News

University of Colorado Boulder scientists have found a creative way to radically improve thermoelectric materials, a finding that could one day lead to the development of improved solar panels, more energy-efficient cooling equipment, and even the creation of new devices that could turn the vast...

With a new distance-learning program called NASA STEM Mania, teachers and students can learn the science behind scoring a touchdown, throwing down a slam-dunk, or a hitting a home run.NASA's Distance Learning Network (DLN) will present the two-week series Monday, Feb. 24, through Monday, March 10, and will give...

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed K-Glass, a wearable, hands-free head-mounted display (HMD).Unlike virtual reality which replaces the real world with a computer-simulated environment, augmented reality (AR) incorporates digital data...

By exploring how creatures in nature are able to fly by flapping their wings, Virginia Tech researchers hope to design "micro air vehicles.”In Virginia Tech's study of fruit bat wings, the researchers used experimental measurements of the movements of the bats' wings in real flight, and then used analysis software...

Carbon nanotube-based fibers have greater capacity to carry electrical current than copper cables of the same mass, according to new research. A series of tests at Rice University showed the wet-spun carbon nanotube fiber still handily beat copper, carrying up to four times as much current as a copper wire...

Inspired by the termites’ resilience and collective intelligence, a team of computer scientists and engineers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has created an autonomous robotic construction...

Multiple NASA centers are currently conducting a remotely controlled test of new technologies that would empower future space robots to transfer satellite oxidizer into the propellant tanks of spacecraft in space today.Building on the success of the International Space Station's landmark Robotic Refueling...

A new system combines simple control programs to enable fleets of robots — or other “multiagent systems” — to collaborate in unprecedented ways.The technology factors in uncertainty — the odds, for instance, that a communication link will drop, or that a particular algorithm will...

Look out, super glue and paint thinner. Thanks to new dynamic materials developed at the University of Illinois, removable paint and self-healing plastics soon could be household products. The researchers use commercially available ingredients to create their polymer. By slightly tweaking the...

U.S. Army-sponsored researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered a process for simultaneously storing and dissipating energy within structures that could lead to design rules for new types of active, reconfigurable materials for structural morphing, vibration attenuation and dynamic load mitigation. In...

Given NASA's unique needs for highly customized spacecraft and instrument components, additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, offers a compelling alternative to more traditional manufacturing approaches."We're not driving the additive manufacturing train; industry is," said Ted Swanson, the assistant chief for...

Michael Callahan and his team at Goddard's Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory have recently applied advanced technology to inspect extremely small meteorite samples for the components of life. The team used a nanoflow liquid chromatography instrument to sort the molecules in the meteorite sample,...

Scientists at Chalmers University in Sweden are working with Volvo to develop a vehicle control system that can take over steering and breaking when it detects an imminent collision. The system can make split-second decisions on behalf of the driver.

Scientists have created a heat-resistant thermal emitter, an element used in specialized solar cells, that could significantly improve the efficiency of the cells. The novel component is designed to convert heat from the sun into infrared light, which can then be absorbed by solar...

New smart sensors produce large and clear output voltage signals, which are 2,000 times higher than the traditional current sensors.Measuring about 1 mm in thickness, the chip can be placed on any sensing point of interest such as electrical cables, conductors, junctions, and bus bars...

A photon-counting technique will allow NASA researchers to track the melt or growth of Earth’s frozen regions. CESat-2 is tasked with measuring elevation across Earth's entire surface, including vegetation and oceans, but with a focus on change in the frozen areas of the planet, where scientists...

A new type of electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness the untapped power of evaporating water, according to research conducted at the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Its developers foresee electrical generators driven by changes in...

Soil scientists at Abertay University are using 3D printing technology to find out, for the very first time, exactly what is going on in the world beneath our feet.The detailed plastic cubes are replicas of the structure of the soil, and are being used by the scientists as experimental systems in the lab.By...

Researchers with Berkeley Lab and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created tactile sensors from composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles similar to the highly sensitive whiskers of cats and rats. The new e-whiskers respond to pressure as slight as a single Pascal, about...

Carbon nanotube (CNT) sponges, uniquely doped with sulphur, demonstrated a high capacity to absorb both wastewater and oil, potentially opening up the possibility of using the material in industrial accidents and oil spill clean-ups.CNTs are hollow cylindrical structures composed of a single sheet of...

Engineers developed the first tiny, synthetic machines that can swim by themselves, powered by beating heart cells.The bio-bots are modeled after single-celled creatures with long tails called flagella – for example, sperm. The researchers begin by creating the body of the bio-bot from a flexible polymer. Then they...