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. It is common for solar panels to be shaded by trees, clouds, birds or buildings. For thin-film solar technologies, however, such shading can cause shaded areas to develop reverse-bias stress (negative voltage), which can reduce power-generation efficiency and even damage solar cell modules. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-resistant-solar-cells-efficiency-2000hour.html Engineering Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:40:05 EDT news703780586 No wires. No actuators. Shine light on the metal surface, and it rises like a button. KAIST researchers have developed a metal structure that changes shape using light, without any light-absorbing coating. This technology could open new possibilities for tactile interfaces with physical pop-up buttons, shape displays, next-generation wearable devices and soft robots. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-mechanical-buttons.html Engineering Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:20:08 EDT news703778761 Underwater environments are among the harshest operating conditions for electronic devices. Divers and underwater robots depend on sensors to navigate, communicate and handle objects, but conventional sensors are fragile, reliant on an external power source and unable to recover when damaged. A punctured sensor underwater typically means lost functionality with little prospect of on-the-spot repair, a limitation that shortens the working life of underwater machines and raises safety concerns for divers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-electronic-skin-sensors-underwater-robots.html Engineering Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:40:07 EDT news703772353 Over the past decade, perovskite LEDs have become increasingly vibrant and affordable to produce. With careful tweaks to their chemical composition, these crystal-based light emitters can be tuned across the visible spectrum—matching and sometimes even beating rival LED materials for producing red and green light. However, blue light has remained a holdout, keeping full-color perovskite displays out of reach. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-fine-tuned-perovskites-blue-vibrant.html Engineering Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:15:58 EDT news703772133 Kiran Trivedi, a University of Wollongong (UOW) academic, has developed a low-cost device that identifies disease-carrying mosquitoes by the sound of their wingbeats, offering a faster alternative to traditional surveillance methods used to track malaria and dengue. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-tiny-ai-device-world-deadliest.html Engineering Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news703758950 Optical see-through augmented reality (AR) glasses are designed to overlay digital information onto the real world, but improving the realism of virtual objects often comes at a cost. Existing occlusion technologies physically block part of the incoming light, reducing the brightness of the real environment and making everyday tasks more challenging. Overcoming this balance between virtual realism and real-world visibility is a key hurdle for next-generation AR systems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ar-display-tech-boosts-realworld.html Engineering Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:00:04 EDT news703499027 Concrete is the most widely used building material on Earth, and producing it is one of the largest single sources of carbon emissions. One promising way to reduce its environmental footprint is to 3D-print concrete, laying it down bead by bead like a giant icing-piping robot. This process eliminates the labor-intensive formwork of pouring it into molds and places the material only where a structure needs it. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-3d-bridge-greener.html Engineering Sat, 18 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news703403011 Imagine reaching for a record or glancing at a map and seeing a display bloom from a small box, offering interactive guidance—and then vanishing moments later. A new device, inspired by science fiction and designed by computer scientists at the University of Chicago, lets digital displays bloom from everyday objects and surfaces. The creators hope it's a step toward creating touch interfaces only when they're needed and helping technology fade seamlessly into daily life. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-scientists-interactive-screens-demand.html Engineering Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:00:06 EDT news703497258 For robots to be used in various settings, such as factories, logistics, service industries and households, they must be able to stably handle a diverse range of objects differing in shape, size, weight and rigidity. However, conventional robotic hands often require multiple motors and complex control systems, presenting challenges in terms of weight, cost, failure risk and control difficulties. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-robotic-capable-multiple-grippers-motor.html Robotics Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:00:10 EDT news703500531 Georgia's $41 billion forest products industry needs a transformation, and a Georgia Tech research team is reimagining how pulp mills use energy and what they can make from their byproduct streams. For nearly a decade, Sankar Nair, professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a longtime researcher with the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI), has led a collaborative effort to develop technologies that can radically improve the efficiency and profitability of kraft pulp mills. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-pulp-mills-generation-biorefineries.html Engineering Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:00:13 EDT news703496845 By exploiting the quirks of human vision, Northwestern University engineers have designed a drone that nearly disappears before the eyes. For years, researchers have tried to design invisible drones and robots using camouflage, transparent materials or light-bending optical systems. But the Northwestern team instead used a concept called "motion blur"—the same effect that makes fast-spinning fans and propellers seem to disappear. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-drone-plain-sight-phantom-harnesses.html Engineering Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:02 EDT news703318420 An era in which robots decide "how to walk" on their own has arrived. A four-legged robot has been developed that, much like a person or an animal, autonomously chooses the appropriate gait strategy for its surroundings—changing its gait on stairs, leaping over gaps and keeping its balance on forest trails. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-robot-animal.html Robotics Thu, 16 Jul 2026 07:50:02 EDT news703405349 Implantable devices in the brain have been used for about 30 years to assist people with disabilities in completing motor tasks. However, the devices are simply not accessible to the vast majority of people who need help. Despite decades of work in this field, fewer than 100 people worldwide have benefited from the technology. The costs are prohibitive, and the brain surgeries are inherently risky. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-human-machine-boosts-noninvasive-brain.html Engineering Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news703346323 Knitting has come a long way from sweaters and blankets. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have turned everyday knitting into a powerful platform for making shape-shifting devices that can act as switches, sensors and more—paving the way for next-generation functional, programmable textiles. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-snapping-fabric.html Engineering Wed, 15 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news703340121 Using AI-driven materials design, a team of researchers at the University of Toronto Engineering has discovered a new set of metal alloys that retain their strength under extreme conditions. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ai-lab-3d-printable-alloys.html Engineering Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:00:01 EDT news703329492 Using bird bone structure as inspiration, Xin Ning and Sepideh Ebad Sichani, Ph.D. '26, have created a new class of aircraft wing structures—unbound by traditional designs of ribs, spars and stiffeners. The researchers are in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-mimicked-bird-bones-lightweight-high.html Engineering Wed, 15 Jul 2026 10:20:03 EDT news703326184 Scientists at The University of Manchester have uncovered how subtle changes in temperature during a promising metal 3D printing process can significantly affect the quality of aluminum components. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-temperatures-defects-aluminum-3d.html Engineering Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:40:05 EDT news703255076 A new discovery in physics could help engineers stabilize robots and structures without relying on complex sensors and control systems, and design metamaterials and network systems that are currently beyond reach. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-stable-unstable-steady-millisecond-window.html Engineering Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:40:10 EDT news703250482 Molten salt nuclear reactors may generate energy more efficiently than conventional water-cooled reactors while producing less waste, but the reactors must safely contain the salt's hazardous byproducts. Experiments on a commercially available shaft seal under molten salt reactor conditions at University of Michigan Engineering showed that, after a 10-day wear-in period, the seal operated successfully for 2,300 hours with minimal corrosion or degradation. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-molten-salt-reactors-facility-shaft.html Engineering Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:20:07 EDT news703249681 As data centers and crypto-mining facilities expand to handle growing digital demands, keeping massive banks of servers cool has become a primary operational challenge. To address the energy inefficiencies plaguing these high-density computing spaces, engineering researchers at Lehigh University's Energy Research Center have developed a specialized modeling framework designed to reduce hot spots and improve thermal management. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-high-density-centers-fluid-dynamics.html Engineering Mon, 13 Jul 2026 18:20:03 EDT news703155822 Nuclear reactors are traditionally powered with dense fuel rods that can produce about 1 gigawatt of carbon-free electricity, enough to power about 100,000,000 lightbulbs. Newer power plant designs using molten salt for cooling instead of the water found in traditional reactors could offer better efficiency and stability, but they face a problem—the extreme chemical environment created by the molten salt can corrode the metal comprising the reactor. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-metals-atomic-corrosion-highways-nuclear.html Engineering Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news703173377 Engineers at Penn State are blending art and science to create cute, paint-on tattoos that could help spot heart attacks early, power robotic prosthetics and read brain waves—all within a colorful, customizable system that can be easily washed away or reapplied. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-paintable-electrodes-power-creative-wearable.html Engineering Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:00:01 EDT news702907827 Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University studying inkjet printing have introduced ultra-fine bubbles into ink droplets and showed that their drying behavior can be tuned without additives. They discovered that the shape of the particle-laden film left after a droplet dries can be radically modified by adjusting the number of bubbles. This could benefit the printing of microdevices, where ink additives can come out of solution and negatively affect the properties of ink deposits. The study will be published in the October 2026 issue of Precision Engineering. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-ultra-fine-tune-drying-ink.html Hardware Mon, 13 Jul 2026 09:20:01 EDT news703148105 As technology advances, more is expected from humanoid robots. What were once seen as gimmicks that could walk, if not like us, then close to it, are now pulling their weight and doing more work in places like factories. They are being developed for real work, such as carrying heavy boxes, pushing furniture, pulling heavy objects and wiping tables. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-humanoid-robots-real-world.html Robotics Sat, 11 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news702907927 For decades, manufacturing plastic-bonded high explosives, or PBXs, has relied on legacy processes like slurry coating. In this method, explosive crystals are mixed with a binder, a polymer that helps hold the material together, to form small granules called prills. Those prills are then pressed into dense explosive parts. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-pellet-method-safer-high-explosive.html Engineering Thu, 09 Jul 2026 17:10:01 EDT news702822260 Loons, gulls, puffins and petrels are some of the 100 species of birds that can both fly and swim. These diving birds can plunge into water to swim after prey, and leap back into the air to fly away. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-birdlike-robot-underwater-flight.html Robotics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:00:12 EDT news702794155 As officials continue to investigate the cause, experts say that if the conversion is to proceed, "extensive work" would need to be done to shore up the damage and evaluate the building's safety and integrity. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-buckling-manhattan-skyscraper.html Engineering Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:00:10 EDT news702809051 Buildings are responsible for around 40% of CO2 emissions in the European Union. This means the building sector has a central role to play in achieving the EU's climate targets by 2050. An EU research project involving Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) has analyzed CO2 emissions from the European building stock over its entire life cycle and identified ways to reduce them. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-smaller-homes-europe-emissions.html Engineering Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:00:10 EDT news702802169 Powered by collaborative and empathic design, the next generation of designers and engineers are working to make life easier for wheelchair and mobility device users. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-student-mountable-wheelchair-disability-studio.html Engineering Thu, 09 Jul 2026 07:00:03 EDT news702793321 Engineers have been working for centuries to protect buildings, bridges and other structures from damage caused by severe weather and natural hazards, but one of the best methods may begin with sand, according to a newly published study. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-sand-key-safer-stronger.html Engineering Wed, 08 Jul 2026 13:00:07 EDT news702733322