https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/engineering-news/ en-us The latest news on engineering technology, engineering science, computer engineering , civil engineering, chemical engineering, aerospace engineering and environmental engineering. The moment a nuclear reactor begins operation, a complex chain of events is initiated within the fuel: Heavy atoms split into fission products, knocking other atoms out of place and creating defects that can change how the fuel swells, transfers heat and reacts chemically over time. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-hidden-pore-networks-nuclear-fuel.html Engineering Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:20:09 EDT news705841267 Optical fiber has already transformed the modern world. New research now suggests it could do even more. A new flat-fiber fabrication technique produces a high-fidelity sensor for a wide range of applications, from batteries to bridges, according to a recently published study. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ribbon-fiber-pressure-sensitivity-higher.html Engineering Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news705840781 Researchers at the A*STAR Quantum Innovation Center (A*STAR Q.InC), part of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) Flagship in Semiconductors, have developed a levitated, millimeter-scale rotor that continued spinning for more than 10 hours after its drive was switched off, achieving the lowest energy loss reported for a mechanical rotor of its size. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-levitated-device-gps-unavailable.html Engineering Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:20:05 EDT news705834601 The human hand is a dexterous and versatile machine. Scientists have conventionally tried to replicate these traits in robots by copying the biological mechanics of the hand, resulting in complex and difficult-to-control structures. An alternative solution to these challenges was proposed in a new study published in Advanced Science: the BioflexBot, a novel robot that mimics and even exceeds core motions of the hand with a simple design. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-simple-robot-exceeds-human-core.html Robotics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 03:10:01 EDT news705748981 Gas turbine engines, like those powering passenger planes, operate under extreme conditions during everyday use. These engines regularly reach temperatures well over 800°C (1,470°F), which creates challenges for long-term durability and efficiency. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-coating-gas-turbines-reliable-longer.html Engineering Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:20:06 EDT news705754682 Magnesium supplements are gaining popularity to treat conditions such as insomnia, migraines and constipation. Most magnesium salts are extracted from rocks by crushing and heating them, which requires a lot of energy. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Energy Letters have developed bismuth electrodes that selectively pull magnesium ions from seawater, another abundant source of the element. They say their electrochemical approach could be more sustainable and less expensive than current methods. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-electrochemical-method-seawater-source-magnesium.html Engineering Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:00:03 EDT news705753901 A new physics-based analytical model can accurately predict ferroelectric behavior under real-world, complex voltages, according to a study led by University of Michigan Engineering. The model bridges the longstanding gap between fundamental switching physics and practical device engineering. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-bridges-ferroelectric-physics-circuit.html Engineering Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:40:09 EDT news705753481 Researchers at the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research have developed tiny rolls that can be unrolled and rolled up in a controlled manner using a magnet. The model for this was the proboscis of butterflies. These smart materials enable the development of more efficient drive technologies for micro- and soft robotics, a field of research of great economic importance. The results have been published in the journal Advanced Materials. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-butterfly-ceramic-microscrolls-unroll-magnets.html Robotics Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:20:07 EDT news705751501 Researchers have developed a full-color near-eye display that uses three stacked holographic gratings, each engineered to direct red, green or blue light. The new design could help advance compact, energy-efficient augmented reality (AR) glasses for use in a variety of professional and consumer applications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-holographic-layers-red-green-blue.html Engineering Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news705682502 Most batteries spend more than 70% of their lifetime at rest. Yet few studies have examined calendar aging, which is how a battery degrades when it is neither charging nor being used. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-aim-battery-aging-idle.html Engineering Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:40:05 EDT news705601261 A team from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has successfully demonstrated an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven system to automate a powerful simulation method that predicts how atoms in materials interact. Known as atomistic simulations, this method can potentially accelerate the discovery of materials for areas such as batteries, aerospace and electronics. The research is published in the journal Digital Discovery. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-ai-agents-automate-atom-simulations.html Engineering Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:20:10 EDT news705322075 Imperial and Arup pioneer a new approach to designing tall buildings that uses the building's own weight to reduce movement in high winds and earthquakes. Inspired by traditional Japanese pagodas, it makes towers safer while cutting carbon and construction costs. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-pagoda-floors-tower-sway-material.html Engineering Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news705241142 The same overheating problem that happens to our laptops also plagues computer servers and data centers around the world—and heat management is only getting harder as computer chips get more compact and powerful. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-electronics.html Engineering Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news705228241 Imagine a bottle of hazardous chemicals sitting on a laboratory shelf that changes its appearance to alert scientists that its lid is not properly secured, potentially preventing a dangerous spill. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-3d-theyre-properly.html Engineering Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:09 EDT news705155390 A renewable energy future will rely on cheap and scalable battery technologies. A promising option is an all-iron redox flow battery, which uses iron—an abundant, low-cost, and safe material. Battery performance depends on how iron ends up on the negative electrode during battery use. Uniform iron deposits are best, but this doesn't always take place. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-neutron-imaging-peers-iron-redox.html Engineering Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:40:01 EDT news705154321 Lithium-ion batteries are the leading choice in today's electric vehicle and battery energy storage system industries, but they contain a number of critical minerals—including lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite—that are considered essential for economic and national security reasons and therefore vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. As renewable energy, electrified infrastructure and high-power digital technologies continue to grow, there is an increasing need for energy storage systems that are low-cost, resource-abundant and capable of fast charging and discharging. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-solvent-problem-sodium-metal-batteries.html Engineering Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:20:08 EDT news705078121 Researchers at Kyushu University have shown that microwave (MW) radiation can dramatically speed the conversion of biomass into useful gases by creating localized high-temperature regions on nickel nanoparticles. Using advanced X-ray techniques to observe the catalyst during conversion reactions, the team found that these microscopic hot spots form on the catalyst even when the surrounding material remains much cooler, helping explain why MW-assisted catalytic reactions can outperform conventional heating. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-microwave-bamboo-hydrogen-fuel-conversion.html Engineering Tue, 04 Aug 2026 13:00:01 EDT news705066421 Michael Sweeney roasts coffee beans using energy from the sun at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. Sweeney has been collaborating with Sandia as part of a program to use solar energy to heat his coffee roasters. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-solar-bed-powers-coffee-roaster.html Engineering Tue, 04 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news705059600 Industrial wastewater from electronics manufacturing, metal processing and other sectors often contains two difficult pollutants at once: high levels of salt and toxic heavy metals. Current treatment methods typically address those problems separately, creating costly, complex systems that can produce hazardous brines or metal-laden sludge. Now, a group of researchers at Rice University and Vanderbilt University has created an electrochemical platform that could do both jobs at once. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ion-platform-simultaneously-salty-wastewater.html Engineering Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news704717402 In a nondescript Idaho Falls warehouse, a nuclear nonproliferation researcher at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) picks up a small plastic bottle and pours tiny bits of rounded black glass across a worktable. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-vacuum-nuclear-fallout.html Engineering Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:00:03 EDT news704648401 Wireless charging is nothing new for our phones, watches, earbuds and other tech. Now, researchers want to bring wireless power to the skies—recharging drones in flight by beaming a laser under their wings. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-drones-mid-flight-lasers.html Engineering Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:00:12 EDT news704447641 Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego integrated the olfactory receptor of an insect called a jumping bristletail into semiconductor chips made of graphene, creating an electronic nose capable of sniffing out a wide variety of small organic compounds. This biomimetic bioelectronic sensor can detect and distinguish between molecules that are difficult for conventional electronic sensors to differentiate. This work opens the door to building semiconductor-based chemical sensing systems inspired by nature for applications in health care, environmental monitoring, food quality, agriculture and biodefense. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-insect-electronic-nose-semiconductor-chips.html Engineering Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:00:10 EDT news704458206 Concrete ranks second among the most widely used materials on the planet and is regarded as highly versatile for climate-resistant infrastructure. However, the main ingredient of concrete is Portland cement, which is made by heating limestone and clay to about 1400°C, and this energy-intensive process now accounts for roughly 7–8% of global CO₂ emissions. Rapid urbanization and growing cement-related CO₂ emissions are driving the search for more sustainable and fire-resistant building materials. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-based-geopolymer-mortar-greener-fireresistant.html Engineering Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:20:05 EDT news704457831 After a closet cleanout, what options are there for recycling our old threads? Not many. Apart from bringing used clothes to a donation center, there is no process for recycling textiles like there is for bottles and cans. The average American throws out around 81 pounds of clothing each year. That amounts to more than 11 million tons of textiles that end up in landfills or incinerators. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-recyclable-yarn-strong-stretchy-spandex.html Engineering Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:41:25 EDT news704385631 University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind AI system that allows underwater companion robots to monitor a diver's health in real time simply by "watching" their exhaled bubbles. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-underwater-robots-track-diver.html Robotics Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:40:02 EDT news704378282 Recycled materials promise a cleaner future, but recycled content alone does not necessarily make a product sustainable. At Georgia Tech's Daedalus Lab, assistant professor Christos Athanasiou and postdoctoral researcher Danqi Sun are working to provide greater certainty to designers and engineers by rethinking how materials are tested for their fracture characteristics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-faster-fracture-path-sustainable-material.html Engineering Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:40:05 EDT news704370842 Can we fuel gas turbines with hydrogen instead of fossil fuels and cut 15% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions? Gas turbines generate around 22% of the world's electricity. Replacing fossil fuels is a key step toward more sustainable power generation. Hydrogen is widely considered a promising alternative fuel for gas turbines in both power generation and aviation. However, before hydrogen can be used safely on a large scale, researchers need to better understand how it affects the materials exposed to the extreme operating conditions inside turbines. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-gas-turbines-ready-hydrogen-economy.html Engineering Mon, 27 Jul 2026 09:40:02 EDT news704362921 A new type of 3D-printable material developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin mimics human tissue's ability to sort and filter, allowing certain molecules to pass through while keeping others out. This broad functionality means the material can be used in a variety of applications across medicine, water and robotics. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-3d-printable-material-body-robots.html Engineering Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:30:01 EDT news704037605 Solar cells, devices that can convert sunlight into electricity, are now widely used in many countries, where they are helping to reduce reliance on electricity generated from fossil fuels. While most solar cells used today are made of silicon, energy engineers have been assessing the potential of cells based on other materials with lower manufacturing costs. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-seed-crystals-solventfree-perovskite-cells.html Engineering Sat, 25 Jul 2026 10:40:01 EDT news703943200 Rescue teams in coastal cities and towns often need to rescue people who are at risk of drowning. These operations often require emergency teams to locate and reach people in distress as quickly as possible, as even a short delay could have serious or even fatal consequences. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-spider-robotic-boat-track-people.html Robotics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 08:40:01 EDT news704029976