future. The Galaxy S5’s payments system is the first commercial deployment of a new protocol developed by the FIDO Alliance, a group founded by tech companies to end our reliance on insecure passwords (see “PayPal, Lenovo Launch Campaign to Kill the Password”). Indeed, fingerprint readers are expected to become commonplace on mobile devices over the next year or so (see “A Technological Assault on the Password”).

“Today people are having to type in nine-digit passwords everywhere, including one-handed on the subway,” says Joel Yarbrough, senior director of global product solutions at PayPal. This leads many people to use simple passwords and to reuse them across multiple services. This, in turn, makes it easier for criminals to take control of accounts. “Building a smart biometric experience solves both usability and dramatically increases the security level,” says Yarbrough.

To start using your finger for payments on the new Samsung phone, you have to go through a short setup process that registers the identity of the device, based on its cryptographic chip, and links your fingerprint to a PayPal account. Afterward, PayPal’s software asks for a fingerprint swipe anytime an app or site would usually show a log-in screen.

Fingertip swipe: The fingerprint sensor in Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone can be used to make PayPal payments online, in mobile apps, and in physical stores.

The FIDO protocol is designed so that a record of your fingerprint never leaves your device. Instead, the fingerprint reader’s output is used to generate cryptographic keys that are combined with those from the device’s cryptographic chip to create a new key that can’t be used to copy the fingerprint used to make it.

The Galaxy S5 is so far the only device to support PayPal’s new FIDO-based fingerprint system, and PayPal is cagey about how soon others might appear. But Yarbrough acknowledges that Samsung isn’t the only gadget maker looking at fingerprint readers. “It’s our impression that a lot of manufacturers are investing time in this technology,” he says. Brett McDowell, senior security advisor at PayPal and vice president of the FIDO alliance, says widespread adoption is “core to the mission of the alliance.”

The FIDO Alliance was launched in early 2013, and now has over 100 members, including Microsoft, Google, device manufacturers such as Lenovo and LG, and representatives of the payments industry such as PayPal and Mastercard. Apple, which has its own fingerprint authentication technology, is not a member of the FIDO Alliance.

Sebastien Taveau, formerly chief technology officer of Validity, a fingerprint sensor company acquired in October by Synaptics, says fingerprint sensors will soon be widespread. Apple and Samsung—the two largest mobile device makers—have now made fingerprint authentication major features of their flagship devices, he points out, and competitors will likely follow their lead. “It is expected that other devices, like tablets, will be incorporating a sensor.”

Most of the core technology needed for biometric authentication has been around for years. Taveau says that cultural change means we are now ready to embrace the idea. “With the transformation of user interactions with content from local to cloud-based and the collapse of trust in existing authentication mechanisms, a real change is happening,” he says, pointing to the public awareness of security flaws heightened by the NSA leaks and the Target debit card breach. “Trust in security and credentials need to be reëstablished.”

 

Does Musk’s Gigafactory Make Sense?

 

Tesla’s audacious plan to build a giant battery factory may mostly be a clever negotiating tactic.

• By Kevin Bullis on April 14, 2014

Why It Matters

Battery-powered cars could play a big role in reducing the world’s use of fuels that cause climate change.

Dream maker: Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk hopes a massive factory will lead to cheap electric cars.

Lithium-ion batteries are just about everywhere—they power almost all smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Yet Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, says he intends to build a factory in the United States three years from now that will more than double the world’s total lithium-ion battery production. The plan is still in its early stages, but already four states are negotiating with Tesla in the hope of becoming the factory’s home.

People have come to expect bold plans from Musk. In addition to founding Tesla, he started his own rocket company, SpaceX, which now delivers supplies to the International Space Station. But even for him, the “gigafactory,” as he calls it, seems audacious.

First, Tesla sold 23,000 cars last year. The gigafactory, which would start production in 2017, would by 2020 make enough batteries for 500,000 electric cars. (It would produce enough batteries annually to store 35 gigawatt hours of electricity, hence the name). Second, battery companies normally announce factories only after they’re funded and a site is selected. And they typically scale up gradually. Why announce plans to build such an enormous factory —especially when electric car sales so far come nowhere close to justifying it?

The project seems more puzzling in light of the hard times at other electric car battery factories in the United States. In 2009, President Obama announced an ambitious $2.4 billion grant program intended to launch an electric car battery industry in the United States. That effort, so far, has failed—factories were built, but sales have been poor because electric car sales have been slow. All of the battery makers involved have struggled (see “Too Many Battery Factories, Too Few Electric Cars”), and one, A123 Systems, went bankrupt.

Musk is betting that Tesla can generate a much bigger market for electric cars. To keep the factory humming, he will have to sell more than 10 times as many electric vehicles in a year as Nissan managed last year (and Nissan has sold more electric cars than any other automaker). Musk has some reason for confidence—last year Tesla sold as many electric cars as Nissan in the United States, even though Tesla’s Model S costs two to three times as much as Nissan’s electric car, the Leaf. He seems to be betting that a huge factory will significantly reduce the cost of making batteries, which remain the most expensive part of electric cars. In the ideal scenario, that cost reduction would help Tesla produce a mass-market car similar in cost to the Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt but that, crucially, will be able to go more than twice as far on a charge (the car would also be able to accelerate faster than the Leaf).

Yet it’s not clear that a huge factory would deliver the needed cost reductions. According to a presentation to investors, it would lower costs by 30 percent. Tesla has a good track record for reducing battery costs (see “Driving Innovation”), and even incremental improvements at conventional factories could reduce costs by 15 percent by 2020, says Menahem Anderman, president of Advanced Automotive Batteries. But it’s unclear where the remaining 15 percent might come from.

Economies of scale could help lower production costs to some degree, but Tesla says the unusual design of the gigafactory, with batteries built from raw materials rather than assembled, will also help.

Usually, the components of batteries are made in many different places. Electrolytes are often made at a large chemical plant and graphite electrodes at a plant that also makes graphite for tires and other applications. The electrolytes and electrodes are then packaged into cells at a plant dedicated to cell making, and the cells are assembled into complete battery packs—with cooling systems and electronic controls—in yet another factory.

Musk plans to bring almost all of this under one roof. Raw materials, processed into electrodes, electrolytes, containers and other parts, go in one end; complete battery packs come out the other. The factory will also be able to take old batteries apart to recycle the materials, and Musk even plans to use solar and wind to help power the factory.

Brett Smith, codirector for manufacturing, engineering, and technology at the Center for Automotive Research, says having control over every part of the process could indeed help reduce costs.

Tesla would need to bring in a great deal of expertise to make this work. What’s more, there are benefits to making different parts in different places. For example, it can be cheaper to make electrolytes in a large chemical plant that makes other chemicals, too. Panasonic, Tesla’s current battery cell supplier, benefits from the know-how of workers in Japan, many of whom have decades of manufacturing experience.

“Manufacturers have tried both approaches. Either approach can work,” says Jack Hu, a professor of industrial operations and engineering at the University of Michigan.

But Hu says such a plant would need to be flexible. “It is possible to build a gigafactory,” he says. “The key lies in the how. Battery manufacturing is a complex process involving many steps. If these steps are all dependent on each other, then the gigafactory would be a bad idea: difficult to run, a lot of down times; difficult to identify quality problems.”

Beyond the technical challenges, Tesla may struggle to convince partners to go along with the scheme. The factory would cost $5 billion, with $2 billion coming from Tesla. If Tesla can’t sell as many cars as it hopes, there would likely be no alternative market for those batteries, making it a risky investment. (One potential market, using batteries for storing electricity power on the grid, is still in early stages of development.)

Whether the gigafactory is actually built, and whatever the final factory looks like, the way Musk has been promoting it may prove to be a savvy business move. Announcing the factory at an early stage, and with an ambitious size, could be good for negotiations with states, especially given the proposed size of the factory. Some states are even reconsidering laws that restrict how Tesla can sell cars in their state, which could help open new markets for the automaker.

Proposing such a huge undertaking might also make it more likely that Panasonic or some other partner will later go along with a less ambitious plan—say, a factory to supply 100,000 cars. “Panasonic can’t afford to lose the business,” says Anderman.

And yet, as grand as Musk’s plan is, it’s worth noting that 500,000 cars is still a tiny fraction of the worldwide auto industry. GM sold nearly 10 million cars last year. If electric vehicles are ever to make a dent in the world auto market, then gigafactories will need to become a reality.