• Composite materials extend life of existing bridges

    The Obama administration’s stimulus package directs large amounts of money toward rehabilitating the aging U.S. infrastructure; Jayhawks researchers are testing a new class of devices that could double the life of America’s existing bridges using composite materials

  • Better bullet-proof vests with advanced fiber weaves

    Manchester University researchers say that bullet-proof vests used to protect the lives of police officers could be further improved with advanced fiber weaves

  • South Korea develops homemade stealth technology

    While the United States keeps a close eye on work by Shina, Russia, and India on stealth technology, South Korea announces it has mastered the technology

  • New anti-crime approach: vigilant windows

    Windows are coated with special polymer which contains nanoparticles that convert light into fluorescent radiation; this radiation is channeled to the edges of the window where it is detected by sensors; when a person approaches the window, the sensors wirelessly relay this currency information to a computer program, which alerts security officials of the potential intruder

  • A simpler route to invisibility

    Two years ago Duke University researchers built an invisibility cloak — a device that can make objects vanish from sight, at least when viewed using a narrow band of microwave frequencies; researchers now show how to create cloaks that work across a wider range of frequencies

  • Acoustic cloak silences nuisance noise

    Spanish researchers prove metamaterials can be designed to produce an acoustic cloak — a cloak that can make objects impervious to sound waves

  • New class of meterials offers many benefits

    Microspheres to carry hydrogen, deliver drugs, filter gases, and detect nuclear weapons development

  • "Fibrous" steel withstands extremely cold temperatures

    Steel is very strong, except that in cold temperatures it becomes brittle; new method of making steel withstand cold temperatures could make steel structures in Arctic areas, like ships or oil rigs, cheaper to construct

  • Breakthrough: Dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency achieved

    Two hundred years ago scientists discovered the thermoelectric effect: Certain materials can convert heat into electricity and vice versa; trouble is, most materials which conduct electricity also conduct heat, so their temperature equalizes quickly; until now: Boston College, MIT researchers solve this vexing problem

  • New material captures carbon dioxide

    Georgie Tech researchers developed material which captures CO2 from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants and other generators of the greenhouse gases

  • European consortium to make RFID tags more affordable

    To make RFID more popular, there is a need to make them cheaper; a team of major technology companies is confident that the cost will be reduced once the tags can be printed because electrically conductive and semiconducting plastics can be used in high-volume printing processes

  • Invisibility cloak for nanoparticles designed

    Researchers design invisibility cloak for nanoparticles; the new particle invisibility cloak will help create a vast array of new material technologies that combine unknown property combinations such as strength and durability with optical transparency

  • Sea cucumber inspires new plastic for body armor, brain implants

    Sea cucumbers’ skin is usually supple, allowing them to slide through narrow spaces between rocks and corals; when touched, however, a defensive reaction makes their skin go rigid in seconds, thanks to enzymes that bind protein fibers together; researchers apply this process to clothing, creating garments which switch stiffness in response to a pulse of electricity

  • Nano-bristle clothes to generate power from body motions

    Yellow Jackets researcher develops energy-generating fiber: If clothes are made from this piezoelectric fabric, the wearer’s body motions would produce useful amounts of power

  • Day of ultra-clean engine nears

    One of the major obstacles facing the development of ultra-clean car engines is the need for permanent-magnet electric motors to operate well at temperatures up to 200 degrees Celsius; Iowa researchers offer a way to create such magnets