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My Opinion: Engineers Can Help Solve Social Problems

This past year’s Technology and Society articles in Tech Briefs magazine describe different ways engineers are making significant contributions to improving our lives.

How Much Do You Know About Radar?

Radar is used in a wide variety of applications from locating nearby aircraft, to navigating unmanned vehicles, to trapping speeding motorists. How much do you really know about this common technology? Take this quiz to find out.

New Wearable Sensor Makes Continuous Analysis of Sweat Possible

Continuous monitoring of sweat can reveal valuable information about human health, such as the body’s glucose levels. However, wearable sensors previously developed for this...

Researchers Wire Up Individual Graphene Nanoribbons

Researchers have developed a method of “wiring up” graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), a class of one-dimensional materials that are of interest in the scaling of microelectronic devices....

3D-Printed Living Material for Cleaning Contaminated Water

A new type of material developed at the University of California San Diego could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water.

How Much Do You Know About Sustainability?

With the increasing threat of climate change, efforts must be stepped up to ensure development today does not negatively affect future generations. How much do you know about sustainability? Find out with this quiz.

Dr. Brendan Mulvaney Talks China’s Space and SATCOM Strategy

Dr. Brendan Mulvaney, Director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute, is the guest on this episode of the Here’s an Idea Podcast.

NASA’s Oxygen-Generating Experiment MOXIE Completes Mars Mission

As part of the NASA’s Perseverance rover, MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), has generated oxygen for the 16th and final time, successfully completing its mission goal.

How Much Do You Know About Hypersonic Weapon Technology?

The DoD has been pursuing the development of hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, although such research programs date back even further. How much do you know about hypersonic weapon technology? Test your knowledge in this quiz.

NASA Engineers Help Create a Virtual World of Data

NASA engineers have been trying to improve data visualization for decades. Their research, experience, and patents lead to a new method of exploring and visualizing data in VR.

New Hydrogel Uses Just Energy from Sunlight to Create Water

Researchers at University of Texas at Austin were able to pull water out of the atmosphere and make it drinkable using solar energy, in conditions as low as 104°.

5Ws of the Wingless Transporter

A two-passenger hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) passenger multicopter aircraft with NASA-proven thrusters for advanced air mobility.

New Tech Speeds Up Bacterial Testing in Food

A promising technology that could potentially revolutionize the process of testing bacterial viability in food.

An AI-Enabled Soft Robotic Implant Monitors Scar Tissue

Research teams at University of Galway and MIT have detailed a new breakthrough in medical device technology that could lead to intelligent, long-lasting, tailored treatment for patients thanks to soft robotics and artificial intelligence.

Silicon Nose: Small Sensor ‘Smells’ Incipient Seizures

In people with epilepsy, seizure-alert dogs can smell small changes in body chemistry and warn of an impending seizure an hour or more before it occurs. Inspired by this feat of nature, a team of researchers has developed a way to replicate that ability with technology.

New Technology Offers Better Diagnosis of Dizziness

The vibrating device uses bone-conducted sounds to achieve better results.

Air Monitor Can Detect COVID-19 Variants in Five Minutes

By combining recent advances in aerosol sampling technology and an ultrasensitive biosensing technique, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have created a real-time monitor that can detect any of the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants in a room in about five minutes.

Tiny Implantable Tool for Light-Sheet Imaging of Brain Activity

The tool shows promise for imaging brain activity in 3D with high speed and contrast.

Human Tissue-Like Cellular Assemblies Grown for Respiratory Studies

NASA researchers have developed a technology that yields 3D tissue-like assemblies of human broncho-epithelial cells for in vitro research on infection of humans by respiratory viruses.

Turning Carbon Emissions into Rocks

In Penn’s Clean Energy Conversions Lab, researchers are repurposing waste from industrial mines, storing carbon pulled from the atmosphere into newly formed rock. The team sees great environmental potential in mine tailings.

Building Technology to Clean Up Space

In 1978, NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler theorized that an increasing amount of space pollution would lead to more collisions between objects in orbit, and thus more debris — the Kessler Syndrome. Multiple teams of researchers are working on solutions.

Imaging Space Debris in High Resolution

A team has introduced a new method for taking high-res images of fast-moving and rotating objects in space, such as satellites or debris in low-Earth orbit.

Getting NASA Data to the Ground with Lasers

The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) will usher in a new era of laser communications.

The Gripen E Jet's New Li-ion Battery

Frank Puglia, EaglePicher's Director of Research and Development, is the guest on this episode of the Here's an Idea podcast to discuss the Gripen E jet’s new Li-ion battery.

Continuously Tunable Thermal Regulators for Batteries and Electronic Devices

Battery safety and performance in electronic devices and systems like battery thermal management, space conditioning, vehicle thermal comfort, and thermal energy...

New Material Will Burn Viruses, Not Skin

A new material uses Joule heating to decontaminate its surface of coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 in under 5 seconds, effectively killing at least 99.9 percent of viruses.