Rice University engineering students are working on better ways to keep skyscrapers shiny.The WashBOT team of seniors based at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen is part of a multiyear robotics project to automate the process of cleaning recessed windows in buildings that present problems...

Studying volcanos can be hazardous work, both for researchers and aircraft. To penetrate such dangerous airspace, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), especially those with electric engines that ingest little contaminated air, are an emerging and effective way to gather crucial data about volcanic...

When a current passes between two electrodes — one thinner than the other — it creates wind in the air between. If enough voltage is applied, the resulting wind can produce a thrust without the help of motors or fuel. This phenomenon, called electrohydrodynamic...

The installation of equipment into the James Webb Space Telescope requires patience and precision. To prepare for the installation of the actual flight equipment and ensure perfection in the installations, scientists need to practice with an identical test unit. Scientists at...

Taking a significant step toward improving the power delivery of systems ranging from urban electrical grids to regenerative braking in hybrid vehicles, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have synthesized a material that shows high...

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM, provides the next generation of rainfall measurements from space. The mission is designed to tap into the observational power of nine independent satellites flying around Earth, and combine their precipitation data into a single, global data...

An increasing number of medical professionals are embracing social media for sharing helpful information and providing personalized patient care. HealthTap, one of the newest networks, for example, is an online hub of 1.2 million doctors who field questions from patients around the world. Some say...

A nanosponge invented by engineers at the University of California, San Diego can safely remove many dangerous toxins from the bloodstream, including those produced by MRSA, E. coli, poisonous snakes, and bees.

New microbatteries, developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, out-power supercapacitors and could drive new applications in radio communications and compact electronics.The devices offer both power and energy. By tweaking their structure a bit, the researchers can tune them...

Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed an inexpensive tactile sensor for robotic hands that is sensitive enough to turn a brute machine into a dextrous manipulator.Designed by researchers in the Harvard Biorobotics Laboratory at SEAS, the sensor,...

NASA and over 150 partner organizations worldwide will be hosting the International Space Apps Challenge on April 20-21, 2013. The International Space Apps Challenge is a technology development event during which citizens from around the world work together to solve challenges relevant to...

University of Utah researchers developed a high-speed camera system that photographed snowflakes in 3-D as they fell.

Sandia National Laboratories is developing a suite of complementary technologies to help the emerging algae industry detect and quickly recover from algal pond crashes, an obstacle to large-scale algae cultivation for future biofuels.

MIT engineer Skylar Tibbits recently spoke at a TED conference about the promise of 4D printing. The act of 4D printing creates objects in one state that could then change to a different state over time. Without human intervention, the object alters its shape based on moisture or heat from a...

Using a combination of theory and experiment, researchers have developed a new approach for understanding and predicting how small legged robots – and potentially also animals – move on and interact with complex granular materials such as sand.

Carbon nanotubes and magnetic molecules are considered building blocks of future nanoelectronic systems. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and French colleagues have combined both components on the atomic level and to build a quantum mechanical system with novel properties.

Oxford University scientists have demonstrated a custom-built programmable 3D printer that can create materials with several of the properties of living tissues.

A recent New York Times article highlighted software from EdX, a nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. EdX software uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers. The tool requires human teachers to first grade...

From up to a kilometer away, a Time-of-Flight (ToF) imaging system gathers high-resolution, 3-D information about objects that are typically very difficult to image.

More than 10 years ago, U.S. Army researchers saw potential in flexible displays. With nothing in the marketplace, the Army decided to change that by partnering with industry and academia to create the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University.

U.S. Army Research Laboratory scientists in the Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate are currently exploring the field of quantum sensing and are discovering ways in which the Army can benefit from innovations that were once thought impossible.

A team of researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, has developed a highly scalable computer code that promises to dramatically cut both research times and energy costs in simulating seismic...

The U.S. Army is developing a new Advanced Multi-Purpose 120mm tank round that combines six different capabilities into a single round. The Advanced Multi-Purpose, or AMP, is ready to enter into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase after a prototype successfully demonstrated Technology...