News

Waterproof fabrics that whisk away sweat could be the latest application of microfluidic technology developed by UC Davis bioengineers.

Researchers have created the first digital cameras with designs that mimic those of ocular systems found in dragonflies, bees, praying mantises and other insects. This class of technology offers exceptionally wide-angle fields of view, with low aberrations, high acuity to motion, and...

Terahertz technology is an emerging field that promises to improve a host of useful applications, ranging from passenger scanning at airports to huge digital data transfers. Terahertz radiation sits between the frequency bands of microwaves and infrared radiation, and it can easily penetrate many materials,...

University of Utah researchers developed a high-speed camera system that spent the past two winters photographing snowflakes in 3D as they fell – and they don’t look much like those perfect-but-rare snowflakes often seen in photos. NASA and the U.S. Army helped fund development of the camera,...

Purdue University researchers have created a new tool to detect flaws in lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured, a step toward reducing defects and inconsistencies in the thickness of electrodes that affect battery life and reliability. The electrodes, called anodes and...

NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. State Department and Nike have issued a challenge to identify 10 game-changing innovations that could enable fabric systems to enhance global economic growth, drive human prosperity and replenish the planet's resources.

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) completed its first ever carrier-based catapult launch from USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia. The unmanned aircraft launched from the deck, executed several planned low approaches to the carrier, and safely...

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory flew their fuel-cell-powered Ion Tiger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for 48 hours and 1 minute using liquid hydrogen fuel in a new, NRL-developed, cryogenic fuel storage tank and delivery system. This flight shatters their previous record of...

Advanced biofuels – liquid fuels synthesized from the sugars in cellulosic biomass – offer a clean, green and renewable alternative to gasoline, diesel and jet fuels. Bringing the costs of producing these advanced biofuels down to competitive levels with petrofuels, however, is a major...

Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia are studying ways to prevent the remains of insect impacts from adhering to the wing of an aircraft in flight. The research is serious, and positive results could help NASA's aeronautical innovators achieve their goals for improving...

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported the first fully integrated nanosystem for artificial photosynthesis. While “artificial leaf” is the popular term for such a system, the key to this success was an...

A new design tool interprets gestures, enabling designers and artists to create and modify three-dimensional shapes using only their hands as a "natural user interface," instead of keyboard and mouse.

Scientists recently unveiled a new genre of tiny, biocompatible electronic devices that could be implanted into the body to relieve pain or battle infection for a specific period of time, and then dissolve harmlessly. These “transient electronics,” described at a meeting of the...

If quantum computers are ever to be built, qubits will have to be made more robust and more numerous. Qubits, the quantum equivalent of the bits used in conventional computers, can easily lose their orientation in a process called decoherence when confronted with a noisy environment....

Engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center and amateur radio operators around the world collaborated to reconstruct an image of Earth sent to them from three smartphones in orbit. The joint effort was part of NASA's nanosatellite mission, called PhoneSat.

Researchers at MIT and Sandia National Laboratories have used transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging to observe, at a molecular level, what goes on during a reaction called oxygen evolution as lithium-air batteries charge. The reaction is thought to be a bottleneck limiting further...

Robots can continually discover and refine their understanding of objects, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. The Lifelong Robotic Object Discovery (LROD) process, developed by the research team, enabled a two-armed, mobile robot to use color video, a Kinect depth camera, and...

Scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, together with dental technicians, have digitally analyzed modern human teeth using finite element analysis to evaluate the biomechanical behavior of teeth under...

Sandia National Laboratories researchers Lisa Deibler and Arthur Brown had a ready-made problem for their computer modeling work when they partnered with the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant (KCP) to improve stainless steel tubing that was too hard to meet...

A team of researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, has developed a highly scalable computer code that promises to dramatically cut both research times and...

Using bundles of vertical zinc oxide nanowires, Georgia Tech researchers have fabricated arrays of piezotronic transistors capable of converting mechanical motion directly into electronic controlling signals. The arrays could help give robots a more adaptive sense...

A new 3D motion detection system could help identify baseball pitchers who are at risk for shoulder injuries, according to a new study conducted at Loyola University. The system can be used on the field and requires only a laptop computer. Other systems that evaluate...

Fraunhofer Institute research scientists use an electric racing car to present novel solutions for battery management and electronic sensor systems, together with an industry partner. EVE, a racing car with a very quiet engine, goes from 0 to 100 in 3.6 seconds. EVE is powered by two...

A seahorse tail’s exceptional flexibility is due to its structure, made up of bony, armored plates, which slide past each other. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, are hoping to use a similar structure to create a flexible robotic arm equipped with muscles made out of polymer, which...

Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama are making progress on the agency's new rocket by listening closely to the roar of four thrusters. The agency is developing the new rocket, called the Space Launch System, or SLS, at Marshall. This vehicle will enable space exploration...

Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap almost invisibly, 120 times per second, a tiny device from Harvard University researchers represents cutting-edge micromanufacturing and control systems.

With the growing threat of improvised explosive devices over the past decade, Army researchers have been hard at work testing and evaluating ways to keep Soldiers safe from bomb blasts. The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command analyzes under-body blasts, known as UBBs.

Inspired by the complex fly eye, an interdisciplinary team led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University has developed a hemispherical digital camera with nearly 200 tiny lenses, delivering wide-angle field of view and sharp images.

Radar systems today depend increasingly on phased-array antennas, an advanced design in which extensive grids of solid state components direct signal beams electronically. Phased array technology is replacing traditional electro- mechanical radar antennas – the familiar...