Engineering news

Engineering

Inspired by armadillos, this soft robotic shell flips from flexible to fortress in an instant

Researchers have drawn inspiration from armadillos to create a protective structure that responds to external threats by curling into a protective ball to protect electronic devices or other payloads. The structure is designed ...

Engineering

Safer all-solid-state sodium battery could cut grid storage costs and reduce lithium dependence

Lithium-ion batteries dominate the market for large-scale energy storage today. However, the element's uneven global distribution and rising costs are driving the search for alternatives. Sodium is roughly a thousand times ...

Engineering

Holographic light engine boosts tissue-like 3D printing efficiency by 70 times

In 2025, EPFL scientists published an improved approach to tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (TVAM): a 3D printing method that uses laser light to harden a rotating vial of photosensitive resin into a desired ...

Robotics

Robotic collective flows like matter, adapting without centralized control

Cornell engineers have developed a robotic collective that behaves less like a machine and more like a material that flows, reshapes, and adapts to its environment without centralized control. The system, called the Cross-Link ...

Engineering

Custom device maps carbon capture reactions in real time

Removing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air, a process called direct air capture (or DAC), is one of several approaches being developed to help reduce the concentration of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Among ...

Engineering

Building the future with robotic construction

On April 24, the Architectural Robotic Construction Lab ( ARC Lab) in The University of Texas at Arlington's College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs demonstrated its new large-scale 3D printing technology.

Engineering

Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement

Ideas to reduce carbon emissions often revolve around renewable power, electric vehicles and energy efficiency. But there's another, less colorful character that's often overlooked: cement.

Engineering

Remote detection system developed for wind turbine blade damage

Maintaining wind turbines and identifying potential vulnerabilities is expensive and time-consuming, especially when they are located offshore. As a result, rotor blades are often simply replaced, a costly process when damage ...

Engineering

Physicist patents quantum computing enhancement method

Quantum computers can solve complex problems in seconds—problems that would take thousands of years for today's most powerful traditional computers. This makes them especially promising for data-intensive applications such ...

Engineering

Carbon fiber boosts dry-processed battery performance

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have overcome a barrier to using a more affordable, dry process for manufacturing the lithium-ion batteries used in vehicles and electronic devices. The resulting batteries ...

Engineering

What does 'drier' really mean in 'green' homes?

As many New Zealanders contend with condensation, drafts, and mold this winter, a recent study challenges assumptions about what makes a home drier. It urges green building rating tools to clarify how humidity and dampness ...

Robotics

Designing drones that can fly in air ducts

New research published in npj Robotics addresses the challenge of flying small quadrotors in air ducts as small as 35 cm (14 inches). This research, led by a team of researchers from Inria, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, and ...

Engineering

Solving a moon mystery helps game out future landings

Multiple moon landings, conducted over several decades, produced a remarkably similar pattern of dust on the lunar surface. The recurrence of this pattern, created by rockets firing during touchdown, is a long-running mystery ...

Engineering

After 250 years, Mount Vesuvius artwork erupts into life

A mechanical artwork designed in 1775 to depict the eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius has been brought to life for the first time—250 years after it was conceived—thanks to modern technology and the ingenuity of two University ...