Material may offer cheaper alternative to smart windows

If you've ever blown up a balloon or pulled at a pair of pantyhose, you may have noticed that the more the material stretches, the more transparent it becomes. It's a simple enough observation: the thinner a material, the ...

Step by step toward more efficient chemical synthesis

Chemical engineering conventionally divides the process from raw materials to finished product into unit operations. EU-funded researchers developed software tools to evaluate integration of two or more units for optimisation ...

Self-folding structure could slash energy use in buildings

Princeton student Denisa Buzatu's vision for an environmentally sustainable building is a sort of shape-shifting origami façade. For her senior thesis, Buzatu, a civil and environmental engineering major, is designing and ...

A smarter habitat for deep space exploration

In order to explore the moon or Mars, astronauts need smart habitats that will support life and remain operational when they are vacant. To advance the design of autonomous systems for space habitats, NASA is funding a multi-university ...

Researchers build most complex synthetic biology circuit yet

Using genes as interchangeable parts, synthetic biologists design cellular circuits that can perform new functions, such as sensing environmental conditions. However, the complexity that can be achieved in such circuits has ...

Using genes to rescue animal and plants from extinction

(Phys.org) —With estimates of losing 15 to 40 percent of the world's species over the next four decades – due to climate change and habitat loss, researchers ponder in the Sept. 26 issue of Nature whether science should ...

Solar house energy analysis shows 71 percent energy savings

(Phys.org) —The energy efficiencies of a solar house could result in significant energy savings, according to research by an undergraduate engineering student at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

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