Physical Sciences

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a new tunable laser that uses a series of rings to smoothly emit many light wavelengths from a single chip; a smart capsule called PillTrek, which can measure pH, temperature, and a variety of different biomarkers; and more.

Light-Propelled Flying Structures Aim to Study Earth’s Upper Atmosphere

A new study introduces a novel way to reach a largely unstudied stretch of the atmosphere, between 30-60 miles above Earth’s surface, the mesosphere. Researchers have introduced a new way to explore it: lightweight flying structures that can float using nothing but sunlight.

Friction That Cools

How can a horde of active robots be automatically brought to a standstill? By arresting their dynamics in a self-sustained way. This phenomenon was discovered by physicists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU)...

AI Shapes Autonomous Underwater “Gliders”

Marine scientists have long marveled at how animals like fish and seals swim so efficiently despite having different shapes. Their bodies are optimized for efficient, hydrodynamic aquatic...

Growing a Whole-Brain Organoid

Johns Hopkins University researchers have grown a novel whole-brain organoid, complete with neural tissues and rudimentary blood vessels — an advance that could usher in a new era of research into neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism.

Using AI to Perfect the 3D Printing of Metals

Professor Ashif Iquebal together with Professor Aviral Shrivastava and their team at Arizona State University are developing methods for improving the quality of highly critical metal parts manufactured using 3D printing.

PGUOM Can Block Noise Without Blocking Air

The Zhang Lab’s latest advance, Phase Gradient Ultra-Open Metamaterial (PGUOM), centers on broadband silencing. Read on to learn more about it.

Next-Gen Automotive Semiconductors Are Critical for Level 5 Driverless Cars

The driverless robotaxis chauffeuring around San Francisco, and the advanced driver assistance features on more than half of new vehicles sold this year show just...

Tiny But Mighty: Next-Gen Transistors Hold Great Promise

As electronics become smaller, it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue scaling down silicon-based transistors. Now, a research team led by the Institute of Industrial...

New Tech May Lead to Smaller, More Powerful Wireless Devices

A new class of synthetic materials could herald the next revolution of wireless technologies, enabling devices to be smaller, require less signal strength and use less power.

Developing Durable Solar Panels Without Silicon

Using a new technology, Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena's lab has found a way to stabilize perovskite solar cells, which are built like a battery. Read on to learn more.

Capturing Water from Thin Air

Engineers from Australia and China have invented a sponge-like device that captures water from thin air and then releases it in a cup using the sun’s energy, even in low humidity where other technologies such as fog harvesting and radiative cooling have struggled. Read on to learn more.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including a solution for actuating choke and other valves in subsea applications; Sumida's new CEP1311F Flyback Transformers, designed for use with “no-opto” isolated flyback circuits; SPIROL's range of 2024 aluminum Press-In Inserts; Instron's AVE3, an advanced non-contacting video extensometer that delivers precise strain measurement with unparalleled, micron-level accuracy; and more.

Autonomous Structures Can Be Programmed to Jump Days in Advance

Researchers have created dynamic structures that leap into the air on a predetermined schedule without intervention from computers or external stimuli. Precisely when these...

A Robot with the ‘Brains’ to Morph Mid-Air

The new robot, dubbed ATMO (aerially transforming morphobot), uses four thrusters to fly, but the shrouds that protect them become the system's wheels in an alternative driving configuration. The whole transformation relies on a single motor to move a central joint that lifts ATMO's thrusters up into drone mode or down into drive mode.

Engineering the Blue Ghost: From Idea to Moon Landing

In this interview, Joseph Marlin, Deputy Blue Ghost Chief Engineer at Firefly Aerospace, delves deeper into how their first mission is establishing an improved awareness of the lunar environment ahead of future crewed missions and how it will help plan for long-duration surface operations under Artemis.

My Opinion: Quantum Computing Is Coming But Has This Engineer Puzzled

My Opinion: Quantum computing is coming but has this engineer puzzled. As we celebrate 2025, the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, I find that thinking about these things from an engineer’s point of view is quite challenging.

Nimble Dimples: Agile Underwater Vehicles Inspired by Golf Balls

A spherical prototype that can change its surface from smooth to dimpled, cuts through drag and generates lift. Underwater or aerial vehicles with dimples like golf balls...

Substrate Engineering to Improve Power Electronics

As the growth in global electricity need and supply continues to accelerate, efficient power electronics will be key to improving grid efficiency, stability, integration, and resilience for...

Superconducting Diode Bridge Efficiently Converts AC to DC for Quantum Circuits

Superconductivity is an advantageous property observed in some materials. It entails an electrical resistance of zero at extremely low temperatures....

Diamond Quantum Imaging Can Enable Next-Gen Power Electronics

Improving energy conversion efficiency in power electronics is vital for a sustainable society, with wide-bandgap semiconductors like GaN and SiC power devices offering...

An Octopus-Inspired Smart Robot

The work shows how a soft robot can use suction flow not just to stick to things, but also to sense its environment and control its own actions — just like an octopus.

Careful Heating Unlocks Unprecedented Sensitivity to Pressure in Semiconductor Materials

Stronger cell phone signals, more accurate sensors, and cleaner energy may be achieved by adding a simple step to the industrial fabrication process of...

Your Skin Is Breathing — This New Wearable Device Can Measure It.

Northwestern University researchers have developed the first wearable device for measuring gases emitted from and absorbed by the skin. By analyzing these gases, the device...

World's First Petahertz-Speed Phototransistor in Ambient Conditions

What if ultrafast pulses of light could operate computers at speeds a million times faster than today's best processors? A team of scientists, including researchers from...

A Hopping Robot That Can Leap and Land Like a Squirrel

University of California Berkeley biologists and engineers have designed a hopping robot that can stick a landing on a narrow perch. The feat is a big step in the design of more agile robots, ones that can leap among the trusses and girders of buildings under construction or robots that can monitor the environment in tangled forests or tree canopies. Read on to learn more.

Carbon Fiber-Carbon Nanotube Yarn Hybrid Reinforcement

Innovators at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed a toughened hybrid reinforcement material made from carbon fiber and carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn for use in polymer matrix composites (PMCs). The new material improves toughness and damping properties of PMCs, enhancing impact resistance, fatigue life, as well as structural longevity. Read on to learn more.

Advanced Microelectronics: Why A Next-Gen Semiconductor Doesn’t Fall to Pieces

The mechanism holding new ferroelectric semiconductors together produces a conductive pathway that could enable high power transistors. A new class of...

A 5-Inch Soft Robot that Can Jump 10 Feet in the Air

Inspired by the movements of a tiny parasitic worm, Georgia Tech engineers have created a five-inch soft robot that can jump as high as a basketball hoop.