Stories

A new dynamic simulation method provides precise simulation of fluid materials. The technique distinguishes itself significantly from known simulation methods which use mesh structures where the vertices are locked in a fixed position. In the new process, the mesh structure is replaced by a dynamic structure...

MIT chemists designed a new type of pencil lead consisting of carbon nanotubes, which can be drawn onto sheets of paper. The carbon nanotube sensors offer a powerful new way to detect harmful gases in the environment.

As part of the Navy's plan to convert at least 50% of its energy demands to alternative sources by 2020, the branch may cover part of Pearl Harbor with solar panels. The 4000-foot, unused runway in the center of Pearl Harbor's military base is a good location for the solar project and is "critically important to...

A team of researchers brought a pair of scale model space capsules to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to try out a rotor system that could be used in place of parachutes on returning spacecraft.The design would give a capsule the stability and control of a...

Although the term "pyrotechnic delay system" may be met with blank stares, such items are actually more commonplace than most people might realize. In fact, on the Fourth of July, they are an integral component of most commercial fireworks. Pyrotechnic delays serve as "chemical timers." In simple terms, a...

Camouflage face makeup for warfare is undergoing one of the most fundamental changes in thousands of years, as scientists at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society described a new face paint that both hides soldiers from the enemy and shields their faces from the searing...

The U.S. Army has begun the final phase for manufacturing a microchip-sized prototype that will support efforts to provide highly accurate location and battlefield situational awareness for the dismounted soldier, even in the temporary absence of GPS capability.

University of Illinois researchers have a new low-cost method to carve delicate features onto semiconductor wafers using light – and watch as it happens. The team’s new technique can monitor a semiconductor’s surface as it is etched, in real time, with nanometer resolution. It uses...

The Orlando Sentinel reported last week that NASA's next major mission could be the construction of a "gateway spacecraft" outpost that would send astronauts 277,000 miles from Earth, farther than ever before. The outpost would hover in orbit on the far side of the moon, support a small astronaut crew, and...

Today’s parking assistant systems enable drivers to safely park their cars even in the narrowest of gaps. Such sophisticated parking aids – as well as manufacturing robots – that require millimeter-precision control rely on precise all-around radar distance measurement....

Jackknifing is a major cause of devastation in a traffic accident involving tractor-trailer trucks. Researchers in Greece have now designed a device to prevent this often lethal action. The team’s sliding kingpin device allows the so-called kingpin junction between the front tractor and the...

Kessler Foundation has released preliminary research findings from its clinical study of the wearable robotic exoskeletal device, Ekso, made by Ekso Bionics. Ekso has been undergoing clinical investigation in patients with spinal cord injury at Kessler since October 2011, when the...

Professor Rick Neptune and his mechanical engineering students at the University of Texas at Austin demonstrate in this video how they're paving the way for more customized prosthetics and orthotic devices for injured soldiers.

MIT researchers have built a wearable sensor system that automatically creates a digital map of the environment through which the wearer is moving. The prototype system is envisioned as a tool to help emergency responders coordinate disaster response.In experiments conducted on the MIT...

In today's work environments, robots are often kept isolated from humans due to their massive weight and speed, traits that could possibly endanger humans in their vicinity. Many machines are kept either inside glass cages or behind laser-controlled light curtains. New robots, however, are being built with...

Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have reached a record precision in radar distance measurements. With the help of a new radar system, an accuracy of one micrometer was achieved in joint measurements. The system is characterized by...

An ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft operating out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, VA, will take part in the development of two future satellite instruments. The aircraft will fly test models of these instruments at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet to gather information...

A new “traffic light” test devised by Dr. Nick Sheron and colleagues at University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital in the UK could be used in primary care to diagnose liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in high risk populations more easily than at...

Using the lessons of the Apollo era and robotic missions to Mars, NASA scientists and engineers are working on ways to develop landing pads that could be robotically constructed in advance of future human expeditions to destinations such as the moon or Mars. These specially...

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity would have a hard time completing its mission if it were not for a successful partnership between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a professor-student team at UT. Ben Blalock, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and two graduate...

For the first time, an MIT team has managed to create three-dimensional “movies” of electron behavior in a topological insulator, or TI. The movies can capture vanishingly small increments of time — down to the level of a few femtoseconds, or millionths of a billionth of a second — so that...

Army vehicle electronics networking is complex and challenging due to vendor- specific devices and interfaces. Military vehicles require 100% network uptime and security. The network must reduce vehicle clutter, focus on saving soldiers’ lives, and provide minimum latency. Battle requirements...

Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, known as WIN-T, Increment 2, is nearing the finish line having undergone its largest operational test back in May. WIN-T Increment 2 is a major upgrade to the Army's tactical communications backbone and provides an on-the-move network that...

Beginning in October, the U.S. Army will begin fielding the first integrated group of networked technologies – radios, sensors and associated equipment and software – that will for the first time deliver an integrated voice and data capability throughout the entire Brigade...

Many companies, including Raytheon and the Israel-based Argo Medical Technologies, have created self-contained, wearable robotic suits to reduce injuries from heavy lifting, for example, and help paraplegics walk again. Ekso, based in Richmond, California, builds a suit without any...