If manufacturers of cell-phone batteries could tell which cells will last at least two years, then they could sell only those to phone makers and send the rest to makers of less demanding devices. New research shows how manufacturers could do this. The technique could be used not only to sort manufactured cells but to…

Stanford researchers have devised a way to generate hydrogen fuel using solar power, electrodes and saltwater from San Francisco Bay. The findings, published March 18 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate a new way of separating hydrogen and oxygen gas from seawater via electricity. Existing water-splitting methods rely on highly purified water,…

In the basement of the Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University, a screen attached to a red robotic arm lights up. A pair of cartoon eyes blinks. “Meet Bender,” says Ajay Mandlekar, PhD student in electrical engineering. Bender is one of the robot arms that a team of Stanford researchers is using to test…

A closed door is just one of many obstacles that poses no barrier to a new type of flying, micro, tugging robot called a FlyCroTug. Outfitted with advanced gripping technologies and the ability to move and pull on objects around it, two FlyCroTugs can jointly lasso the door handle and heave the door open. Developed…

Stanford researchers have created a computer simulation, validated by experimental results, to help design drug-delivery nanoparticles that carry cancer-fighting medicines directly to tumors, while minimizing the potential side-effects on healthy cells. Bryan Smith, director of the Translational Nanomedicine laboratory in the Radiology and Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, and Eric Shaqfeh, professor of chemical engineering…

With its suspended metallic spheres that clack back and forth, Newton’s cradle is more than a popular desktop plaything. It has taught a generation of students about conservation of momentum and energy. It is also the inspiration for an experiment Benjamin Lev, associate professor of physics and of applied physics at Stanford University, has created…

As smartphone users know all too well, a sleeping device can still suck the life out of a battery. One solution for extending the battery life of wireless devices under development by researchers at Stanford University is to add a wake-up receiver that can turn on a shut-off device at a moment’s notice. Angad Rekhi,…

Stanford researchers have developed an algorithm that offers diagnoses based off chest X-ray images. It can diagnose up to 14 types of medical conditions and is able to diagnose pneumonia better than expert radiologists working alone A paper about the algorithm, called CheXNet, was published Nov. 14 on the open-access, scientific preprint website arXiv. “Interpreting X-ray images…

It’s a sound that can keep even the weariest among us from falling asleep: the high-pitched whine of a mosquito. This irritating buzz already makes us run, slap and slather on repellant. But if Stanford University researchers have their way, it may also prompt us to take out our cellphones and do a little science.…

Packing tiny solar cells together, like micro-lenses in the compound eye of an insect, could pave the way to a new generation of advanced photovoltaics, say Stanford University scientists. In a new study, the Stanford team used the insect-inspired design to protect a fragile photovoltaic material called perovskite from deteriorating when exposed to heat, moisture…

More than 70 years after the U.S. tested atomic bombs on a ring of sand in the Pacific Ocean called Bikini Atoll, Stanford researchers are studying how long-term radiation exposure there has affected corals that normally grow for centuries without developing cancer. Bikini atomic bomb test Atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll between 1946 and…

The key to making fleets of self-driving cars and grocery delivery by drones might be found in an unlikely source: autonomous space robots. Marco Pavone, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics, is developing technologies to help robots adapt to unknown and changing environments. Before coming to Stanford, Pavone worked in robotics at NASA’s Jet…

Most cars and trucks in the United States run on a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol, a renewable fuel made primarily from fermented corn. But to produce the 14 billion gallons of ethanol consumed annually by American drivers requires millions of acres of farmland. A recent discovery by Stanford University scientists…