INSIDER

‘Twisted’ Light Could Illuminate New Path for Wireless Communications

Scientists have taken an important step towards using ‘twisted’ light as a form of wireless, high-capacity data transmission which could make fiber optics...

Scientists Develop Extreme Light Trapping Technology

A silicon solar cell harvests the energy of the sun as light travels down through light-absorbent silicon. To reduce weight and cost, solar cells are thin, and while silicon absorbs...

Technique Produces Wearable Gas Sensors

A transfer technique could allow high-performance gallium nitride gas sensors to be grown on sapphire substrates and then transferred to metallic or flexible polymer support materials. The process...

New Way to Test Body Armor

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new way to investigate the high-performance fibers used in modern body armor. The testing of soft body armor has been a big...

Soft Sensor Material Enables Tactile Technology

iSoft, a new type of soft and stretchable sensor, is capable of sensing in real time, and can perform “multimodal” sensing of stimuli such as continuous contact and stretching in all...

Electric ‘Smart’ Paper Picks Up on Pipe Leaks

Although spills inside a lab can often spell trouble, a University of Washington scientist found a way to turn an accidentally doused conductive material into an inventive new sensor. The lab...

New Solar Power Receivers are Better at Absorbing Sunlight

Sandia National Laboratories engineers have developed new fractal-like, concentrating solar power receivers for small- to medium-scale use that are up to 20 percent more effective...

Asphalt Helps Batteries Charge Faster

A touch of asphalt may be the secret to creating high-capacity lithium metal batteries that charge 10 to 20 times faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries, according to Rice University scientists....

Body Energy as a Power Source

Smartphones, fitness trackers, and medical equipment have a constant hunger for power. The solution: power supply by means of energy produced by body movements. Two systems that meet this requirement were...

A Semiconductor Breakthrough: Carbon Nanotubes Boost Thermoelectric Performance

In a report published in October, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used single-walled carbon nanotubes...

Advanced Engine Cooling: Inventors Go Under the Hood to Give Old Trucks a Boost

What happens when you replace a truck’s fan assembly with an electric fan system? You increase horsepower, reduce under-hood temperature, and become a winner in...

Soft Robotic Gripper Manipulates Objects Without Training

An engineering team at the University of California San Diego has designed and built a gripper that can pick up and manipulate objects without needing to see them and without being...

Vacuum System Powers Modular Soft Robot

Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have created the first functional robot powered entirely by vacuum. It is made up of soft building blocks that move by...

Multi-Legged Robot Reconfigures in Real Time

Scientists at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, PA have developed a modular, reconfigurable legged robot named Snapbot that can move forward, interact with its environment, and perform other tasks...

Researchers See a Bright Future for ‘See-Through’ Solar Cells

Michigan State University researchers say a new transparent solar panel technology is right outside your door. Or more precisely: inside your window. The completely clear...

A Q&A with Orbital ATK: Exploring the Roots of Rocketry

At Orbital ATK, Mark Ogren works on the preliminary design of the company’s propulsion technologies, including targets, interceptors, or space launch vehicles. Ogren spoke with Tech...

From Seawater to Drinking Water? Nanotubes Upgrade Desalination Efforts

Looking to nature for inspiration, scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Northeastern University have used carbon nanotubes to mimic the...

Creating the Future: A Conformal Battery Takes Shape – Any Shape

Electronics design is often limited by the shape of the battery – a critical, but frequently uncompromising product component. A new kind of battery conforms to meet the...

Breathalyzer Replaces Blood Test

In the future, breathalyzers will not just be used by police checking for alcohol intoxication, but also for testing the condition of athletes, and for people who want to lose weight. When exactly the body...

Measuring Volcanic Emissions from Space

Before volcanoes erupt, there are often warning signs. Using remote sensing to detect rising carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions without endangering people or equipment would greatly increase...

New Generation of Fluorescence-Based Sensors

Researchers have designed and tested a series of plasmonic nanoantenna arrays that could lead to the development of a new generation of ultrasensitive and low-cost fluorescence sensors that could...

When Stars Collide: LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves from ‘Kilonova’ Light Show

In the galaxy NGC 4993, located approximately 130 million light-years from Earth, two neutron stars collided. And, for the first time, scientists detected the...

Creating the Future: An Industrial Robot Climbs to the Top

Petrochemical and liquid gas companies require a regular inspection of a vessel's welds and wall thicknesses — a dangerous task given the hazardous environment. A climbing robot,...

Drone Control: How the Human Brain Can Guide Robotic Swarms

Who needs a keyboard, a mouse, or a joystick? A researcher from Arizona State University wants to command machines with the human brain.

This Year’s ‘Create the Future’ Contest Winner: A Highlight in Carbon-Dioxide Conversion

Developers of a “HI-Light” chemical reactor were awarded top honors in this year’s "Create the Future" Design Contest. The grand-prize-winning...

Gesture Recognition: How to Turn Any Object into a Remote Control

A new gesture-recognition technology from Lancaster University can make a remote control out of your coffee mug — or most everyday objects, for that matter.

From the Earth to the Moon: How Robert Goddard Launched Present-Day Spaceflight

On a snowy day in 1926, a 44-year-old physicist named Robert Goddard went with his wife Esther and some colleagues to his Aunt Effie’s ranch in Auburn,...

Robotic Rubber ‘Skin’ Senses Temperatures. What’s Next?

A rubber “skin” developed at the University of Houston allows a robotic hand to sense the difference between hot and cold temperatures. The semiconductor material supports new...

Origami Techniques Expand Compacted Spacecraft

Origami has once again inspired engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Besides aesthetic beauty, the Japanese tradition of paper-folding addresses a...