Stories

Michigan Technological University’s invisibility cloak researchers have moved the bar on one of the holy grails of physics – making objects invisible. Just last month, Elena Semouchkina, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech, and her graduate student,...

According to recent polls, most Americans want the U.S. to place more emphasis on developing solar power. A major impediment, however, is the cost to manufacture, install and maintain solar panels. Simply put, most people and businesses cannot afford to place them on their...

Echolocation is a powerful technique that uses sound or ultrasound waves to locate objects and surfaces. Ships and submarines, for example, use it to avoid collisions, and dolphins and microbats use it to locate prey (see image). A team from the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics in...

A NASA team designed a sophisticated microwave radiometer to overcome the pitfalls that have plagued similar Earth-observing instruments in the past.

Recently, Russian scientists discovered perfectly preserved blood and muscle tissue of a woolly mammoth buried in the permafrost of the Lyakhovsky Islands in Siberia. The blood had dripped out of the giant animal into a natural ice capsule. The news comes amid a debate on whether scientists should try...

In 2013, Littelfuse is taking engineers behind the scenes at NASA for a truly unique Exploration & Discovery experience. Speed2Design TechTalk events will be hosted at two premiere NASA facilities. Winners will meet face-to-face with NASA...

Picture this. You are walking down the street with a friend when a shot is fired. The two of you duck behind the nearest cover and you pull out your smartphone. A map of the neighborhood pops up on its screen with a large red arrow indicating the direction from which the shot came.

The development of a new test asset for Army aviation sensors brings results and solutions at a faster pace. Named the Mobile Apache Sensors Telemetry Trailer, the new sensor test trailer, a collaborated development effort by the Apache Project Office and the Redstone Test Center's Aviation Flight...

A Sandia engineer who trained U.S. soldiers to avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has developed a fertilizer that helps plants grow but can’t detonate a bomb. It’s an alternative to ammonium nitrate, an agricultural staple that is also the raw ingredient in most of the IEDs in Afghanistan....

An MIT team has developed a method for attaching molecules to metal surfaces. The new approach uses a family of chemicals called carbenes to attach other substances to gold — and potentially to other material surfaces as well. Carbenes could function as “surface anchors” to link many...

Combined with state-of-the-art micro-sculpting techniques, a new resin holds promise for making customized electrodes for fuel cells or batteries, as well as biosensor interfaces for medical uses.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the device’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.

By modifying the underlying network of cellulose fibers, etching off surface “fluff” and applying a thin chemical coating, researchers have created a new type of paper that repels a wide variety of liquids, including water and oil.

According to a recent Microsoft survey conducted by research firm Ipsos, nearly 50% of employees believe social tools make them more productive while more than 30% of companies restrict the use or undervalue them. Typical professional uses for social networks include communicating with colleagues,...

Inspired by the way plants grow toward the sun and light sources, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have created a hydrogel that is controllable by light.

As the editor of Photonics Tech Briefs, I cover laser technology for a living. They’re pretty fascinating devices, but that doesn’t mean I ever wanted to have a laser beam shot into my eye. Unfortunately, Father Time and our own bodies do not always give us a choice. I was recently diagnosed as a prime candidate for narrow angle...

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

Systems & Materials Research Corporation recently received a six-month $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of a universal 3D food printer. The company's creator imagines a day when every kitchen has a 3D printer, and the Earth's 12 billion people feed themselves customized, nutritious...

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.