Stories

Using tiny particles of gold, researchers from the University of Cambridge have concentrated light to smaller than a single atom. By focusing the light to just under a millionth of a meter, the scientists have a "magnifying glass" that reveals individual chemical bonds within molecules.

This week's Question: According to a recent article in The Washington Post, a growing number of filmmakers, policymakers, researchers, human rights workers, and law enforcement officials are using virtual reality technology to make people feel as if they have experienced an event firsthand. Advocates say...

While most solid materials expand with heat, a new 3D-printed structure built by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers is designed to shrink. The metamaterial may enable heat-resistant circuit boards.

New York, NY – Hyliion of Pittsburg, PA, developer of a hybrid electric technology for semi-trailers, has been awarded a grand prize of $20,000 in the 2016 "Create the Future" Design Contest. Hyliion’s system hybridizes the trailer portion of the tractor-trailer...

This week's Question: A new home security technology called the Sunflower Home Awareness System deploys a drone to patrol one’s property. The combination of intelligent outdoor sensors and an aerial drone-based camera detects motion, vibration, and sound, and provides users with a view of the home’s...

Penn State University researchers have used a beam deflector to increase the speed of 2D and 3D printing by up to 1000 times.

Virginia Tech researchers have produced flexible solar panels that can become part of window shades or wallpaper. The material will capture light from the sun as well as light from sources inside buildings.

This week’s Question: Ride-hailing company Uber recently released a white paper outlining its new transport service: the flying car. The company envisions a “network of small, electric aircraft that take off and land vertically.” The proposal aims to use airspace to relieve transportation...

Imagine cell phones with 3D floating displays, or credit cards with three-dimensional security markings. By using just one layer of nanoscale metallic film, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have reconstructed 3D full-color holographic images. The technique supports...

This week's Question: World-famous physicist Stephen Hawking recently warned that the creation of powerful artificial intelligence will be “either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity.” Hawking noted the risks of creating superintelligence with a will of its...

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a computational model that makes sense of the ambient vibrations that travel up a structure as trucks and other forces rumble by. By picking out specific features in the noise that give indications of a building’s...

Northeastern University scientist Brian Helmuth and other researchers have developed "robomussels" that monitor climate change. The tiny devices have miniature built-in sensor that track temperatures inside the mussel beds.

This week's Question: Sony Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) in Paris is developing a system of algorithms which can create songs that cater to the user's taste, based on styles adapted from existing music. Starting with a sheet-music database of more than 13,000 existing songs, users choose several titles...