Robots have many strong suits, but delicacy traditionally hasn't been one of them. Rigid limbs and digits make it difficult for them to grasp, hold, and manipulate a range of everyday objects without dropping or crushing ...
Robotics
Oct 1, 2015
3
703
Few things will ruin a day faster than a flat tire. But what if you never had to break out that spare again? Scientists have developed a new type of rubber that can heal itself after a tear or break.
Materials Science
Sep 24, 2015
3
94
A cut or torn tire usually means one thing—you have to buy a new one. But some day, that could change. For the first time, scientists have made tire-grade rubber without the processing step—vulcanization—that has been ...
Materials Science
Sep 23, 2015
0
1135
Increasing amounts of environmentally valuable and protected land are being cleared for rubber plantations that are economically unsustainable, new research suggests. More widespread monitoring is vital to design policy that ...
Environment
Jul 7, 2015
0
79
Dandelions are modest plants that are an excellent alternative source for a raw material of high demand: natural rubber, the fundamental ingredient in rubber products. Fraunhofer researchers have established the basis for ...
Materials Science
Jun 8, 2015
0
102
Researchers from the University of Leicester have discovered that when it comes to rubbers, textured surfaces, and reproduction, more fluid formulations have greater reliability than those that are thick and sticky.
Materials Science
May 28, 2015
2
16
Ricoh today announced that it has created a novel flexible material that converts pressure and vibration into electric energy with high efficiency.
Materials Science
May 20, 2015
0
20
Friction, the force that slows down objects as they slide across a surface, can save lives when car brakes are slammed. Yet despite its obvious importance, no one knows for sure how friction works at the level of atoms and ...
Materials Science
May 15, 2015
2
4665
Citizen science and technology have combined to eradicate the ornamental rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora) from the area surrounding the Fitzroy River, in the Kimberley.
Ecology
May 8, 2015
0
30
Dandelions deliver a desirable product: rubber. This is why the robust and undemanding plant has become the focus of attention of the rubber-producing industry. But how is rubber, contained in the plant's white milky fluid, ...
Materials Science
Apr 28, 2015
0
352
