(European Commission Joint Research Centre) While a world free of nuclear weapons remains a goal for governments around the world, nuclear security constitutes a major challenge for the 21st century, as recognized at the 2010 nuclear security summit in Washington. Citizens are generally aware of international efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but they are often unaware of nuclear security research and the important role science in this field. A new European nuclear security training center and enhanced international collaboration are good examples.

(Penn State) Inexpensive hydrogen for automotive or jet fuel may be possible by mimicking photosynthesis, according to a Penn State materials chemist, but a number of problems need to be solved first.

(New York University) Three New York University faculty have been awarded fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Robert Fergus and Jinyang Li, assistant professors of computer science at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Matthieu Wyart, an assistant professor in NYU's Department of Physics.

(Washington University in St. Louis) Washington University in St. Louis biomedical engineer Daniel Moran is developing brain-computer interfaces based on grids of electrodes that lie beneath the skull but outside the dura mater, the protective membrane that covers the brain. His next project is to slip a thin 32-electrode grid he designed with a colleague under a macaque's skill and to train the monkey to control -- strictly by thinking about it -- a computational model of a macaque arm.

(University of Arizona College of Engineering) Planetary exploration robots and rovers will be featured on the science program 'WaveLengths' beginning Thursday, Feb. 24 at 8:30 p.m. MST.