Stories

A NASA engineer has achieved a milestone in his quest to advance an emerging super-black nanotechnology that promises to make spacecraft instruments more sensitive without enlarging their size.

Technologies like Google Wallet allow users to walk into a store and pay for goods with the swipe of a smartphone. Now, some companies, including the Finland-based startup Unqul, are creating payment systems that use facial recognition to handle all kinds of transactions. Instead of...

The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is partnering with Cobalt Technologies, U.S. Navy, and Show Me Energy Cooperative to demonstrate that jet fuel can be made economically and in large quantities from a renewable biomass feedstock such as...

The Clip-Air project envisions an airplane consisting of a single flying wing onto which capsules carrying passengers or freight can be attached. More than a new type of flying device, its innovative concept could revolutionize the airports of the future. Go to the train station to take the...

Scientists now know that thunderstorms, working as powerful natural terrestrial particle accelerators, produce intense flashes of ionizing radiation called "dark lightning." To further their understanding of this phenomenon, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's...

In May 2013, researchers from UCLA, Iowa State and Princeton found a new way of sculpting tailor-made fluid flows by placing tiny pillars in microfluidic channels. By altering the speed of the fluid and stacking many pillars with different widths, placements, and orientations in the fluid's...

A small team of Monash University researchers working under the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) has developed an ionic liquid-based thermocell.

The blades in compressors and turbines are subject to particularly high levels of stress and strain. The job of the blades is to convert fluid energy into mechanical energy. They ensure that aircraft engines generate the required thrust and that power plant generators produce sufficient electricity.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed three-dimensional (3D) printing technology and techniques to create free-standing structures made of liquid metal at room temperature.

A Pentagon-financed humanoid robot named Atlas made its debut last week. The hydraulically-powered robot, with its oversized chest and powerful long arms, is seen as a new tool that can help humans in natural and man-made disasters. Similarly, an...

Military analysts now have a tool that brings together unprecedented modeling and simulation features to help them better choose, or build weapons to overpower future threats. Such features allow military researchers to analyze, for example, how a grenade, artillery round or any other weapon performs...

Simulation Helps Solve Mysteries of Water A research team from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the University of Edinburgh and IBM's TJ Watson Research Center achieved a major breakthrough in the modeling of water that could shed light on its mysterious properties.

By the year 2020, the European aviation industry wants to reduce emissions of gases harmful to the climate – carbon dioxide by 50 percent and nitrogen oxide by 80 percent – and also improve the lifecycles of the aircrafts themselves. “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)” is the term experts...

A team of researchers from Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has developed a new computer-based tool to perform finely tuned acoustic analyses of babies’ cries. The team hopes their baby cry analyzer will lead to new ways for researchers and clinicians to use cry in...

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new metallic bubble wrap that is lighter, stronger and more flexible than sheet metal and more heat- and chemical-resistant than plastic or other polymer-based bubble wraps. Potential applications include automobile body...

Defying 30 mph gusts and temperatures down to -22 °F, NASA’s new polar rover recently demonstrated that it could operate completely autonomously in one of Earth’s harshest environments.

Under the leadership of the German Aerospace Center, a new system that will lead pilots into the digital world of the 21st century has been tested in flight trials. A single device transmits communications with the ground and via satellite, digitally at high speed. Detailed information, such...

Carnegie Mellon University has developed a method for tracking the locations of multiple individuals in complex, indoor settings using a network of video cameras. The method was able to automatically follow the movements of 13 people within a nursing home, even though individuals sometimes...

Researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), within the framework of PROCODAC-GESMEY project, have participated in the construction of the prototype of a device to harness energy from ocean currents.

A University of Edinburgh study, supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, found that news agencies continue to have an edge over Twitter in breaking news first. Over an 11-week period, researchers compared millions of tweets to the output from major news websites. The study...

The Army is incorporating a new sensor capability into its Apache helicopters. The Apache Sensors Product Office has accepted delivery of the new Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) Laser Rangefinder Designator (LRFD), the first component to be fielded in the Modernized Day Sensor Assembly. The laser...

Fadel Adib and Dina Katabi of MIT have developed Wi-Vi, a new technology that can track moving people through walls and behind closed doors using Wi-Fi signals. It can determine with high accuracy up to three moving objects.

For the first time on the battlefield, maneuver and logistics forces will share situational awareness and messaging, forming a complete and seamless operational picture. The new capability, delivered by integrating the vehicle-based Movement Tracking System (MTS) into the Army's...

The U.S. Army is harnessing the elements to help reduce casualties from sniper attacks on forward operating bases. The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's research laboratory and aviation missile and communications-electronics RD&E centers - the Army Research Laboratory...

Exoskeletons often fail to allow the wearer to perform natural joint movements, and are also generally heavy, which causes fatigue. For applications where a person only needs partial gait assistance from a robot, researchers from Harvard University's Wyss Institute researchers are pursuing the use...

Many researchers around the world are seeking ways to “scrub” carbon dioxide from the emissions of fossil-fuel power plants, as a way of curbing the gas that is considered most responsible for global climate change. Most such systems, however, rely on complex plumbing to divert the steam used...