Technology

A new collaborative study between IMDEA Materials Institute, China's Northwestern Polytechnical University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and the Southern University of Science and Technology, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of mechanical metamaterials.... Read more

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the world's most abundant pollutants and a key driver of climate change. To mitigate its impact, researchers around the world are exploring ways to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and transform it into valuable products, such as clean fuels or plastics. While the idea... Read more

As the transfer of information in our society becomes more complex, so the demand increases for screens that transmit images and video with precision. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, the University of Gothenburg and Uppsala University, Sweden, have developed a screen technology with the smallest pixels ever and with... Read more

According to Statistics Norway, an average of approximately 1,100 detached houses have been demolished each year in Norway over the course of the past decade. However, only 7% of the wood from these buildings was recycled.... Read more

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), cylindrical nanostructures made of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, have proved to be promising for the fabrication of various electronic devices. In fact, these structures exhibit outstanding electrical conductivity and mechanical strength, both of which are highly favorable for the development of transistors (i.e., the... Read more

3D printing is extremely practical when you want to produce small quantities of customized components. However, this technology has always had one major problem: 3D printers can only process a single material at a time. Until now, objects with different material properties in different areas could only be 3D-printed at... Read more

A research team has developed an innovative parameter, FoMLUE, to evaluate the potential of photoactive materials for semi-transparent organic photovoltaics (ST-OPVs), paving the way for their widespread commercial applications.... Read more

A European research team involving Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY has developed a novel way for converting mechanical energy into electricity—by using water confined in nanometer-sized pores of silicon as the active working fluid.... Read more

To meet the growing demands of flexible and wearable electronic systems, such as smart watches and biomedical sensors, electronics engineers are seeking high-performance transistors that can efficiently modulate electrical current while maintaining mechanical flexibility.... Read more

Encryption technologies are vital in today's digital landscape to protect sensitive information from hackers and prevent fraud. While cutting-edge encryption has been developed for data, sophisticated protection for physical objects such as high-value products, access cards and documents has lagged behind until now.... Read more

It's hard to keep up with the ever-changing trends of the fashion world. What's "in" one minute is often out of style the next season, potentially causing you to re-evaluate your wardrobe.... Read more

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; Saudi Arabia) researchers have set a record in microchip design, achieving the first six-stack hybrid CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) for large-area electronics. With no other reported hybrid CMOS exceeding two stacks, the feat marks a new benchmark in integration density and efficiency,... Read more

Inside a lab in the picturesque Swiss town of Vevey, a scientist gives tiny clumps of human brain cells the nutrient-rich fluid they need to stay alive.... Read more

US food delivery app DoorDash announced Thursday that Waymo driverless cars will soon shuttle orders to some customers in a budding partnership with the Google-owned robotaxi star.... Read more

Could tiny magnetic objects, that rapidly clump together and instantly fall apart again, one day perform delicate procedures inside the human body? A new study from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart and at ETH Zurich introduces a wireless method to stiffen and relax small... Read more

Researchers have invented a new super agile robot that can cleverly change shape thanks to amorphous characteristics akin to the popular Marvel anti-hero Venom.... Read more

A new security screener that people can simply walk past may soon be coming to an airport near you. In 2024, U.S. airports nationwide began adopting HEXWAVE—a commercialized walkthrough security screening system based on microwave imaging technology developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory—to satisfy a new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) mandate... Read more

Researchers have created a class of robots made from thin sheets of material that can snap into hundreds of stable shapes, allowing them to execute a wide variety of actions despite the fact that they have no motor and are made of a single, flat material. These "metabots" essentially resemble... Read more

A stapler slides across a desk to meet a waiting hand, or a knife edges out of the way just before someone leans against a countertop. It sounds like magic, but in Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII), researchers are combining AI and robotic mobility to give everyday objects... Read more

Researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have devised a battery powered by vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and glucose. Inspired by how human bodies break down glucose for energy using enzymes, the team incorporated riboflavin into a prototype flow cell battery. The riboflavin mediator helped shuttle electrons between the battery's electrodes and... Read more

Introducing X1: The world's first multirobot system that integrates a humanoid robot with a transforming drone that can launch off the humanoid's back, and later, drive away.... Read more

Researchers at Seoul National University have unveiled a thermal management technology capable of selectively implementing cooling and heating functions using a single material and process, without requiring electricity.... Read more

The play, in real time to the naked eye, might have looked very close to a violation. LeBron James leaped, got his right hand on the ball with a few tenths of the game's final second remaining and tapped it through the basket to give the Los Angeles Lakers a... Read more

There could soon be a new way to interact with your favorite AI chatbots—through the clothing you wear. An international team of researchers has developed a voice-sensing fabric called A-Textile. This flexible patch of smart material turns everyday garments into a kind of microphone, allowing you to speak commands directly... Read more

Scientists have come up with a new way to improve the safety and performance of all-solid-state lithium metal batteries (ASSLMBs), the next-generation energy source technology that is set to power everything from electric vehicles to renewable energy grids.... Read more

A research team affiliated with UNIST has unveiled a new type of artificial muscle that can seamlessly transition from soft and flexible to rigid and strong—much like rubber transforming into steel. When contracting, this innovative muscle can lift many times its own weight, delivering energy output far surpassing that of... Read more

A digital, voice-controlled hand could improve the convenience and accessibility of virtual and augmented reality by enabling hands-free use of games and apps. The prototype software was developed by computer scientists at the University of Michigan.... Read more

What if your clothes could sense, respond, and even help you move? That's the vision behind the doctoral project on "textile nerves"—conductive fibers designed for electronic and ionotronic textiles. Claude Huniade, who was behind an innovative project, has woven together chemistry, mechanics, and sustainability to rethink how textiles and electronics... Read more

The vast majority of consumer electronics use lithium-ion batteries, and with each generation, these devices are designed smaller, lighter and with longer battery life to meet the growing demands of consumers. Each new iteration also brings the batteries that power the devices closer to the limits of their size, weight... Read more

Researchers have demonstrated a new and sustainable way to make the chemicals that are the basis of thousands of products—from plastics to cosmetics—we use every day.... Read more

Light bulbs come in many shapes and styles: globes, twists, flame-like candle tips and long tubes. But there aren't many thin options. Now, researchers report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that they have created a paper-thin LED that gives off a warm, sun-like glow. The LEDs could light up... Read more

Researchers have created a polymer "Chinese lantern" that can snap into more than a dozen curved, three-dimensional shapes by compressing or twisting the original structure. This rapid shape-shifting behavior can be controlled remotely using a magnetic field, allowing the structure to be used for a variety of applications.... Read more

In the future, could our mobile phones and internet data operate using light rather than just electricity? Now, for the first time, an international research team led by CNRS researchers working at the Albert Fert Laboratory (Laboratoire Albert Fert; CNRS/Thales) has discovered how to generate an electron gas found in... Read more

For the first time, scientists have created a fully functional memory chip only a few atoms thick and integrated it into conventional chips. This advance could pave the way for more powerful and energy-efficient electronic devices.... Read more

Lots of single-use water bottles made from poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) end up in landfills, but there's a growing interest in upcycling them instead. Researchers in Energy & Fuels report on new heat-based fabrication methods to transform PET into supercapacitor electrodes and separator films for upcycled energy storage devices. In demonstrations,... Read more

Vat photopolymerization is a 3D printing technique in which a light-sensitive resin is poured into a vat, and then selectively hardened into a desired shape using a laser or UV light. But this process is mostly used only with light-sensitive polymers, which limits its range of useful applications.... Read more

A new study led by (PI) Professor M. Jasim Uddin, Ph.D., Professor of Mechanical Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, has been published in ACS Omega, advancing the frontier of sustainable, self-powered technologies.... Read more

Australia's rapid uptake of solar panels is creating a looming waste problem with most solar photovoltaic (PV) panels being directed to landfill at the end of their life.... Read more

Around 4.4 billion people worldwide still lack reliable access to safe drinking water. Newly designed, thin floating films that harness sunlight to eliminate over 99.99% of bacteria could help change that, turning contaminated water into a safe resource and offering a promising solution to this urgent global challenge.... Read more

Concrete already builds our world, and now it's one step closer to powering it, too. Made by combining cement, water, ultra-fine carbon black (with nanoscale particles), and electrolytes, electron-conducting carbon concrete (ec3, pronounced "e-c-cubed") creates a conductive "nanonetwork" inside concrete that could enable everyday structures like walls, sidewalks, and bridges... Read more

A team of engineers from Polytechnique Montréal report a new and unique parachute concept inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami today in Nature. This simple, robust and low-cost approach has a wide variety of potential applications ranging from humanitarian aid to space exploration.... Read more

OpenAI and South Korean tech conglomerates Samsung and SK on Wednesday announced partnerships to provide chips and other solutions for Stargate, a $500 billion project aimed at building infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence.... Read more

Roads are subject to heavy wear from traffic and environmental factors. Over the long term, these things add up to cracks and other defects in the asphalt. Micro-cracks and damage to deeper layers cannot be detected by the naked eye, however.... Read more

New research led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (GZ) and Queen Mary University of London, could redefine how we interact with everyday tools and devices—thanks to a novel method for printing ultra-thin conductive microfibers.... Read more

A team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced the creation of an artificial neuron with electrical functions that closely mirror those of biological ones. Building on their previous work using protein nanowires synthesized from electricity-generating bacteria, the team's discovery means that we could see immensely efficient... Read more

Researchers have developed the first binder-free method for 3D printing glass, using light to trigger a chemical reaction that directly forms silica structures without the need for organic additives or extreme heat. This breakthrough makes glass printing faster, cleaner, and more precise, with the potential to revolutionize fields from optics... Read more

From texting on a smart phone to ordering train tickets at a kiosk, touch screens are ubiquitous and, in most cases, relatively reliable. But for people who are blind or visually impaired and use electronic braille devices, the technology can be vulnerable to the elements, easily broken or clogged by... Read more

In the near future, you may not need to touch a keypad to select a tip or pay for large purchases. All it may take is a swipe, tap or other quick gesture.... Read more

UBC researchers have launched the world's first mushroom-powered waterless toilet, the MycoToilet, at the UBC Botanical Garden. The prototype turns human waste into nutrient-rich compost using mycelia—the root networks of mushrooms—and features a modern, sustainable design that can be dropped into parks, remote communities and areas without plumbing.... Read more

A traditional digital camera splits an image into three channels—red, green and blue—mirroring how the human eye perceives color. But those are just three discrete points along a continuous spectrum of wavelengths. Specialized "spectral" cameras go further by sequentially capturing dozens, or even hundreds, of these divisions across the spectrum.... Read more