Collaborate Disseminate
Tiny robots could serve all kinds of useful functions, but shrinking their actuators has proven challenging. Now researchers at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in Australia have made artificial muscles that surpass your puny natural ones, inspired b… Continue reading DNA-inspired artificial muscles contract by “supercoiling”
The brewing of beer produces great quantities of leftover grain, which often ends up being processed into cattle feed. Scientists have developed a new method of extracting the protein and fiber from that waste, however, for use by humans.Continue Readi… Continue reading Scientists harvest valuable protein and fiber from spent brewery grain
Nokia and Vodafone have completed a trial of a new broadband technology that delivers a blistering 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) on a single wavelength. The trial was conducted using the kinds of network seen in the “last mile” between an ISP and a us… Continue reading Nokia and Vodafone demonstrate 100-Gbps fiber broadband in new trial
When it comes to machining, the material that springs to mind is likely to be aluminum, steel, or plastic. We don’t necessarily think of glass as a material suitable for machining, at least not in the chuck-it-up-in-the-lathe sense. But glass is a material that needs to be shaped, too, and …read more
Continue reading Micromachining Glass with a Laser — Very, Very Slowly
The embedding of fibers within 3D-printed objects can be used to add properties such as electrical conductivity or extra strength to those items. Now, a shape-changing print nozzle has been developed to vary the orientation of those fibers – as the pri… Continue reading Morphing nozzle controls fiber orientation in 3D-printed items
Antioxidants are important for fighting the process of oxidation, which can spoil food and alcohol and harm cells in the body. Now, researchers at Texas A&M University have woven antioxidants into nanofiber mats, which release the vital compounds slowl… Continue reading Antioxidant nanofiber mats help prevent food spoilage and heal wounds
Nanofibers have found use in numerous applications, ranging from lightweight car parts to high-strength materials. Now, thanks to a new understanding of a certain group of spiders, they may soon be easier to work with.Continue ReadingCategory: Material… Continue reading Spiders inspire improved nanofiber-handling tech
Let’s face it, one of the challenges of wearable electronics is that people are filthy. Anything you wear is going to get dirty. If it touches you, it is going to get sweat and oil and who knows what else? And on the other side it’s going to get spills and dirt and all sorts of things we don’t want to think about on it. For regular clothes, that’s not a problem, you just pop them in the washer, but you can’t say the same for wearable electronics. Now researchers at MIT have embedded diodes like LEDs and photodetectors, into …read more
Like most accidents, it happened in an instant that seemed to last an eternity. I had been felling trees for firewood all afternoon, and in the waning light of a cold November day, I was getting ready to call it quits. There was one tiny little white pine sapling left that I wanted to clear, no thicker than my arm. I walked over with my Stihl MS-290, with a brand new, razor sharp chain. I didn’t take this sapling seriously — my first mistake — and cut right through it rather than notching it. The tree fell safely, and I …read more
For all that we love 3D printers, sometimes the final print doesn’t turn out as durable as we might want it to be.
Aiming to mimic the properties of natural structures such as wood, bone, and shells, a research team lead by [Jennifer A. Lewis] at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Lewis Lab have developed a new combined filament and printing technique which they call rotational 3D printing.
Minuscule fibres are mixed in with the epoxy filament and their controlled orientation within the print can reinforce the overall structure or specific points that will undergo …read more
Continue reading Making Prints More Resilient With Fibre-Filled Filament