New 'soft' motor made from artificial muscles

The electrostatic motor, used more than 200 years ago by Benjamin Franklin to rotisserie a turkey, is making a comeback in a promising new design for motors that is light, soft, and operates without external electronic controllers.

Graphene's piezoelectric promise

Engineers predict that graphene can be coaxed into acting piezoelectric, merely by punching triangular holes into the material.

Robojelly gets an upgrade

Engineers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VirginiaTech) have developed a robot that mimics the graceful motions of jellyfish so precisely that it has been named Robojelly. Developed for the Office ...

The Nanotechnology of Sundew and English Ivy

Fifteen small sundew plants perch on a window sill, collecting sunlight and eating meat in the lab of Mingjun Zhang on the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus. Sundew plants are carnivores, consuming insects by capturing ...

Building crystalline materials from nanoparticles and DNA

Nature is a master builder. Using a bottom-up approach, nature takes tiny atoms and, through chemical bonding, makes crystalline materials, like diamonds, silicon and even table salt. In all of them, the properties of the ...

'Artificial leaf' makes fuel from sunlight (w/ video)

Researchers led by MIT professor Daniel Nocera have produced something they’re calling an “artificial leaf”: Like living leaves, the device can turn the energy of sunlight directly into a chemical fuel that ...

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