TECH & INNOVATION

The first walking robot that moves without GPS

Human eyes are insensitive to polarized light and ultraviolet radiation, but that is not the case for ants, who use it to locate themselves in space. Cataglyphis desert ants, in particular, can cover several hundreds of meters in direct sunlight in the desert to find food, then return in a straight line to the nest, without getting lost.

Moving artificial leaves out of the lab and into the air

Artificial leaves mimic photosynthesis -- the process whereby plants use water and carbon dioxide from the air to produce carbohydrates using energy from the sun. But even state-of-the-art artificial leaves, which hold promise in reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, only work in the laboratory because they use pure, pressurized carbon dioxide from tanks.

Gummy-like robots that could help prevent disease

Human tissues experience a variety of mechanical stimuli that can affect their ability to carry out their physiological functions, such as protecting organs from injury. The controlled application of such stimuli to living tissues in vivo and in vitro has now proven instrumental to studying the conditions that lead to disease.

3D printed tires and shoes that self-repair

Instead of throwing away your broken boots or cracked toys, why not let them fix themselves? Researchers at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering have developed 3D-printed rubber materials that can do just that.

Virtual lens improves X-ray microscopy

With X-ray microscopes, researchers at PSI look inside computer chips, catalysts, small pieces of bone, or brain tissue. The short wavelength of the X-rays makes details visible that are a million times smaller than a grain of sand - structures in the nanometer range (millionths of a millimeter).

Antireflection coating makes plastic invisible

Antireflection (AR) coatings on plastics have a multitude of practical applications, including glare reduction on eyeglasses, computer monitors and the display on your smart-phone when outdoors. Now, researchers at Penn State have developed an AR coating that improves on existing coatings to the extent that it can make transparent plastics, such as Plexiglas, virtually invisible.

Artificial skin could give superhuman perception

A new type of sensor could lead to artificial skin that someday helps burn victims 'feel' and safeguards the rest of us, University of Connecticut researchers suggest in a paper in Advanced Materials.

Materials that open in the heat of the moment

Kyoto University researchers have designed a temperature-controllable copper-based material for sieving or storing different kinds of gases. The rationale used to design the material, described in the journal Science, could act as a blueprint for developing nanoporous materials with a wide variety of energy, medical and environmental applications.

Speed of light: Toward a future quantum internet

Engineering researchers have demonstrated proof-of-principle for a device that could serve as the backbone of a future quantum Internet. University of Toronto Engineering professor Hoi-Kwong Lo and his collaborators have developed a prototype for a key element for all-photonic quantum repeaters, a critical step in long-distance quantum communication.

New Technology for Experimental Zika test under development

A collaboration of scientists including Professor Jean Patterson, Ph.D., of Texas Biomedical Research Institute, is working on a new way to detect Zika virus that will help guide clinicians in their treatment of patients with the disease.
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