Stories

Engineers at Harvard have created plasmonic nanotweezers that may make it easier to isolate and study tiny particles such as viruses. The device uses light from a laser to trap nanoscale particles, creates strong forces more efficiently than traditional optical tweezers, and eliminates the overheating...

University of Utah engineers who built wireless networks that see through walls now are aiming the technology at a new goal: noninvasively measuring the breathing of surgery patients, adults with sleep apnea and babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Neal Patwari, senior author of a study of...

Researchers have designed what they believe to be a new type of magnetic cloak, which shields objects from external magnetic fields, while at the same time preventing any magnetic internal fields from leaking outside, making the cloak undetectable.The development of such a device, described as an...

  This week's Question: NASA recently unveiled its new "Space Launch System," which will be designed to carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, as well as important cargo, equipment, and science experiments to Earth's orbit and destinations beyond. "Tomorrow's explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars,"...

To avoid wireless sensor power constraints, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are harnessing electricity from low-power sources in the environment, such as vibrations from swaying bridges, humming machinery, and rumbling foot traffic. Such natural energy sources could do away with...

Chemists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have built the world's first single molecule electric motor, a development that may potentially create a new class of devices that could be used in applications ranging from medicine to engineering.In research published...

The next generation of robust and reliable temperature sensing equipment may be much more accurate, with the advent of a new form of crystal that can deliver highly accurate temperature readings down to individual milli-kelvins, over a very broad range of temperatures: –120 to +680...

Engineers at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) in Munchen, Germany developed an electronic sensor chip that can be implanted close to the tumor to determine the oxygen content in a patient’s tissue fluid. The data can be wirelessly transmitted to the patient’s doctor to support the choice of therapy....

Two types of design tests for relays and relay systems that relate to the immunity of this equipment to repetitive electrical transients are specified. Test generator characteristics, test waveforms, selection of equipment terminals on which...

Code created by a start-up company called Narrative Science takes data, including sports statistics, company financial reports, and housing sales, and turns it into readable news articles. Supporters of this type of software note an increasing sophistication in the technology's ability to make...

This week's Question: While companies debate the merits of cloud computing, the U.S. government has been weighing its own options. By gradually shifting to maintenance-free services that are based on the Internet and run by private companies, Vivek Kundra, the White...

We live in a digital world. Precious family photos that once would’ve been recorded on film now exist as digital files. Important documents can now be disseminated and stored with the push of a button, and mp3 technology has forever altered the way we listen to and share our music. What once took up many square feet of storage...

INSIDER reader Kenneth Polcak submitted a "Question of the Week" to his fellow design engineer pros:

  This week's guest Question comes from INSIDER reader Kenneth Polcak: IBM has recently developed prototypes of energy-efficient computer chips that emulate the synapses, neurons, and learning functions of the human brain. IBM's Systems of Neuromorphic...

  This week's Question: Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said users are moving toward a "post-PC world," and computer sales have indeed slowed. Perhaps demonstrating Jobs' "post-PC" concept, the information technology giant HP recently announced that it would stop producing tablet computers...