Stories

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new kind of tiny motor — which they call a “microrocket” — that can propel itself through acidic environments, such as the human stomach, without any external energy source. Joseph Wang and...

A robot installation developed by artists in the Robotlab at the Center for Art and Media ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany - some of whom are now employed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies, and Image Exploitation IOSB - successfully sketches human portraits. “We have used an...

The Tongue Drive System is a wireless device that enables people with high-level spinal cord injuries to operate a computer and maneuver an electrically powered wheelchair by moving their tongues. The latest prototype of the system, developed at Georgia Tech, allows users to wear an...

By touching a small piece of Power Felt – a promising new thermoelectric device developed by a team of researchers – body heat can be turned into an electrical current.Potential uses for Power Felt include lining automobile seats to boost battery power and service electrical needs,...

For years, scientists had searched for the secret to making tiny implantable devices that could travel through the bloodstream. Engineers at Stanford have demonstrated a wirelessly powered device that can be implanted or injected into the human body and powered using electromagnetic radio...

Plant and computer scientists can now study the underground world of plants with more accuracy and clarity. The revolutionary technique will improve chances of breeding better crop varieties and increasing yields.Developed at The University of Nottingham by a team of experts from the Schools...

A system, being developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), allows robots to navigate through constantly changing surroundings. The technology builds and continuously updates a three-dimensional map of an environment using a...

Using a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon crystal, physicists have built a working transistor, laying the groundwork for a quantum computer that is smaller than today's silicon-based machines, and may one day function in nanoscale environments. Quantum computers may make it possible to quickly simulate...

Stanford University Unstructured is an open-source software package that gives advanced engineering students a crucial leg up on the time-consuming process of writing their own code to optimize aerospace design.

Leaner, greener flying machines for the year 2025 are on the drawing boards of three industry teams under contract to the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project. Teams from The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman have...

Aviation researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia are developing an information system to help Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) make safer emergency landings and better enable their wider commercial use. Dr. Luis Mejias Alvarez said UAVs could not fly in...

University of Manchester mathematicians have developed the theory for a ’cloaking’ device which could protect buildings from earthquakes. By cloaking components of structures with pressurised rubber, powerful waves such as those produced by an earthquake would not...

Arizona State University engineers are working on technological advances that promise to help enhance infrared photodetection used in sophisticated weapons and surveillance system, industrial and home security systems, medical diagnostics and night vision equipment for law enforcement and driving...

Through the DOE's SunShot Incubator program, over $12 million in funding is available to accelerate innovation in solar energy and manufacturing - supporting advancements in hardware, reductions in soft costs, and the development of pilot manufacturing and production projects.

Geologists have built a new tool to study how earthquakes change the landscape down to a few inches, offering insight into how earthquake faults behave. A team of scientists from the U.S., Mexico, and China reports a comprehensive before-and-after picture of an earthquake zone, using data from the...

Researchers at Cambridge University, Stony Brook University, and New York University have developed methodology to improve battery performance and safety by serving as a diagnostic of its internal workings.Because radio frequency fields do not penetrate metals, one can actually perform very sensitive...

A new study led by Jun Zhang, a Professor at NYU's Courant Institute, determined that hovering in mid-air might actually depend more on weight distribution than once thought. The researchers used pyramid-shaped paper "bugs," which were kept afloat in a stream of blown air. Contrary to...

Recent earthquake damage has exposed the vulnerability of existing structures to strong ground movement. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, researchers are analyzing shape-memory alloys for their potential use in constructing seismic-resistant structures.Georgia Tech researchers have developed...

The Army has identified physical overburden as one of its top five science and technology challenges. To help alleviate physical weight on troops, DARPA is developing a highly mobile, semi-autonomous legged robot, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), to integrate with a squad of Marines or...

A Stanford University research team has designed a high-efficiency charging system that uses magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit large electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. The long-term goal of the research is to develop an all-electric highway that...