Energy & Green Tech

Harvesting big energy from small movement

Since the ancient Greeks, humankind has known that if you bring two things into contact, a small amount of electricity is created. One example is that we can rub a balloon with our hair and generate enough electricity to ...

Engineering

Q&A: Making Earth-friendly electronics

The very components that make electronics fast and easy to use also make their disposal an environmental nightmare. Components of smartphones, computers and even kitchen appliances contain heavy metals and other compounds ...

Engineering

One-dimensional objects morph into new dimensions

A line is the shortest distance between two points, but "A-line," a 4-D printing system developed at Carnegie Mellon University, takes a more circuitous route. One-dimensional, "line"-shaped plastic structures produced with ...

Engineering

Rocket fuel and 3-D printing

James Cook University scientists in Australia are using 3-D printing to create fuels for rockets, and using tailor-made rocket motors they've built to test the fuels.