Research Highlights

Burn Baby Burn

A team of researchers has proposed wood energy as an alternate clean and renewable energy source. In the March 16 issue of the journal Science, the group of scientists led by Daniel Richter, professor of soils and forest ecology, explains the benefits of sustainable wood energy. In addition to providing clean and affordable energy, secondary benefits of advanced wood combustion include harvesting of fuel wood, decreasing the threat of wildfires and removing diseased, dead or low-value wood.

Size Does Matter

Researchers from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center-a National Science Foundation collaboration between Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University-have presented a new analysis showing the relationship between body sizes and species diversity of life on earth. Researchers Craig McClain and Alison Boyer compiled a database of all animal body sizes and discovered that families of creatures with the widest range of physical measures have the greatest species diversity. Reported online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research provides a new understanding of how species arise and adapt.

Marco? Polo!

The popular children's game Marco Polo helped a team of researchers to develop a robot capable of autonomously detecting and capturing moving targets. Silvia Ferrari, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, and Rafael Fierro, associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico, published their experiments online in the Journal on Control and Optimization. Robots capable of sensing and intercepting targets have wide-ranging applications in security systems, tracking and mapping.