Smart sensing metamaterials integrate engineered micro- and nano-structured media with sensing, communication, and actuation functions across acoustic, optical, electromagnetic, and mechanical domains. Work in this area spans metamaterial-enabled wave control, metasurfaces, and auxetic or lattice architectures combined with MEMS, e-skins, and e-textiles to monitor physiological signals, structural integrity, and environmental conditions. These systems often employ flexible, printable, or biodegradable platforms, multiplexed readout, and self-powered operation to enable distributed, real-time, and unobtrusive measurement in wearable, industrial, underwater, and aerospace applications.
Engineering
Imagine a paint that changes color depending on how hard its surface is hit. It could be used on football helmets to monitor concussion-level impacts, to record the handling history of shipped packages, or placed on insoles ...
Apr 2, 2026
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18
Energy & Green Tech
In an industrial park in Zhangjiagang, a small city on China's east coast, a large humming and hissing machine feeds on piles of used clothes and sorts them.
Apr 2, 2026
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Robotics
A research team, including Huanyu "Larry" Cheng, James L. Henderson Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, is using pressure sensors—tiny devices, roughly the size of a paperclip, ...
Mar 30, 2026
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Computer Sciences
Nano- and microplastics are increasingly being detected in the human body. However, their detection remains challenging, often relying on invasive techniques and specialized equipment. Researchers at the Institute of Computer ...
Mar 30, 2026
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161
Engineering
In biology, defects are generally bad. But in materials science, defects can be intentionally tuned to give materials useful new properties. Today, atomic-scale defects are carefully introduced during the manufacturing process ...
Mar 30, 2026
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7
Engineering
To help small aerial robots navigate in the dark and other low-visibility environments, my colleagues and I developed an ultrasound-based perception system inspired by bat echolocation.
Mar 30, 2026
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Engineering
As a promising clean energy source, hydrogen (H2) requires reliable safety monitoring. However, lacking a permanent dipole moment, it is "infrared-inactive" and cannot be effectively measured by conventional absorption-based ...
Mar 26, 2026
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6
Engineering
An optical principle discovered more than a century ago may soon find new applications in such areas as monitoring atmospheric turbulence, tracking airborne objects, and mapping the environment, thanks to researchers at the ...
Mar 26, 2026
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179
Engineering
Created from noise-resistant, conductive threads, a high-tech new smart fabric could find uses in health monitoring, sports performance and rehabilitation. The work is published in the journal Science Advances.
Mar 26, 2026
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11
Engineering
Recycled plastics are promoted on everything from water bottles and fleece jackets to shopping bags and yogurt cups: "This product is made with XX% recycled plastic." Verifying such claims, however, is another matter because ...
Mar 23, 2026
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