High-power electrostatic actuators to realize artificial muscles

Electrostatic actuators are simple and lightweight devices that emulate human muscles. However, their usage has primarily been restricted to moving small devices since they need high voltages to generate significant forces. ...

Understanding mouthfeel of food using physics

Food texture can make the difference between passing on a plate and love at first bite. To date, most studies on food texture center on relating a food's overall composition to its mechanical properties. Our understanding ...

Keeping the crunch in low-fat chips

University of Queensland chemical engineers have developed a new method to analyze the physical characteristics of potato chips in a bid to develop a tastier low-fat snack.

Soft solids and the science of cake

Researchers hope that working out the behaviours of soft solids, which can act like either solids or liquids, may make for tastier cakes – and safer oil wells.