A technology being developed at Purdue University could provide an affordable, smart, self-learning device that, when placed into existing MRI machines could allow medical professionals to monitor patients more effectively and safely, by performing concurrent medical imaging and recording for diagnostic purposes.

Graphene has been theorized by scientists for decades, but it was only in 2004 that these atom-thin sheets of carbon (in the form of graphite) were isolated, leading to the two scientists responsible for the feat — Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov at the University of Manchester — being awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. This material has many unusual properties that have excited researchers ever since it was isolated for its potential applications in fields as diverse as energy, electronics, medicine, sensors, light processing, and water filtration.

A new concept proposes to provide food, energy and water resources for the world’s growing population by combining systems that simultaneously use different parts of sunlight’s spectrum to produce crops, generate electricity, collect heat and purify water.

The emerging field of plasmonics could bring advances in chemical manufacturing, usher in new clean and sustainable technologies and desalination systems to avert a future global water crisis.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals changes in blood-oxygen levels in different parts of the brain, but the data show nothing about what is actually happening in and between brain cells, information needed to better understand brain circuitry and function.

A Purdue-affiliated startup, Bionode LLC, is developing a wearable neuro-modulation device that could be used as a non-invasive, personalized therapy to treat and prevent elevated intra-ocular pressure in patients diagnosed with glaucoma.

Sources that integrate two artificial optical material concepts may drive ultrafast “Li-Fi” communications.

"If this project is successful it will cause a revolution in computing." That's the forecast of Michael Manfra, Purdue's Bill and Dee O'Brien Chair Professor of Physics and Astronomy, professor of materials engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering, on a new long-term enhanced collaboration between Purdue and Microsoft Corp. to build a robust and scalable quantum computer by producing what scientists call a "topological qubit."

A specialized type of adaptive-optics technology that has been demonstrated by taking high-resolution time-lapse images of functioning brain cells might be used to better understand how the brain works.

Researchers have shown how to create a rechargeable “spin battery” made out of materials called topological insulators, a step toward building new spintronic devices and quantum computers.