Materials scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a highly efficient thin-film solar cell that generates more energy from sunlight than typical solar panels, thanks to its double-layer design. The device is made by spraying a thin layer of perovskite — an inexpensive compound of lead and iodine that has been shown…
New Sensor Helps Doctors Track Patient Progress Following Surgery
Breakthrough Sensor to Help People With Bipolar Disorder Monitor Lithium Levels
How SLAC’s ‘Electronics Artists’ Enable Cutting-Edge Science
When Angelo Dragone talks about designing microchips for cutting-edge scientific applications at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, it becomes immediately clear that it’s at least as much of an art form as it is research and engineering. Similar to the way painters follow an inspiration, carefully choose colors and place brush stroke…
Smartphones May Be Used to Better Predict the Weather
Improving Nuclear Detection with New Chip Power
A cross-disciplinary team of chemists and physicists from Washington University in St. Louis is building a better computer chip to improve detection and surveillance for the illegal transport of nuclear materials at U.S. borders. The work is part of a new, five-year, $10 million collaboration in low-energy nuclear science led by Texas A&M University. Washington University is…
Interactive Software Tool Makes Complex Mold Design Simple
Most of the plastic objects we see are created using injection molding, but designing such molds is a difficult task, usually requiring experts. Now, computer scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), the University of Tokyo, and CONICET have created an interactive design tool that allows non-experts to create molds for…
These Tags Turn Everyday Objects Into Smart, Connected Devices
Engineers have developed printable metal tags that could be attached to everyday objects and turn them into “smart” Internet of Things devices. The metal tags are made from patterns of copper foil printed onto thin, flexible, paper-like substrates and are made to reflect WiFi signals. The tags work essentially like “mirrors” that reflect radio signals…
Magnetic Antiparticles Offer New Horizons for Information Technologies
Nanosized magnetic particles called skyrmions are considered highly promising candidates for new data storage and information technologies. Now, physicists have revealed new behaviour involving the antiparticle equivalent of skyrmions in a ferromagnetic material. The researchers demonstrated their findings using advanced computer simulations that can accurately model magnetic properties of nanometre-thick materials. The results are published…
Common Wifi Can Detect Weapons, Bombs and Chemicals in Bags
Ordinary WiFi can easily detect weapons, bombs and explosive chemicals in bags at museums, stadiums, theme parks, schools and other public venues, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick-led study. The researchers’ suspicious object detection system is easy to set up, reduces security screening costs and avoids invading privacy such as when screeners open and inspect…
Advantage Business Marketing Unifies Science and Technology Brands to Offer Larger Audience Pool
Advantage Business Marketing, a leader in data-driven content marketing for innovation and manufacturing professionals, announced the latest development in their digital transformation and commitment to bring more meaningful best practices to the market. Media channels under the Advantage brand are merging into five distinct business “pillars,” covering the entire manufacturing cycle. Advantage clients will now…
Can Radar Replace Stethoscopes?
Terahertz Technology Creates New Insight Into How Semiconductor Lasers Work
DARPA Announced Researcher Teams Tasked With Modernizing System-on-Chip Design Technology
Smart Wristband With Link to Smartphones Could Monitor Health, Environmental Exposures
Rutgers University-New Brunswick engineers have created a smart wristband with a wireless connection to smartphones that will enable a new wave of personal health and environmental monitoring devices. Their technology, which could be added to watches and other wearable devices that monitor heart rates and physical activity, is detailed in a study published online in…
Next-Generation Photodetector Camera to Deploy During Demo Mission
Testing tools and technologies for refueling and repairing satellites in orbit won’t be the only demonstration taking place aboard the International Space Station during NASA’s next Robotic Refueling Mission 3, or RRM3. An advanced, highly compact thermal camera that traces its heritage to one now flying on NASA’s Landsat 8 has been mounted in a…
Research Identifies Key Weakness in Modern Computer Vision Systems
Computer vision algorithms have come a long way in the past decade. They’ve been shown to be as good or better than people at tasks like categorizing dog or cat breeds, and they have the remarkable ability to identify specific faces out of a sea of millions. But research by Brown University scientists shows that…
Origami-Inspired Drone Alternates Between Stiff and Flexible as Needed
Excitons Push Electronics into the Future
Excitons could revolutionize the way engineers approach electronics. A team of EPFL researchers has created a new type of transistor — one of the components of circuits — using these particles instead of electrons. What is remarkable is that their exciton-based transistor functions effectively at room temperature, a hitherto insurmountable obstacle. They achieved this by…
Using Excitons to Take Electronics into The Future
Excitons could revolutionize the way engineers approach electronics. A team of EPFL researchers has created a new type of transistor – one of the components of circuits – using these particles instead of electrons. What is remarkable is that their exciton-based transistor functions effectively at room temperature, a hitherto insurmountable obstacle. They achieved this by…
Researchers Develop Model for Predicting Landslides Caused by Earthquakes
The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China, killed tens of thousands of people and left millions homeless. About 20,000 deaths — nearly 30 percent of the total — resulted not from the ground shaking itself but from the landslides that it triggered. A model developed by researchers at Indiana University can help experts address such…
Stop the Presses: Electronic Components take Newspaper Approach
A new manufacturing technique uses a process similar to newspaper printing to form smoother and more flexible metals for making ultrafast electronic devices. The low-cost process, developed by Purdue University researchers, combines tools already used in industry for manufacturing metals on a large scale, but uses the speed and precision of roll-to-roll newspaper printing to…
Novel Metal Manufacturing Method Could Result in Ultrafast Devices
A new process combining existing manufacturing tools with enhanced speed and precision could help produce faster electronics. Researchers from Purdue University have created a new manufacturing process to produce the smoother and more flexible metals required to make ultrafast electronic devices. The new method—called roll-to-roll laser-induced superplasticity—uses a rolling stamp similar to what is used…
Sulfur Impurities Make Nickel Fickle
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have shed new light on a scientific mystery regarding the atomic-level mechanism of the sulfur embrittlement of nickel, a classic problem that has puzzled the scientific community for nearly a century. The discovery also enriches fundamental understanding of general grain boundaries that often control the mechanical and…