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Energy & Green Tech

Researchers 3D print high-performance, sustainable thermoelectric materials

Rapid, localized heat management is essential for electronic devices and could have applications ranging from wearable materials to burn treatment. While so-called thermoelectric materials convert temperature differences ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

First two-way adaptive brain-computer interface enhances communication efficiency

A team of bioengineers at Tsinghua University, working with medical research colleagues from Tianjin University, both in China, have developed what they describe as the world's first two-way adaptive brain–computer interface ...

Robotics

Bio-hybrid drone uses silkworm moth antennae to navigate by smell

Conventional drones use visual sensors for navigation. However, environmental conditions like dampness, low light, and dust can hinder their effectiveness, limiting their use in disaster-stricken areas. Researchers from Japan ...

Energy & Green Tech

3D-printed coffee and mushroom mix offers compostable plastic alternative

Only 30% of a coffee bean is soluble in water, and many brewing methods aim to extract significantly less than that. So of the 1.6 billion pounds of coffee Americans consume in a year, more than 1.1 billion pounds of grounds ...

Engineering

New smart jacket uses AI to prevent overheating and discomfort

Electronic textiles, such as heating pads and electric blankets, can keep the wearer warm and help ease aches and pains. However, prolonged use of these devices could cause heat-related illnesses, including hyperthermia or ...

Engineering

Holograms boost 3D printing efficiency and resolution

While traditional 3D printers work by depositing layers of material, tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (TVAM) involves shining laser light at a rotating vial of resin until it hardens where accumulated energy ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

What happens if neurotechnology learns to read our minds?

Advancements in neurotechnology could be at a turning point, but the new technology threatens to breach even the privacy of our brains. Looking at a recent case on this issue in the Supreme Court in Chile, Sydney Law School ...

Energy & Green Tech

Generating clean electricity with chicken feathers

The food industry generates enormous amounts of waste and by-products, including from poultry production. Each year, some 40 million metric tons of chicken feathers are incinerated. This not only releases large amounts of ...

Engineering

Identifying the maker of an artwork by fingerprint examination

Dzemila Sero, now Migelien Gerritzen Fellow at the Rijksmuseum and former postdoc at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, together with a team of researchers from the Rijksmuseum, Leiden and Cambridge University, examined ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Honda, GM plan driverless taxis in Tokyo in 2026

Japan's Honda and US auto titan General Motors announced on Thursday that they planned to launch a driverless taxi service in Tokyo in 2026, helping tackle labor shortages in an aging society.

Engineering

Simulating cold sensation without actual cooling

Our skin plays a key role in perceiving temperature and the surroundings. For instance, we perceive the chill of the outdoors when our cheeks blush with cold, and we sense the onset of spring when our skin warms up gradually.

Robotics

Making rad maps with robot dogs

In 2013, researchers carried a Microsoft Kinect camera through houses in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture. The device's infrared light traced the contours of the buildings, making a rough 3D map. On top of this, the team layered ...

Engineering

Ping-pong balls as sound absorbers for low-frequency noise

Long-term exposure to low-frequency noise can cause numerous health problems, but the solution may be found in an unexpected object, a ping-pong ball. Conventionally thought of as the hollow plastic balls that speed through ...

Engineering

Sweet victory: Sensor detects adulteration in honey

Adulteration is a bitter truth in the sweet world of honey. As consumers seek nature's nectar for its purity and health benefits, a shadowy industry taints this golden elixir with hidden additives, most commonly water.