science wire

Laser radar illuminates the way to deep space
This car was not snapped with a camera but scanned by a 3D imaging lidar, the laser equivalent of radar.

Engineers create wireless, self-propelled medical device
For 50 years, scientists searched for the secret to making tiny implantable devices that could travel through the bloodstream.

Researchers Build First Physical "Metatronic" Circuit
The technological world of the 21 st century owes a tremendous amount to advances in electrical engineering, specifically, the ability to finely control the flow of electrical charges using increasingly small and complicated circuits.

Rocket launched into northern lights to reveal GPS effects
As the brilliant colors of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, delights skygazers, Cornell researchers are discovering how their physics affects satellite signals here on Earth.

Carnegie Mellon University and Penn Engineering Receive $3.5 Million for Innovative Transportation Research
PITTSBURGH - The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering and the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science a $3.5 mi

In new mass-production technique, robotic insects spring to life
Production method inspired by children's pop-up books enables rapid fabrication of tiny, complex devices : Caroline Perry , (617) 496-1351 - A new technique inspired by elegant pop-up books and origami will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet.

Plasmas Torn Apart
January saw the biggest solar storm since 2005, generating some of the most dazzling northern lights in recent memory. The source of that storm—and others like it—was the sun's magnetic field, described by invisible field lines that protrude from and loop back into the burning ball of gas.

Under the Microscope #7
In this video Ingrid Graz shows us a thin layer of gold on top of rubber. Cracks in the gold allow it to stretch and we can use this for stretchable electronics.

Electrical Engineers Build "No-Waste" Laser
A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste. The two new lasers require very low power to operate, an important breakthrough since lasers usually require greater and greater "pump power" to begin lasing as they shrink to nano sizes.

Engineering images bring life to submerged city

Power profiles help electronics go green
New and better ways of measuring high-tech energy consumption could lead to significant environmental and economic gains, a study from The Australian National University has found.

First materials developed for new high-speed-electronic optical fibers
For the first time, a group of chemists, physicists and engineers has developed crystalline materials that allow an optical fiber to have integrated, high-speed electronic functions. The potential applications of such optical fibers include improved tele and other hybrid optical and electronic technologies, improved laser technology, and more-accurate remote-sensing devices.

Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation, Stanford researchers say
Stanford researchers have designed a new technology that could lead to wireless charging of electric vehicles while they cruise down the highway.

Toulouse Space Show: call for papers
Toulouse Space Show: call for papers ESA is a partner in the Toulouse Space Show being held 25-28 June.

Robot welding gets 5 times faster as €4 Million project replaces guess work with maths
Remote Laser Welding (RLW) is rapidly emerging as a powerful replacement for spot welding technology in vehicle manufacturing. It promises 5 times the speed of spot welding and far more efficiency – however this can only be achieved through a frustrating process of guess work and trial & error today.

Better Insulation for Durable Transformers
At the KTH Symposium, the director of the U.S. National Science Foundation explains how scientific co-operation with Sweden benefits American research.

LED lights point shoppers in the right direction
SAN FRANCISCO - Looking for an item in a large department store or mall can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, but that could change thanks to a hybrid location-identification system that

Weaving electronics into the fabric of our physical world
The integration of electronics with materials opens up a world of possibilities, the surface of which is just being scratched. Professor Arokia Nathan has joined the University to take up a new Chair in Engineering, where he will be exploring the application of research that allows us to glimpse a world rivalling our wildest dreams of the future.

Surgical robots to provide open-source platform for medical robotics research
The Biorobotics Lab will show the robots at an open house. WHEN: Friday, Jan. 13, 11 - 3 WHERE: Paul Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering In a basement on the University of Washington campus perch seven identical robots.

Particle-free silver ink prints small, high-performance electronics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - University of Illinois materials scientists have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates.

Choreographing dance of electrons offers promise in pursuit of quantum computers
by John Sullivan In the basement of Hoyt Laboratory at Princeton University, Alexei Tyryshkin clicked a computer mouse and sent a burst of microwaves washing across a silicon crystal suspended in a frozen cylinder of stainless steel. The waves pulsed like distant music across the crystal and deep within its heart, billions of electrons started spinning to their beat.

Graphene reveals its magnetic personality
Can organic matter behave like a fridge magnet? Scientists from The University of Manchester have now shown that it can. In a report published , they used graphene, the world's thinnest and strongest material, and made it magnetic. Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a chicken wire structure.

Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design
An African Agama lizard swings its tail upward to prevent pitching forward after a slip during take-off.

Self-healing electronics could work longer and reduce waste
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - When one tiny circuit within an integrated chip cracks or fails, the whole chip - or even the whole device - is a loss.

Inventor hailed for light bulb wi-fi
A University engineer has been named among the top inventors in the world in high-profile publications.

420 magical moments in space...
A new tool to calculate the orientation of a satellite with respect to the Earth, developed by EPFL students, will be on board a European Space Agency rocket scheduled to launch in March 2012.

Mystery of car battery's current solved
Chemists have solved the 150 year-old mystery of what gives the lead-acid battery, found under the bonnet of most cars, its unique ability to deliver a surge of current.

Vega moves closer to its first liftoff
Vega moves closer to its first liftoff The integration of Vega's first, second and third stages is now complete at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

New Path to Flex and Stretch Electronics
Imprinting electronic circuitry on backplanes that are both flexible and stretchable promises to revolutionize a number of industries and make "smart devices" nearly ubiquitous.

Research may yield more compact antennas for military use
While tall, bulky antennas seem like relics in an era of sleek, modern smartphones, they're still an unfortunate necessity for American soldiers.

A novel way to concentrate sun’s heat
MIT researchers find a way to generate power without the usual mirror arrays. — Most technologies for harnessing the sun’s energy capture the light itself, which is turned into electricity using photovoltaic materials.

A Social Robot in a Fur Cap

A smarter way to make ultraviolet light beams
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Existing coherent ultraviolet light sources are power hungry, bulky and expensive. University of Michigan researchers have found a better way to build compact ultraviolet sources with low power consumption that could improve information storage, microscopy and chemical analysis. A paper on the research is newly published in Optics Express.

Architectural Integration and Design of Solar Systems, a new book
Solar thermal systems are today the most efficient renewable choice for hot water production.

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a…House?
A scene right out of the "Wizard of Oz," with a few modern twists, took place Nov. 15 at the Jacobs School of Engineering.

EPFL robots will soon appear in school classrooms
EPFL scientists have developed an educational robot designed to introduce children to technology in schools.

Nanoparticle electrode for batteries could make large-scale power storage on the energy grid feasible, say Stanford researchers
Stanford researchers have used nanoparticles of a copper compound to develop a high-power battery electrode that is so inexpensive to make, so efficient and so durable that it could be used to build b

All-optical silicon chips enabling faster computing
There has been enormous progress in recent years toward the development of photonic chips - devices that use light beams instead of electrons to carry out their computational tasks. Now, researchers at MIT have filled in a crucial piece of the puzzle that could enable the creation of photonic chips on the standard silicon material that forms the basis for most of today's electronics.

The impending revolution of low-power quantum computers
Electronics could be 100 times less energy-hungry thanks to a quantum phenomenon known as the tunnel effect - by 2017 in consumer electronics By 2017, quantum physics will help reduce the energy consumption of our computers and cellular phones by up to a factor of 100. For research and industry, the power consumption of transistors is a key issue.

Structured English brings robots closer to everyday users
Move over, Jetsons. A humanoid robot named Mae is traipsing around Cornell's Autonomous Systems Lab, guided by plain-English instructions and sometimes even appearing to get frustrated. Mae understands and executes English commands, thanks to algorithms and a software toolkit called Linear Temporal Logic Mission Planning (LTLMoP) being developed in the lab of Hadas Kress-Gazit, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Kilobots are leaving the nest
Swarm of tiny, collaborative robots will be made available to researchers, educators, and enthusiasts : Michael Patrick Rutter , (617) 496-3815 Photo courtesy of Michael Rubenstein. The Kilobots are coming. Computer scientists and engineers at Harvard University have developed and licensed technology that will make it easy to test collective algorithms on hundreds, or even thousands, of tiny robots.

68% of fuel cell electrical efficiency measured at LENI
Ceramic fuel cells convert the chemical energy of injected fuel into electricity with unprecedented efficiency, at small power scale.

How strong values of innovators allow them to listen to the market
Chris Tucci ed at the University of Melbourne How to make radical product development happen within the firm?

3D ripples in a 2D layer.
Ripples and Layers in Ultrathin MoS2 Membranes. Single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a newly emerging two-dimensional semiconductor with a potentially wide range of applications in the fields of nanoelectronics and energy harvesting.

Nanowires could be solution for high- performance solar cells
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Tiny wires could help engineers realize high-performance solar cells and other electronics, according to University of Illinois researchers. The research group, led by electrical and computer engineering professor Xiuling Li, developed a technique to integrate compound semiconductor nanowires on silicon wafers, overcoming key challenges in device production.

Research Sparks Record-Breaking Solar Cell Performances
Theoretical research by scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has led to record-breaking sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies in solar cells. The researchers showed that, contrary to conventional scientific wisdom, the key to boosting solar cell efficiency is not absorbing more photons but emitting more photons.

Engineers open new field of inquiry in bioelectronics
A device created by Yale University engineers could open a new field of inquiry in bioelectronics, or the merging of biological and electronic systems.

Graphene grows better on certain copper crystals
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - New observations could improve industrial production of high-quality graphene, hastening the era of graphene-based consumer electronics, thanks to University of Illinois engineers. By combining data from several imaging techniques, the team found that the quality of graphene depends on the crystal structure of the copper substrate it grows on.

Science Spectacular brings down the curtain on Manchester Science Festival
27 Oct 2011 This weekend sees a Spectacular end to the Manchester Science Festival, featuring drunken flies, glow in the dark ice cubes and many other weird and wonderful phenomena.

Researchers create transistors from natural cotton fibers
Smarter, more functional clothing incorporating electronics may be possible in the near future, according to a study co-authored by Cornell fiber scientist Juan Hinestroza. Hinestroza, associate professor of fiber science, was part of an international team that developed transistors using natural cotton fibers.

Robotic roach gets wings, sheds light on evolution of flight
When engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, outfitted a six-legged robotic bug with wings in an effort to improve its mobility, they unexpectedly shed some light on the evolution of flight.

New record voltage for organic solar cells opens the tech to consumer electronics
Search News & Events Search University of Warwick Search for people at Warwick Search Warwick Blogs Search past exam papers Search video Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinout company from the

Graphene’s ‘Big Mac’ creates next generation of chips
10 Oct 2011 Scientists at the University of Manchester have come one step closer to creating the next generation of computer chips using wonder material graphene.

Celebrating five years of big nano-achievements
by Simon Levey 7 October 2011 Researchers were celebrating the work of the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) last week at a seminar held in honour of the fifth anniversary of its opening.

Solar Orbiter and Euclid space missions given go-head
UCL scientists and engineers are to provide instruments for two major space missions which have been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Sulfur in hollow nanofibers overcomes challenges of lithium-ion battery design
Yi Cui and his students have used sulfur-coated hollow carbon nanofibers and an electrolyte additive to fabricate a superior rechargeable lithium battery cathode.

New ‘microgrid’ test beds will foster state industry opportunities
Partner universities in the new Center for Renewable Energy Systems (CRES) are developing complementary facilities in Milwaukee and Madison to help corporate partners explore applications in the fast-growing microgrid industry, CRES leaders announced today (Oct.

First transistor developed with nanotechnology
02 October 2011 Transistors are an indispensible component of electronic devices, where they strengthen weak electrical currents.

About the Nanometre Structure Consortium
For roughly the past 20 years, Lund University has hosted a major interdisciplinary research environment in Nanoscience, ranging from materials science and quantum physics to applications in the areas

The arXiv at 20: a global resource
As the e-print arXiv of scientific publications celebrates its 20th anniversary, what started as an effort to "level the playing field" for researchers has created a whole new playing field on which the white lines are still not clearly drawn.

New online learning module gives children of domestic violence a voice
Media Note: For the Honor Our Voices electronic press kit, see www.honorourvoices.org/press.html. MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/27/2011) —Over half of the residents of battered women's shelters in the United States are children (National Network to End Domestic Violence, 2010).

"Next-generation" optical tweezers trap tightly without overheating
Improved device eliminates a barrier to handling nanoscale particles The optical table in the Crozier lab at Harvard SEAS.

NSF-funded project to test cloud computing for smart grid
A Cornell research team has received a four-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a system for computation and information sharing when designing a "smart" electrical grid.

Plasmonics intensifies a novel nanoscale light source, Stanford engineers find
By harnessing plasmonics to intensify light, engineers at Stanford have created an ultra-compact, nanoscale light source with research implications ranging from data to a better understanding of fundamental science. Not long after the development of the first laser in 1960, scientists discovered that shining a beam through certain crystals produced light of a different color; more specifically, it produced light of exactly twice the frequency of the original.

Better Lithium-Ion Batteries Are On The Way From Berkeley Lab
Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, in smart phones, laptops, an array of other consumer electronics, and the newest electric cars. Good as they are, they could be much better, especially when it comes to lowering the cost and extending the range of electric cars. To do that, batteries need to store a lot more energy.

Smarter robot arms
A combination of two algorithms developed at MIT allows autonomous robots to execute tasks much more efficiently - and move more predictably.

An Electronic Bucket Brigade Could Boost Solar Cell Voltages
If solar cells could generate higher voltages when sunlight falls on them, they'd produce more electrical power more efficiently.

Ferroelectrics could pave way for ultra-low power computing
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that it is possible to reduce the minimum voltage necessary to store charge in a capacitor, an achievement that could reduce the power draw and heat generation of today's electronics. “Just like a Formula One car, the faster you run your computer, the hotter it gets.

Producer responsibility solution to electronic waste in developing countries
How can legislation be used to avoid hazardous waste being dumped where it could poison people and the environment in developing countries?

Polymer batteries for next-generation electronics
University of Leeds scientists have invented a new type of polymer gel that can be used to manufacture cheaper lithium batteries without compromising performance.

An upside-down cake throws a new light on photovoltaics
Do better with less. That is the challenge the researchers from EPFL have set for themselves. Their specialty: manufacturing solar cells that are one thousand times thinner than conventional cells.

UC-developed technology saving consumers trillions of watt-hours, millions of dollars
A University of California technology that significantly reduces the amount of energy wasted by chips in computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices has recently passed the trillion watt-hour milestone in energy savings, according to the technology's current licensee, Tela Innovations.

Tiny bits of debris are a big problem in space, says Stanford professor in report on ’space junk’
Tiny meteoroids damage more spacecraft than all the human-made debris orbiting the Earth, says Stanford Professor Sigrid Close.

Rates are right, but could go lower
The consensus view of the panel of expert economists, who make up the Shadow Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board, indicates stronger evidence for a rate cut at tomorrow's RBA meeting than last month.

A Whole New Light on Graphene Metamaterials
Long-wavelength terahertz light is invisible - it's at the farthest end of the far infrared - but it's useful for everything from detecting explosives at the airport to designing drugs to diagnosing skin cancer. Now, for the first time, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have demonstrated a microscale device made of graphene - the remarkable form of carbon that's only one atom thick - whose strong response to light at terahertz frequencies can be tuned with exquisite precision.