Q&A

Q&A: Plastics Could See Second Life as Biodegradable Surfactants

A chemical process produces valuable biodegradable chemicals from discarded plastics.

Q&A: Flexible, Printable, Tunable Microwave Resonator Arrays

Fiorenzo Omenetto, Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering at Tufts University School of Engineering, Dean of Research, and Director of the Tufts Silklab led a team that has...

Q&A: Switching Technology Improves Power Grid Efficiency

Kristin Sampayan from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found a fast way to switch high voltages.

Q&A: Wireless Charging for Electric Vehicles

Dr. Burak Ozpineci is developing a system that charges electric vehicles while driving.

Q&A: Team of Robots Maps Composition of an Environment

New autonomous robotic devices can survey hazardous or difficult-to-reach sites faster than humans.

Q&A: Platform Converts Headphones from 'Dumb' to 'Smart'

Rutgers researcher Xiaoran Fan developed a "HeadFi" method that uses ordinary headphones as sensors.

Q&A: Electricity-Free Cooling

Professor Qiaoqiang Gan of the University at Buffalo (NY) and his team developed a unique two-in-one system that uses solar energy for simultaneously cooling and heating — without electricity.

Q&A: Printable Flexible Batteries

Professor Shirley Meng explains why there's a demand for stretchable batteries.

Q&A: Oil and Gas Wells for Energy Storage

USC researchers found a way to use idle oil and gas wells for energy storage.

Q&A: 3D-Printed Polymer Lattice Strengthens Concrete

Brian Salazar and his UC Berkeley team have developed a new way to reinforce concrete with a polymer lattice, an advance that could rival other polymer-based enhancements and improve...

Q&A: A New Method for 3D Printing of Tiny Gel Structures

See how Dr. Andrei Kolmakov and his team are using low-energy electron beams to 3D-print tiny gel structures in liquids.

Q&A: Soft Electronics Treat Heart Arrythmias

A new class of medical instruments uses flexible electronics to improve patient outcomes in minimally invasive surgeries.

Q&A: NanoLED Architecture Overcomes Efficiency Droop

A nanoLED has up to 1,000 times the brightness of conventional submicron-sized LEDs.

Q&A: Wireless Power for Neural Stimulation

Prof. Jacob Robinson developed an implantable neural stimulator the size of a grain of rice.

Q&A: Charge Wirelessly as You Drive

A new system from Oak Ridge National Laboratory enables electric vehicles to be charged while on the road.

Q&A: Underwater Smart Glue Turns On and Off

An adhesive can be deactivated by applying a small voltage.

Q&A: Tactile Robot Finger with No Blind Spots

A robotic finger has a sense of touch that can be localized with high precision over a large, multi-curved surface.

Q&A: Turning Trash into Valuable Graphene

A new process will reduce the cost of manufacturing graphene by a factor of more than 100.

Q&A: Simple Solar-Powered Desalination

Lenan Zhang and his team at MIT developed a small, economical, highly efficient device to provide fresh drinking water using only the Sun for its energy input.

Q&A: Solid Silk - A Biocompatible, Sustainable, Degradable Building Block

David Kaplan is solidifying silk to make products like rods and plates for medical implants.

Q&A: Electrically Conductive Coated Yarn for Wearable, Washable Fabrics

Drexel Professor Genevieve Dion is coating yarn with the highly conductive, two-dimensional material MXene.

Q&A: A Shape-Morphing, Self-Healing Soft Composite

Have you heard of "Thubber?"

Q&A: Refrigeration by Twisting Fibers

Changing directions of twist and coiling changes whether a material cools or heats.

Q&A: Innovative Linear Electrostatic MEMS Actuator

Sherry Towfighian and her team made a big improvement on how microphones are manufactured.

Q&A: Wearable Motion Sensors Could Save Unborn Babies

Professor Negar Tavassolian is using vibration sensors to monitor heartbeats.

Q&A: A Circulatory System for Robots

Robert F. Shepherd is Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. He is leading a team exploring the use of hydraulic fluids in soft robots to also...

Q&A: “Neural Lander” Uses AI to Land Drones Smoothly

Soon-Jo Chung is Bren Professor of Aerospace in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS) at Caltech and research scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He and his team...

Q&A: Power Anomalies Detect Malware in Embedded Systems

Aydin Aysu, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he helped develop a technique for...

Q&A: 3D-Printed Hydrogel Blocks Can Aid Robotics and Diagnostics

Ian Y. Wong, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Engineering, Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology at Brown University in Providence, RI. He and colleagues have...