Stories

Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, along with partner institutions Georgia Tech, Bucknell University, King Saud University and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are using a falling particle receiver to more efficiently convert the sun’s energy to electricity in large-scale,...

Researchers at Rice University have come up with a secure way to dramatically cut the risk that an implanted medical device (IMD) could be altered remotely without authorization.

Engineers at Stanford University have devised a new way to generate electricity from sewage using naturally-occurring “wired microbes” as mini power plants, producing electricity as they digest plant and animal waste.

A new bioprinting project, backed by $24 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, will attempt to 3D-print miniature human organs. The 2-inch "body on a chip" will test how the human body reacts to diseases, chemical warfare agents, and new drugs intended to defend against...

Researchers at Harvard have developed a way for photographers and microscopists to create a 3D image through a single lens, without moving the camera. The technology relies only on computation and mathematics — no unusual hardware or fancy lenses. The effect is the equivalent of seeing a...

As smart as the Curiosity rover has been about landing and finding its own way on a distant world, the rover is pretty brainless when it comes to doing the science that it was sent 567 million kilometers to carry out. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries...

SINTEF, an independent research organization in Scandinavia, will work to combine a rover and snake robot for Mars exploration. The researchers envision using the rover to navigate over large distances, after which the snake robot can detach itself and crawl into tight, inaccessible areas.

A team of San Francisco State University researchers is the first to build and demonstrate the ability of two-dimensional disordered photonic band gap material, designed to be a platform to control light in unprecedented ways.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from the sun.

Apple Inc. added a fingerprint scanner to its latest version of the iPhone, offering biometric security possibilities for workplaces or mobile commerce. Some analysts say that Apple's embrace of fingerprint scanning could lead to wider adoption and mainstream usage. Many laptops, external...

One of the concerns about commercial aircraft is their stability on the ground during taxiing, takeoff, and landing. During these processes, planes must maintain stability under various operating conditions. However, in some situations, the aircraft landing gear displays unwanted...

Under the sponsorship of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D, Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National have partnered to develop a 3D model of the Earth’s mantle and crust called SALSA3D, or Sandia-Los...

Mechanical engineers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) invented a robot designed to scoot along utility lines, searching for damage and other problems that require repairs. Made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed on an inexpensive 3D printer, the SkySweeper...

Electric mobility may be economically efficient today. Battery-based electric drives can be applied efficiently in urban buses, for instance. Frequent acceleration and slow-down processes as well as a high utilization rate in short-distance traffic make their use profitable even...

Purdue researchers are working with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to develop a technology for creating parts out of interlocking segments.

A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has found a way to self-assemble complex structures out of bricks smaller than a grain of salt. The self-assembly method could help solve one of the major challenges in tissue engineering:...

To better predict severe weather, a device developed at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has become a valuable tool in researchers' quest to determine how lightning is spawned in clouds.

"CubeSats,” and other small satellites, are making space exploration cheaper and more accessible: The minuscule probes can be launched into orbit at a fraction of the weight and cost of traditional satellites.

Bluetooth HD earmuffs, made by activewear company 180s, will debut this fall. The Bluetooth product, which warms your ears while also hiding speakers and a microphone, is another example of wearable computing — a technology area that includes trendy devices like smartwatches and Google Glass. Many...

An enemy convoy transporting a supply of fuel rumbles across the desert floor, an ideal target for armor-piercing incendiary projectiles. These projectiles are most useful for "after-armor effects," such as an incandescent flash immediately after penetrating a hard target. The resulting plume...

As the U.S. mission in Afghanistan changes and forces conduct more dispersed operations, new tactical communications equipment for vehicles at the company level will help extend the network over vast distances to keep soldiers connected and commanders informed.

When U.S pilots encounter enemy air defenses, onboard electronic warfare (EW) systems protect them by interfering with incoming radar signals – a technique known as electronic attack (EA) or jamming. Conversely, electronic protection (EP) technology prevents hostile forces from using EA...

A fog-harvesting system developed by MIT and Chilean researchers could provide potable water for the world’s driest regions.

University of Washington researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with researcher Rajesh Rao able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of fellow researcher Andrea Stocco.