Collaborate Disseminate
A dinosaur that has been derided as plain and boring has had its reputation upended, with new technology revealing that it was in possession of some serious Late Cretaceous-era sensory superpowers that suggest it could have been thriving below the grou… Continue reading ‘Overlooked’ dinosaur had superpower senses ideal for life underground
Windows are pretty basic necessities for letting in light and heat, but you don’t always want both at once. Now engineers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have developed a new material that allows windows to easily switch between three modes.C… Continue reading Watery material makes windows selectively block light and/or heat
Using a novel design inspired by the Japanese art of paper cutting, researchers have developed gentle yet strong robotic grippers that can fold clothes, grasp a drop of water and ultrathin microfibers, lift 16,000 times their own weight, and turn the p… Continue reading Kirigami-inspired robotic grippers combine strength & a delicate touch
Conventional breeding of trees takes time, but CRISPR gene editing should help speed things up. Now, scientists at North Carolina State University have used CRISPR to adjust the genomes of poplar trees to make them easier to turn into paper products.Co… Continue reading CRISPR tweaks tree genetics to make paper more suastainably
Although there are several methods of 3D-printing metal objects, all of them involve the application of heat – which isn’t conducive to producing certain heat-sensitive electronics, among other things. A new gel, however, can be used to print such item… Continue reading Revolutionary gel allows metal items to be 3D printed at room temperature
Silicon has reigned supreme in electronics for the better part of a century, and now a new version might help extend its use into the future. Engineers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have discovered a brand new form of the material called Q-… Continue reading Meet Q-silicon, a new magnetic material for spintronic quantum computers
A new study has found that consuming a widely available artificial sweetener produces a chemical that is damaging to DNA. The findings raise concerns about whether the sweetener is a contributing factor to a number of health problems.Continue ReadingCa… Continue reading Not so sweet: Chemical in common artificial sweetener found to damage DNA
Science continues to advance smart fabrics that respond to environmental changes, and provide more ‘services’ to their wearers. Now, a team of international researchers has created a wearable textile that repairs itself, is antibacterial, and could eve… Continue reading Liquid-metal-coated smart fabric ‘heals’ itself when cut, repels bacteria
We may be one step closer to using technology to ensure productive, disease-free crops, thanks to the development of a multifunctional electronic patch ‘worn’ by plants that monitors for the presence of pathogens and environmental stressors.Continue Re… Continue reading Wearable plant patch monitors for disease, environmental stressors
If you’re making a small robot that can explore tight spaces, it would be good if that device could also shimmy its way through narrow gaps. An experimental new robot can do just that, by emulating a caterpillar.Continue ReadingCategory: Robotics, Tech… Continue reading Soft-bodied robot copies a caterpillar to squeeze through gaps