Design

A Motorless Sailplane to Explore Mars’ Atmosphere

The UA team aims to design a motorless sailplane that can soar over the Martian surface for days at a time, using only wind for propulsion.

A Silky-Smooth Alternative to Microplastics

The EU has already declared that the nonbiodegradable microplastics must be eliminated by 2025, but a team of MIT scientists has perhaps expedited that timeline.

A New, Low-Cost Aluminum-Sulfur Battery

MIT researchers have developed a new kind of battery, made entirely from abundant, inexpensive materials.

Virginia Tech College of Engineering

From artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and manufacturing to health sciences, robotics, and more, the Virginia Tech College of Engineering offers an advanced engineering curriculum.

New Products: September 2022 Battery & Electrification Technology

New products for September 2022.

Ultrathin Pressure Sensor Attaches to Skin

By recording the way in which hands perform various tasks, it could help researchers in fields such as sports and medical science as well as neuroengineering.

Corrugated Rollable Tubular Boom

NASA’s new COROTUB boom is flattened, rolled, and stowed in a small package for easy transport to remote locations. When unfurled, it expands into a load-bearing structural boom.

Integral Tuned Mass Absorber for Turbine Blades

A novel turbine blade design and manufacturing approach developed by NASA provides a significant reduction in turbine blade resonant vibration.

Room-Temperature Liquid-Metal Battery

The researchers have created a “room-temperature all-liquid-metal battery,” which includes the best of both worlds of liquid-and solid-state batteries.

A Supercapacitor Device for Carbon Capture

When it discharges, the carbon dioxide can be released in a controlled way and collected to be reused or disposed of responsibly.

Glassy Electrolyte Holds Promise for an All-Solid-State Sodium Battery

Lithium-ion batteries are currently the preferred technology for powering electric vehicles, but they’re too expensive for long-duration grid-scale energy storage systems.

Designing Sodium-Ion Batteries with Extended Longevity

In batteries, electrolyte is the circulating “blood” that keeps the energy flowing. The electrolyte forms by dissolving salts in solvents, resulting in charged ions that flow between the positive and negative electrodes.

Lignin-Based Jet Fuel Packs More Power

An experimental plant-based jet fuel could increase engine performance and efficiency, while dispensing with aromatics, the pollution-causing compounds found in conventional fuels.

Advanced Humanoid Robotic Hand Technologies

The R2 hand and forearm assembly is designed in a modular fashion, enabling rapid replacement of components and sub-assemblies.

Water-Activated Paper Battery

A team of researchers at EMPA have developed a water-activated disposable paper battery.

Building Temperature-Resilient Batteries

In tests, the proof-of-concept batteries retained 87.5 percent and 115.9 percent of their energy capacity at -40 °C and 50 °C (-40 °F and 122 °F), respectively.

Extending the Lifetime of Organic Aqueous Flow Batteries

Over the course of their research, the team discovered that these anthraquinones decompose slowly over time, regardless of how many times the battery has been used.

Designing a Human-Robot Collaboration System

Scientists analyzed the stability of the collaborative system based on speed and accuracy, as well as the conditions required for successfully performing tasks from geometric, force, and posture viewpoints.

Researchers Demonstrate 40-Channel Optical Communication Link

It achieves 40 channels by combining a frequency comb light source based on a new photonic crystal resonator developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with an optimized mode-division multiplexer.

Magazine Archives

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Walking Feeds Pressure to Pneumatic Robots That Could Help Those with Disabilities

Mechanical engineers at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering have built a handy extra limb able to grasp objects and go, powered only...

How Well Do You Know 3D Printing?

3D printing has furthered myriad industries and advanced mankind in unimaginable ways. Take this quiz to test your knowledge about the practice.

An Alternative to Lithium-Ion Batteries

Have we found a better alternative to lithium-ion batteries?

A New Kind of Transistor — A Conductive Polymer

A new material holds promise for the next generation of organic electronics.

Smart Implants to Monitor Healing

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering are creating patient-specific 3D-printed smart metamaterial implants that double as sensors to monitor spinal healing.

3D Printing of Organic Electronics

Professor Mohammad Reza Abidian of the Cullen College of Engineering — foresees the future production of micro-scale organic electronics via multiphoton 3D printers.

Do You Know Your NASA "Spin-Offs?"

There are many NASA technologies that have become commercial products and services on Earth. Take this quiz to test your knowledge about NASA “Spin-Offs.”