Skip Derra

ASU geologists Paul Knauth and Don Burt have some ideas about Mars that don’t quite jive with those of many of their colleagues. They say that scientists really know nothing about the first 400 to 500 million years of the history of Planet Earth. And we know nothing about Mars in the same time period. Mars could’ve been an Eden. But we have no record of any of that. --by Skip Derra

Being flexible is key to making information displays truly mobile. --by Skip Derra

The Hand Mentor, created by Kinetic Muscles, Inc., helps stroke survivors relearn motor skills. ASU researchers are examining whether the device can help patients regain their independence while lowering rehabilitation costs. --by Skip Derra

One in four mammal species on Earth is being pushed to extinction, according to a new assessment from more than 1,800 scientists. ASU's Andrew Smith suggests some actions that could help immediately. --by Skip Derra

When it comes to a pandemic flu outbreak, some of the most vulnerable people are the 2.5 million residents of the nation's 18,000 residential care (nursing home) facilities. A team of researchers is figuring out what interventions offer the best protection at various levels of outbreak. --by Skip Derra

So you want to build a better baseball player. How do you proceed? Maybe you'd combine the hitting eye of Alex Rodriguez with the fielding range of Derek Jeter. ASU robotics expert Tom Sugar is building a better ballplayer with a four-wheel drive transmission and a camera with a zoom lens. --by Skip Derra

Plants need sunlight to produce energy, but too much light can injure or kill them. Plants use a sophisticated process to defend against this damage. ASU scientists designed a molecule that mimics this process in order to understand adaptive self-regulation, a critical feature for advancing nanotechnology. --by Skip Derra

In the world of birds, where fancy can be as fleeting as flight, the color of the bird apparently has a profound effect on more than just its image. A new study of barn swallows reveals it also affects the bird's physiology. --by Skip Derra

Major league baseball players like Derek Jeter make actions like catching a fly ball look effortless. But if you want to understand the complexity underlying these moves, try teaching them to a robot. By combining expertise in engineering and psychology, ASU researchers have created Catchbot, a baseball-playing robot. In the process, they have learned a lot about how people perceive and respond to a moving target. --by Skip Derra

Scientists have developed a method that extends the power of fluorescence-mediated bioimaging to see discrete pigments inside live cells of bacteria. The method is providing fresh insights into what happens on a molecular level during photosynthesis. It also promises to provide important information about the inner workings of cells as they engage in the process of collecting sunlight and turning it into chemical energy. --by Skip Derra