• Insects to become first responders, aid in search and rescue

    Researchers are finding ways to harvest energy from insects, holding the promise of using insects to aid in first response and search and rescue, and monitor hazardous situations before sending in humans

  • Harvard-designed swarm robots licensed to Swiss company

    Harvard researchers developed Kilobot — a low-cost, easy-to-use robotic system for advancing development of “swarms” of robots; robot swarms might one day tunnel through rubble to find survivors, monitor the environment and remove contaminants, and self-assemble to form support structures in collapsed buildings

  • Jellyfish-like robot for underwater surveillance

    Researchers at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech built an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) inspired by jellyfish morphology and propulsion mechanism

  • Ionized plasmas as cheap sterilizer in tough places

    Scientists show that ionized plasmas like those in neon lights and plasma TVs not only can sterilize water, but make it antimicrobial; these plasma devices could be life-savers in developing countries, disaster areas, or on the battlefield where sterile water for medical use is in short supply and expensive to produce

  • Terahertz helps detection

    Terahertz waves make collecting meteorological data from space, searching for flaws on an aircraft fuselage, or using certain medical diagnostics easier and more accurate

  • Nature inspires advances in ultrasound technology

    Sonar and ultrasound, which use sound as a navigational device and to paint accurate pictures of an environment, are the basis of many technologies, including medical ultrasound machines and submarine navigation systems; when it comes to more accurate sonar and ultrasound, however, animals’ “biosonar” capabilities still have the human race beat – but not for long

  • Brazilian fern inspires waterproof coating

    A floating weed that clogs waterways around the world has at least one redeeming feature: it has inspired a high-tech waterproof coating intended for boats and submarines

  • Innovative ultrasonic nozzle changes the way water cleans

    Scientists have developed a revolutionary ultrasonic attachment for taps, which massively enhances the ability of water to clean; currently, industry uses excessive water, power, and additives for cleaning

  • Hybrid power plants: cost effective way to go green

    Hybrid cars, powered by a mixture of gas and electricity, have become a practical way to “go green” on the roads; now researchers at Tel Aviv University are using the hybrid approach to power plants as well

  • New tech could turn clothes into touch sensors

    Everything from clothes and headphone wires to coffee tables could soon become interactive touch devices thanks to the development of new sensor technology; researchers at the University of Munich and the Hasso Plattner Institute are working to integrate technology originally designed to detect damaged underwater cables into touch sensors that can be installed in virtually anything

  • Researchers fire 1,000th shot on laboratory railgun

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    Scientists reached a milestone in the Electromagnetic Railgun program when they fired a laboratory-scale system for the 1,000th time on 31 October, the raygun is a long-range weapon that launches projectiles using electricity instead of chemical propellants

  • Gecko-inspired tank robot has many applications

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    Researchers have developed a tank-like robot that has the ability to scale smooth walls, making it suitable for a range of applications such as inspecting pipes, buildings, aircraft, and nuclear power plants, and also for search and rescue operations

  • Competition for reassembling shredded documents

    Today’s troops often confiscate the remnants of destroyed documents in war zones, but reconstructing these documents is a daunting task; DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, is conducting a competition to find the best technology for reassembling shredded documents

  • Printing a building -- additive manufacturing research moves into construction

    Additive manufacturing — commonly known as 3-D printing — has been used for a surprisingly large range of products and projects, while the devices themselves have continually declined in cost and size; now the technology turns its attention to concrete and building

  • Electronic cotton: smart cloths made from conductive cotton fiber

    The latest breakthrough in cotton fiber research may soon make possible hospital gowns that monitor medical patients and jerseys that test athletic performance