Stories

A new way to study permafrost soil will lead to a better understanding of the Arctic ecosystem’s impact on the planet's climate. The new approach combines several remote-sensing tools to study the Arctic landscape—above and below ground—in high resolution and over large spatial scales.

A team of researchers has analyzed data on the impact of prolonged operational confinement on sleep, performance, and mood in astronauts from a groundbreaking international effort to simulate a 520-day space mission to Mars. The findings revealed alterations of life-sustaining sleep patterns and...

Stanford researchers, in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have designed a robotic platform that could take space exploration to new heights. The mission proposed for the platform involves a mother spacecraft deploying...

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has found more than 2,300 potential planets since its March 2009 launch. Although astronomers have found a number of exoplanets that share one or two key traits with our planet, including size or inferred surface temperature, a true "alien Earth" has yet to be...

Researchers from MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) presented a p-type transistor with the highest “carrier mobility” yet measured. By that standard, the device is twice as fast as previous experimental p-type transistors and almost four times as fast as the best commercial...

In the woods of central Virginia around Fort Pickett, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) four-legged robot has been showing off its capabilities during field testing. Working with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, researchers from DARPA’s LS3 program demonstrated new advances in the...

Explosives along roadways remain an unrelenting hazard for deployed soldiers, so U.S. Army engineers have developed a system for detecting possible threats by identifying potential threat locations on unimproved roads. The Shadow Class Infrared Spectral Sensor-Ground, known as SCISSOR-G, could...

The Army has been given the green light to fully deploy a combat-proven intelligence system, called the Distributed Common Ground System – Army (DCGS-A), to globally network forces with mission-critical information. The system was approved for full deployment by the Defense acquisition executive...

The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator recently completed its first at-sea test phase aboard the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). The first aircraft of its kind aboard a Naval vessel, the X-47B was put through myriad trials designed to assess the viability...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created conductive wires that can be stretched up to eight times their original length while still functioning. The wires can be used for everything from headphones to phone chargers, and hold potential for use in electronic textiles.

The world’s first implantable robotic arm controlled by thoughts is being developed by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The new technology helps amputees control an artificial limb in much the same way as their own biological hand or arm, via the person's own nerves and...

Scientists at GE’s global research labs have adapted technology that improves air flow through jet engine compressors for a super-thin cooling device that could lead to new generation of thinner, quieter, and more powerful tablets and laptops. At the heart of the new technology are two...

For more than 45 years, two crawler-transporters (CTs) have carried America's human spaceflight program on their backs. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, one of the CTs has been undergoing a major overhaul to keep the workhorse going for many years to come. With the first phase of...

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital now hope to exploit the porcupine quill’s unique properties to develop new types of adhesives, needles, and other medical devices. In a new study, the researchers characterized, for the first time, the forces needed for quills to enter and exit the...

NASA researchers focusing on the difficulties of traveling into deep space have identified an unusual source for fuel that astronauts will be carrying with them anyway: trash. Scientists say there is a good chance that food wrappers, used clothing, scraps, tape, packaging and other garbage accumulated by a...

This week's Question: Using existing hardware as well as specifically designed spacesuits and landers, a new space company called Golden Spike hopes to offer private trips to the Moon before 2020.

Two military aircraft produced by Boeing – the F-15E Eagle and the F/A-18E Super Hornet – now are equipped to train in an environment that puts them at odds against real aircraft and computer-generated enemy threats at the same time. Under a contract with the U.S. Air Force Research...

The Boeing X-48 Blended Wing Body subscale research aircraft made its 100th flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. The unmanned X-48C aircraft was flown on two separate 25-minute flights -- the seventh and eighth flights for the X-48C since it began...

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has developed and demonstrated a new process by tape-wrapping large, unique-shaped carbon-carbon aircraft shells, or aeroshells. Aeroshells are formed into a lifting body shape called Hypersonic Glide Vehicles, which are used as the primary...

Today we're pleased to have a guest blog from Eileen Markowitz, president of Thomas Industrial Network. To engage this new generation of manufacturers, we must restore — and elevate — the perception of manufacturing in America.

Imagine landing on the moon or Mars, putting rocks through a 3-D printer and making something useful – like a needed wrench or replacement part. Three-dimensional fabrication technology, also known as additive manufacturing, allows researchers to produce complex 3-D objects directly from...

Researchers at MIT have developed a new method for optimally combining models and observations to accurately simulate the seasonal extent of Arctic sea ice and the ocean circulation beneath. The team applied its synthesis method to produce a simulation of the Labrador Sea, off the southern...

When John Grotzinger, project scientist for the Mars Curiosity rover, stated that a recent discovery could be "earthshaking ... one for the history books," many speculated that the rover had discovered organic material, which could indicate life on Mars. NASA has since said that these kinds...

Cornell University researchers have created an autonomous flying robot that is as smart as a bird when it comes to maneuvering around obstacles. Able to guide itself through forests, tunnels or damaged buildings, the machine could have tremendous value in search-and-rescue operations. The team is...