When it comes to miniature electronics, scientists have seen the shape of things to come — and that shape is a fractal.

People most often see fractals in the familiar, irregular branching shapes of nature — a leaf, or tree, or snowflake. A repeating pattern of ever-smaller branches gives these structures a unique profile that defies classical geometry.

Now a study suggests that magnetic fields can take the form of fractals, too — if a magnet is made of plastic molecules t

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions report that satellite imagery could be used to determine areas at high-risk for exposure to Sin Nombre virus (SNV), a rodent-born disease that causes the often fatal hantaviral pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in humans. According to the researchers, satellite imaging detects the distinct environmental conditions that may serve as a refuge for the disease-carrying deer mice. Higher populations of infected deer mice in

Neuroscientists trying to tease out the mechanisms underlying the basis of human sympathy have found that such feelings trigger brain activity not only in areas associated with emotion but also in areas associated with performing an action. But, when people act in socially inappropriate ways this activity is replaced by increased activity in regions associated with social conflict.

Understanding the neurophysiology of such basic human characteristics as sympathy is important because some peo

It took an evolutionary leap in the human species to help trigger the change from centuries of economic stagnation to a state of sustained economic growth, according to the first theory that integrates evolutionary biology and economics.

“Until now, economic growth theory did not have implications for evolutionary biology, and evolutionary biology did not have implications for economic growth,” said lead theorist Oded Galor, professor of economics at Brown University.

This new theo

When a property is suspected of having contaminated soil or groundwater, it is usually a lengthy and costly process to confirm the presence of pollutants and to delineate the extent of the contamination. Soon that process may be simplified considerably.

University of Rhode Island geophysicist Reinhard Frohlich, an associate professor of geosciences, has devised a cost-effective, new method for finding underground contaminants that will reduce drilling and digging beneath the surface. By inse

In an unexpected meeting of the minds, two Dartmouth professors from disparate fields have come together to solve a problem: how to make accurate models of remote landscapes from photographs.

Arjun Heimsath, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, and Hany Farid, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, have found a way to create three-dimensional models of remote regions using only two-dimensional digital photographs. Once built, these models make it easier for researchers to predict landsl