Power Line Test Bed Energizes Technologies for Increasing Grid Capacity

As population growth and extreme temperatures strain the United States power grid, utilities and equipment manufacturers are looking for ways to increase the amount of...

Large Format Windows: From Material to Mission

Defense applications, in particular, are always tasked with the balancing act that optimizes size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) efficiencies when specifying new equipment. The challenge is how to balance beneficial trade-offs for optimal performance. Read on to learn more.

How the Navy Uses Off-Gassing to Detoxify Submerged Equipment

A video explaining how the U.S. Navy detoxifies non-metallic materials used in equipment and devices that are operated underwater.

NASA’s Inspection Technology for Spacecraft Tests Quality of Seacraft Hulls

An ultrasonic technology for inspecting the heat shield on NASA’s Orion spacecraft is now being used for evaluating seacraft hulls made with advanced composite materials.

Looking to Kirigami to Shape Modern Wireless Technology

Researchers showed how kirigami — a variation of origami — can transform a single sheet of acetate coated with conductive MXene ink into a flexible 3D microwave antenna whose transmission frequency can be adjusted simply by pulling or squeezing to slightly shift its shape.

5Ws of 3D-Printed Glass Bricks

MIT engineers have 3D printed sturdy glass bricks for building structures. The interlocking bricks, which can be repurposed many times over, can withstand similar pressures as their concrete counterparts.

Coating Hides Temperature Change from Infrared Cameras

If the outside of clothing or a vehicle were covered with the coating, an infrared camera would have a harder time distinguishing what is underneath. Read on to learn what this means.

Manufacturing & Materials Finalist: RHOBARR™ Barrier Dispersions Platform

Meet Allyson Marianelli, Lead Researcher at Dow, whose RHOBARR™ Barrier Dispersions Platform is a Manufacturing & Materials Finalist.

Swimming Microrobots Deliver Cancer-fighting Drugs to Metastatic Lung Tumors

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, known as microrobots, capable of swimming through the lungs to deliver...

New Membrane Mirrors for Large Space-Based Telescopes

Researchers have developed a new way to produce and shape large, high-quality mirrors that are much thinner than conventional space-telescope mirrors. The final product is even flexible enough to be rolled up and stored compactly inside a launch vehicle. Read on to learn more.

Self-Cleaning Coatings for Space or Earth

Electrodynamic dust shields (EDSs) are a key method to actively clean surfaces by running high voltages (but low currents) through electrodes on the surface. The forces generated by the voltage efficiently remove built-up, electrically charged dust particles. Innovators have developed a new transparent EDS for removing dust from space and lunar solar cells among other transparent surfaces.

How Much Do You Know About Materials?

Materials science has led to breakthroughs in medicine, renewable energy, and nanotechnology, with the potential for other revolutionary applications. How much do you know about materials science? Find out with this quiz.

A Lightweight Material Stronger than Steel

Scientists at the Columbia University, University of Connecticut, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory were able to fabricate a pure form of glass and coat specialized pieces of DNA with it to create a material that was not only stronger than steel, but incredibly lightweight.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including the University of Maryland's "cooling glass"; the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab's sensor that can perceive combinations of bending, stretching, compression, and temperature changes using color; Tufts' tiny biological robots; and more.

Superlubricity Coating for Nearly Friction-Free Surfaces

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have invented a coating that could dramatically reduce friction in common load-bearing systems with moving...

Cohesive Circuit Protection for Wearable Electronics

The cellulose nanofiber coating counters bending damage and retains electrode function under water.

Cryogenic Selective Surfaces

A new thermal control coating material, developed for use as a coating or rigid tiles, reflects essentially all solar radiation in the space environment.

Fully Recyclable Printed Electronics Use Water, Avoid Toxic Chemicals

By avoiding hazardous chemicals, the work points down a path industry could follow to reduce its environmental footprint.

Videos of the Month

Videos of the month for March 2023.

Shark Skin Inspires Functional Surface Film for Aircraft

Following nature's example, Lufthansa Technik and BASF have jointly developed the functional surface film AeroSHARK for commercial aircraft.

Blocking Electromagnetic Radiation with the Flip of a Switch

Researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering have developed a thin film device, fabricated by spray coating, that can block electromagnetic radiation with the flip...

Adding Vibrations to Electronics to Reduce Vibrations

A counterintuitive way to protect atomically thin electronics: adding vibrations to reduce vibration issues.

Graphene Boosts Flexible and Wearable Electronics Boosts

At 200 times stronger than steel, graphene has been hailed as a super material of the future since its discovery in 2004. The ultrathin carbon material is an incredibly strong...

World's Smallest Photon Achieved in Dielectric Nanocavity

Until recently, it was widely believed among physicists that it was impossible to compress light below the so-called diffraction limit, except when using metal nanoparticles, which...

UV-to-Red-Light Converting Films Accelerate Plant Growth

An interdisciplinary team from Hokkaido University’s Engineering and Agriculture departments and the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (WPI-ICReDD) has developed...

Florida Tech College of Engineering and Science

The Florida Institute of Technology is a private research university in Melbourne, FL. The university was founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College to support NASA in providing advanced education for professionals working in the space program.

High Atomic Number Coatings for Fabrics

This new approach is useful for building radiation shields via the Z-grading method, the process of layering metal materials with different atomic numbers to provide radiation protection for protons, electrons, and x-rays.

2022 Create the Future Design Contest: Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Winner - Large-Scale 3D Printing with Tubes

The 3D printing industry has grown quickly over the last decade with average compound annual growth rates of around 27 percent leading to a market size of $17.7 billion in 2022.