Tech Briefs

Improved EV Battery Technology Will Outmatch Degradation From Climate Change

In a new study led by the University of Michigan, researchers have shown that batteries have gotten a lot better over the past several years. So much so, in fact, that their gains will more than offset their expected heat-related degradation on a warming planet. Read on to learn more.

Programming Robots for Improved Nonverbal Communication

At Purdue University, Sooyeon Jeong, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and robot communication and behavior expert, is working to make robots as friendly and helpful as possible in non-fictional settings. Her goal is to create robots that make the world a better place for humans. Read on to learn more.

How Robotic Micro-Actuators Are Enhancing Bone Healing

Smart implants that not only stabilize a fracture but also monitor the healing process from day one — and deliver targeted support when required — are currently being developed at Saarland University by a team of engineers, medical researchers, and computer scientists. Read on to learn more about it.

Building Magnetically Responsive Robots and Materials

A lollipop gripper is one demonstration of a new type of soft magnetic hydrogel developed by engineers at MIT and their collaborators at EPFL in Switzerland and the University of Cincinnati. The MIT team reports on a new method to print and fabricate the gel, which can be made into complex, magnetically activated three-dimensional structures. Read on to learn more.

Guiding Robot Swarms to Prevent Gridlock

A study from the lab of L. Mahadevan combines mathematics, computer simulations, and experiments to show that in crowded environments, adding just the right amount of randomness, or “noise,” to how individuals move, can ease gridlock and dramatically improve efficiency. Read on to learn more.

A Quadruped Robot That Can Walk a Balance Beam

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam. Read on to learn more.

AI Boosts Snakebot’s Movement Efficiency

A research group has developed a snake-like robot artificial intelligence that optimizes its rolling movement using deep reinforcement learning. This movement is aided by a unique “observation buffer” that uses data from the robot’s sensors to analyze angular velocity, acceleration, and body state information. Read on to learn more.

A Face Mask to Detect Kidney Disease

Surgical face masks help prevent the spread of airborne pathogens and therefore were ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a modified mask could also protect a wearer by detecting health conditions, including chronic kidney disease. Researchers reporting in ACS Sensors incorporated a specialized breath sensor within the fabric of a face mask to detect metabolites associated with the disease. Read on to learn more.

Neutrons Help Improve 3D-Printed Superalloys

Researchers successfully used laser-based 3D printing to make alloys from two different metals, Inconel 718 and René 41, without cracking. Read on to learn more.

A Thinner, Better Conductor

In a paper published in Science, Stanford researchers show that niobium phosphide can conduct electricity better than copper in films that are only a few atoms thick. Moreover, these films can be created and deposited at sufficiently low temperatures to be compatible with modern computer chip fabrication. Read on to learn more.

Monitoring Hydrogen Fuel Quality in Real Time

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science has developed equipment that monitors the quality of hydrogen fuel supplied to vehicles through hydrogen refueling stations in real-time. This equipment is expected to prevent hydrogen vehicle accidents caused by impurities in the hydrogen fuel and improve the quality of hydrogen production. Read on to learn more.

World’s First 2D, Non-Silicon Computer Developed

In a world first, researchers have used 2D materials, which are only an atom thick and retain their properties at that scale, unlike silicon, to develop a computer capable of simple operations. The development represents a major leap toward the realization of thinner, faster and more energy-efficient electronics. Read on to learn more.

A Flexible and Efficient DC-DC Power Converter

A new DC-DC power converter is superior to previous designs and paves the way for more efficient, reliable, and sustainable energy storage and conversion solutions. The Kobe University development can efficiently interface with a wide range of energy sources while enhancing system stability and simplicity at an unprecedented efficiency. Read on to learn more.

Grain-of-Salt-Sized Neural Implant

Researchers at Cornell University, working with collaborators, have created an extremely small neural implant that can sit on a grain of salt. Despite its size, the device can wirelessly transmit brain activity data from a living animal for more than a year. Read on to learn more.

Using Digital Twins to Teach Robots to Lunar Crawl

The future of Moon exploration may be rolling around a non-descript office on the CU Boulder campus. Here, a robot about as wide as a large pizza scoots forward on three wheels. It uses an arm with a claw at one end to pick up a plastic block from the floor, then set it back down. Read on to learn more.

A Biocompatible Sensor Implant to Monitor Neurological Functions

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and New York’s Columbia University have embedded transistors in a soft, conformable material to create a biocompatible sensor implant that monitors neurological functions through successive phases of a patient’s development. Read on to learn more.

Electrochemical Sensors for Cheap, Disposable Diagnostics

Using an inexpensive electrode coated with DNA, MIT researchers have designed disposable diagnostics that could be adapted to detect a variety of diseases, including cancer or infectious diseases such as influenza and HIV. Read on to learn more.

Polyamide Aerogels

NASA Glenn researchers have found methods for using combinations of diamines and disecondary amines to produce polyamide aerogels with tunable glass transition temperatures, for greater control of features such as flexibility or water-resistance. Read on to learn more.

Testing Heat Shields for Space

For decades, Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility has harnessed the power of the sun to expose aerospace materials to intense heat, replicating the harsh conditions of faster-than-sound flight and atmospheric reentry to ensure the materials’ ability to protect the rest of the vehicle. The most recent of these tests is in support of two exciting NASA missions. Read on to learn more.

Improving Next-Generation Aircraft with Supercomputing and AI

With unprecedented capabilities for simulation and artificial intelligence, the Aurora supercomputer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is helping researchers explore new ways to design more efficient airplanes. Read on to learn more.

Radiation Detection Using Scintillating Fibers

At Idaho National Laboratory, researchers developed TRIPWIRE to enable detecting radiation over large and inaccessible areas like nuclear material repositories. Read on to learn more.

Sweat-Powered Wearable Akin to Wearing a Band-Aid

A sweat-powered wearable has the potential to make continuous, personalized health monitoring as effortless as wearing a Band-Aid. Read on to learn more.

Wireless Transceiver Rivals Fiber-Optic Speed

A new transceiver invented by electrical engineers at the University of California, Irvine boosts radio frequencies into 140-gigahertz territory, unlocking data speeds that rival those of physical fiber-optic cables and laying the groundwork for a transition to 6G and FutureG data transmission protocols. Read on to learn more about it.

Cars and Planes Could Avoid Hazardous Ice and Freezing Rain with New Sensors

Pilots, drivers, and automated safety systems in cars and airplanes could be alerted to icy hazards by a pair of sensors developed at the University of Michigan. Read on to learn more about it.

Resilient Nylon Device Creates Electricity Under Tons of Pressure

Researchers have developed a flexible nylon-film device that generates electricity from compression and keeps working even after being run over by a car multiple times, opening the door to self-powered sensors on our roads and for other electronic devices. Read on to learn more.

Humidity-Resistant Hydrogen Sensor Can Improve Safety for Large-Scale Clean Energy

It's a challenge that today’s sensors do not work optimally in humid environments. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, are presenting a new sensor that is well suited to humid environments — and actually performs better the more humid it gets. Read on to learn more about it.

Finding Hidden Damage in Cold-Formed Steel with Radar and AI

A University of Houston engineer has developed a method to detect possible damage in concealed cold-formed steel construction framing materials hidden behind walls, without having to tear the walls open. Read on to learn more.

Floating Piston Valve

A valve developed by NASA Stennis Space Center consists of a solid piston floating in a medium to control the flow stream. The piston is designed to be axially and radially balanced within the flow stream whether the valve is in the open or closed position. This valve has many unique features and design advantages over conventional valve concepts. Read on to learn more.

Porous Radical Organic Framework Improves Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

A team led by Professor Yan Lu, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, and Professor Arne Thomas, Technical University of Berlin, has developed a material that enhances the capacity and stability of lithium-sulfur batteries. Read on to learn more.