Technology

Aerospace engineering and materials science researchers at Texas A&M University have uncovered new properties of an ultra-durable, recyclable, smart plastic—paving the way for transformative applications in the defense, aerospace and automotive industries.... Read more

The University of Cincinnati is working with Ohio's Bureau of Workers' Compensation to use digital-twin technology to make workplaces safer.... Read more

Consumer devices may soon be able to directly access and interfere with the human brain—but this raises unprecedented ethical and legal questions. How can we leverage the benefits of this technology for therapeutic purposes while preventing its misuse?... Read more

Picture this: You work in a warehouse and need to bring a part to the other side of the building. The floor of the warehouse is marked with pedestrian pathways for safety, but you see a shortcut and decide to take it—without looking both ways.... Read more

Scientists at La Trobe University have produced a new, powerful electricity-conducting material in research which could revolutionize smartphones and wearable technologies like medical devices.... Read more

What if windows could clean themselves at the flick of a switch? We're not quite there yet, but we are getting closer. Researchers in China have developed a transparent, easy-to-produce self-cleaning glass that can remove particles in just 10 seconds using an electric field.... Read more

Airline ANA said Thursday that, together with a US start-up, it hopes to have electric "air taxis" whizzing over Japan from as early as 2027.... Read more

A new breakthrough from the Zhang Lab at Boston University is making waves in the world of sound control.... Read more

NIBIO has contributed to developing a method for turning greenhouse gases like CO2 or CO into biomethane—a renewable energy source. Using thin layers of microorganisms, so-called biofilms, greenhouse gases can be transformed into clean-burning fuel.... Read more

M.C. Escher's artwork is a gateway into a world of depth-defying optical illusions, featuring "impossible objects" that break the laws of physics with convoluted geometries. What you perceive his illustrations to be depends on your point of view—for example, a person seemingly walking upstairs may be heading down the steps... Read more

Engineers at the University of Maine are developing a new method to more accurately predict the strength of lightweight 3D-printed objects. This research, conducted at the university's Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC), will enable designers to create more robust and reliable components by controlling strength when lightweighting virtually any... Read more

An interdisciplinary research team has engineered a new class of organic photoelectrochemical transistors (OPECTs). These tiny devices can convert light into electrical signals and mimic the behavior of synapses in the brain. The research results have now been published in the research journal Advanced Science.... Read more

Communication is a fundamental human right, and many individuals need augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) approaches or tools, such as a notebook or electronic tablet with symbols the user can select to create messages, to communicate effectively.... Read more

Anyone who has slipped on a polished floor or felt their tires spinning in the snow knows instinctively the importance of surfaces. Certainly those in manufacturing—be it of robots, running shoes, or semiconductors—understand that they are vital. Yet for all the importance of surfaces, attempts to accurately measure and describe... Read more

To further reduce the size of electronic devices, while also improving their performance and energy efficiency, electronics engineers have been trying to identify alternative materials that outperform silicon and other conventional semiconductors. Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, materials that are just a few atoms thick and have a tunable electrical conductivity, are... Read more

A tool developed at Texas A&M University is set to transform how emergency responders assess damage after disasters. The technology, known as CLARKE (Computer vision and Learning for Analysis of Roads and Key Edifices), uses artificial intelligence and drone imagery to evaluate damage to buildings, roads and other infrastructure in... Read more

In an advancement for next-generation electronics, researchers from the International Center for Quantum Materials at Peking University in collaboration with Renmin University of China have successfully fabricated wafer-scale two-dimensional indium selenide (InSe) semiconductors. Led by Professor Liu Kaihui, the team developed a novel "solid–liquid–solid" growth strategy that overcomes long-standing barriers... Read more

A mechanical artwork designed in 1775 to depict the eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius has been brought to life for the first time—250 years after it was conceived—thanks to modern technology and the ingenuity of two University of Melbourne engineering students.... Read more

Cornell researchers have uncovered a nearly invisible culprit hindering the development of next-generation, high-power electronics: a microscopic layer of carbon contamination, often left behind by air exposure and fabrication techniques, that impairs electrical flow in devices made with gallium oxide. They have also found a solution.... Read more

In an office at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a soft robotic hand carefully curls its fingers to grasp a small object. The intriguing part isn't the mechanical design or embedded sensors—in fact, the hand contains none. Instead, the entire system relies on a single camera that... Read more

The process of cleaning the water that flows down our drains and toilets can drastically raise carbon dioxide levels in nearby waterways. Two Johns Hopkins University scientists have found an innovative way to reduce levels of this common greenhouse gas by running wastewater effluent through a process that uses an... Read more

Researchers at Guangdong University of Technology have developed a new method to build powerful, compact energy storage devices—called thin-film supercapacitors (TFSCs)—without using metal parts or traditional separators. Their tiny 3.8 cm³ device is even capable of outputting 200 volts—enough to light 100 LEDs for 30 seconds or a 3-watt bulb... Read more

A team of UCLA engineers and researchers has developed a new technique to make it feel up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler outside while preserving a sense of safe and open space.... Read more

The world produces over 92 million tons of textile waste annually, much of it made from synthetic materials that can linger for centuries. Add to that the surge in wearable electronics—smartwatches, fitness trackers, sensor-laden garments—and the problem becomes two-fold.... Read more

A new security screener that people can simply walk past may soon be coming to an airport near you. Last year, 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

In a study published in the journal Information Systems Research, Texas Tech University's Shuo Yu and his collaborators developed a generative machine learning model to detect instability before a fall occurs. The hope is that the model could work within fall detection devices, such as anti-fall airbag vests or medical... Read more

One of the problems of conventional filters used in homes, businesses and public spaces is their poor performance. They rely on weak van der Waals forces to capture particles like dust and pollen, meaning they let a lot of stuff slip through. Nature, however, does the job a whole lot... Read more

Lithium, the lightest metal on the periodic table, plays a pivotal role in modern life. Its low weight and high energy density make it ideal for electric vehicles, cellphones, laptops and military technologies where every ounce counts. As demand for lithium skyrockets, concerns about supply and reliability are growing.... Read more

Quantum computers have operated under a significant limitation: They can run only one program at a time. These million-dollar machines demand exclusive use even for the smallest tasks, leaving much of their expensive and fast-running hardware idle and forcing researchers to endure long lines.... Read more

A team of researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Adobe Research have presented Imprinto, a system for embedding invisible digital information in printed documents using infrared ink and a special camera. This technology introduces a new generation of hybrid interfaces between... Read more

When aiming for stretchable, health-monitoring, skin-like sensor sheets, materials with demanding properties are required: they need to be flexible, biocompatible, and electrically conductive at the same time.... Read more

Every year, tens of thousands of people with signs of Parkinson's disease go unnoticed until the incurable neurodegenerative condition has already progressed.... Read more

Recently, spoken language models (SLMs) have been highlighted as next-generation technology that surpasses the limitations of text-based language models by learning human speech without text to understand and generate linguistic and non-linguistic information.... Read more

Semiconductor processing is notoriously challenging. It is one of the most intricate feats of modern engineering due to the extreme precision required and the hundreds of steps involved, such as etching and layering, to make even a single chip.... Read more

A research team led by Prof. Wang Long from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a highly stretchable and conductive foam sensor with an ultra-wide operational range using supercritical CO2 (scCO2) foaming. The study was published in Materials Today... Read more

The Center for Industrial Photonics (CIP) at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) has developed an additive manufacturing technique—laser-assisted cold spray (LACS).... Read more

A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers could enable quality-control robots in a warehouse to peer through a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a mug buried under packing peanuts is broken.... Read more

Since their discovery by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, X-rays have become a staple of modern medical care, from imaging teeth and broken bones to screening for the early signs of breast cancer.... Read more

A research team at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has developed a novel dry adhesive technology that allows everything from microscale electronic components to common household materials to be easily attached and detached.... Read more

Traditional military training often relies on standardized methods, which has limited the provision of optimized training tailored to individual combatants' characteristics or specific combat situations. To address this, a research team has developed an e-textile platform, securing core technology that can reflect the unique traits of individual combatants and various... Read more

Inspired by how nature blends toughness and flexibility, such as the rigid structure of bone surrounded by pliable cartilage, all with elegant and precise geometric properties, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a fast, precise new 3D printing method that seamlessly merges soft and hard properties... Read more

Scientists have revealed that Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), a type of deep learning algorithm, demonstrate superior performance compared to conventional non-machine learning approaches when used to detect lies and deception.... Read more

Imagine a future in which people with disabilities can walk on their own, thanks to robotic legs. A new project from Northern Arizona University is accelerating that future with an open-source robotic exoskeleton.... Read more

Researchers at DTU have developed a new kind of electronic material that behaves almost exactly like human skin. The substance could be useful in soft robotics, medicine, and health care.... Read more

When Armando Ernesto Chau straps on the futuristic smart glasses that a young Mozambican robotics student is developing in the family dining room, he has a vision of a life less confined to his modest home.... Read more

Visitors to France's famed Palace of Versailles can now strike up a conversation with talking statues instead of listening to a traditional audio guide, as part of a new collaboration with artificial intelligence companies, the palace has said.... Read more

Waymo's robotaxis will begin carrying passengers through parts of Atlanta on Tuesday in an expansion of a partnership with Uber that began earlier this year in Austin.... Read more

When you think of solar panels, you usually picture giant cells mounted to face the sun. But what if "solar" cells could be charged using fluorescent lights?... Read more

If you've seen an owl fly, you probably didn't hear a thing. That's because their skin and feathers dampen sound by absorbing high- and low-frequency flight noise.... Read more

In the building sector, which accounts for approximately 40% of global energy consumption, heat ingress through windows has been identified as a primary cause of wasted heating and cooling energy.... Read more