An organization seeks printing technologies to produce higher-current miniature circuitry. Approaches of interest include reducing use of expensive inks, eliminating a plating step, and increasing adhesion to a variety of substrates. An additional area of interest is to enable multilayer structures for more...

This co-extrusion process helps turn a batch process into a continuous production process, thus speeding the production line and enabling production of materials that otherwise might be difficult or impossible to produce using conventional extrusion and post-extrusion processing.

This valve for gases, liquids, or powdery materials has an extremely simple and low-cost structure. Opening and closing functions are generated by using shape-memory wires, which move a diaphragm shutter element. The shape memory can reshape the diaphragm to lift...

A new instrument is used to study the inner workings of Greenland’s glacier mills by riding the currents inside a glacier’s moulin. The West Greenland Moulin Explorer instrument was deployed into a tubular shaft to autonomously record temperature, pressure, 3D acceleration, and location. It...

A wavefront-correction system has been proposed as part of an outer-space radio communication system that would include a large, somewhat flexible main reflector antenna, a smaller subreflector antenna, and a small array feed at the focal plane of these two reflector antennas. Part of the...

This week's question concerns "net neutrality" -- providing equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over networks. Supporters of net neutrality argue that a policy is necessary to prevent providers from favoring or discriminating against certain Web sites and online...

This week's question concerns the issue of gene patents. While some in the scientific community believe that human genes should not be exploited for commercial gain, others argue that a patent is a reward for years of expensive research that moves science forward. What do you think? Should human genes be...