Stories

The largest solar power system in the U.S. Army is coming online at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The Energy Savings Performance Contract, or ESPC, project, awarded and managed by the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, provides the sprawling desert base with a...

Using deceptive behavioral patterns of squirrels and birds, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed robots that are able to deceive each other. The research is funded by the Office of Naval Research and is led by Professor Ronald Arkin, who suggests the...

The best way to evaluate the effectiveness of a product is to put it in the hands of the user, obtain feedback, and make adjustments accordingly. With a newly developed Virtual Environment Test Bed, or VETB, scientists and engineers at the Target Behavioral Research Laboratory at...

NASA's "Chamber A" thermal vacuum testing chamber has now been upgraded and remodeled to accommodate the testing of the James Webb Space Telescope. Chamber A, the largest high-vacuum, cryogenic-optical test chamber in the world, was made famous for testing the space capsules for NASA's Apollo mission, with...

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed the first testing facility that enables CT-scanning of ceramic composites under controlled loads, at ultrahigh temperatures and in real-time.The scientists created a...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed elastic, self-healing wires in which both the liquid-metal core and the polymer sheath reconnect at the molecular level after being severed. The team first created tiny tunnels, called microfluidic channels, in a...

The Automate 2013 trade show kicked off last week in Chicago, and some have used the occasion to debate the benefits of automation, as robotic technology is increasingly being used in new industries like food processing and consumer electronics. Many express concern that a growing reliance on...

A research team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing an airborne testing capability for sensors, communications devices and other airborne payloads. This aerial test bed, called the GTRI Airborne Unmanned Sensor System (GAUSS), is based on an unmanned aerial...

Residents in California's San Joaquin Valley will see some unusual air traffic over their region that is designed to some day help improve the air all of us breathe. Two NASA research planes will fly between Bakersfield and Fresno - one as close as 1,000 feet to the ground – to measure...

The University of Southampton (UK) is pioneering research into developing the strongest silica nanofibers in the world. Globally, the quest has been on to find ultra-high-strength composites, leading scientists to investigate light, ultra-high-strength nanowires that are not compromised...

Researchers from Technische Universität München (TUM) have developed a new generation of image sensors that are more sensitive to light than the conventional silicon versions.They consist of electrically conductive plastics, which are sprayed on to the sensor surface in an ultra-thin layer....

Duke University engineers have developed a novel sensor for airport security scanners and collision avoidance systems. The researchers fabricated a unique metamaterial that acts as a “lens” to image scenes using fewer components than conventional detectors. Because of the properties of the...

A nanoscale coating repels the broadest range of liquids of any material in its class, causing them to bounce off the treated surface, according to the University of Michigan engineering researchers who developed it. In addition to stain-resistant clothes, the coating could lead to breathable garments to protect...

At this year's Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, Vuzix Smart Glasses won top honors in the Wireless Handset Accessories category. The technology, worn like ordinary glasses, features a built-in electronic display, allowing users to check email, watch movies, record video in real time, and load apps...

An assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering is using the teeth of a marine snail found off the coast of California to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.David Kisailus, an assistant...

MIT engineers have created a new polymer film that can generate electricity by drawing on a ubiquitous source: water vapor. The new material changes its shape after absorbing tiny amounts of evaporated water, allowing it to repeatedly curl up and down. Harnessing this continuous motion could drive...

During five days of operations, controllers from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency will use the space station's remotely operated Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, robot to simulate robotic refueling in space. The team also will demonstrate tools, technologies and techniques that could one...

Two robots equipped with instruments designed to “listen” for the calls of baleen whales detected nine endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of Maine last month. The robots reported the detections to shore-based researchers within hours of hearing the whales (i.e., in real time),...

This week's Question comes from INSIDER reader Ed Xavier Gonzalez: Should NASA Consider Capturing a Small Asteroid or Comet for Mining Purposes?

Two University of Texas at Arlington researchers want to bridge the gap between what is known about exploding stars and the remnants left behind thousands of years later. So they’re trying something new – using SNSPH, a complex computer code developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Future sea level rise due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could be substantially larger than estimated, according to new research from the University of Bristol. The study is the first of its kind on ice sheet melting to use structured expert elicitation (EE)...

Hitoshi Goto, associate professor in Toyohashi Tech’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has helped develop and his lab is using original software-based tools to better understand a variety of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena at the molecular level.

Ever since the Wright brothers, engineers have been working to develop bigger and better flying machines that maximize lift while minimizing drag. There has always been a need to efficiently carry more people and more cargo. And so the science and engineering of getting large aircraft off the...

America's next heavy-lift rocket needs a strong and reliable engine to launch humans beyond low Earth orbit. That's why engineers with NASA's Space Launch System program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, will use the proven RS-25, the space shuttle's main...

Harnessing laser light’s ability to gently push and pull microscopic particles, researchers have created the fiber-optic equivalent of the world’s smallest wrench. This virtual tool can precisely twist and turn the tiniest of particles, from living cells and DNA, to microscopic motors and...