A group of researchers at the University of Tokyo attached a male silkmoth to a free-moving polystyrene ball that can control the movement of a small, two-wheeled robot. According to researchers, the findings will be used to devise better smell tracking algorithms by providing useful suggestions for the application of an insect behavioral model to… »

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have devised a strategy which enables a boost in biofuel production. After studying an enzyme that naturally produces alkanes, the researchers figured how to make its reaction ongoing instead stopping after three to five cycles. The findings renew interest in using the enzyme in… »

A group of researchers in Austria have developed nano-machines which are able to mimic principal activities of proteins. Thanks to the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure, the researchers presented the first versatile and modular example of a fully artificial protein-mimetic model system. Once perfected, these artificial proteins could make a change… »

While many research groups are devising better batteries to enable longer operation of batteries, researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), international semiconductor consortium SEMATECH and Texas State University devised a method which allows further research of transistors with lower power consumption. The approach could lead to new integrated circuits with 10 fold lower power… »

As you could notice in our articles about architecture, lower water consumption is a big deal. While most of the mentioned solutions rely on re-use and low-flow fixtures, a group of researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) developed Oxijet – a shower nozzle insert that can save up to 50 percent… »

Bamboo – what can’t it do? To be honest, it can’t do many things, but its characteristics make it better than some dominant materials around us. As we mentioned in our roundup of most popular green architecture news and articles of 2012, you can expect a wider scope of news and articles regarding architecture. Hence,… »

Researchers at the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have collaborated with other research groups to develop an infrared color night-vision imaging technology able to record high-definition (HD) color videos even in darkness. The technology could be used in broadcast cameras used for nighttime recording, as well as to on-board vehicle… »

Analogous to way old camera films recorded light exposition onto photographic film, image sensors in digital camera convert the light from the lens to our digital photos. Researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have developed image sensors that consist of electrically conductive plastics which are more sensitive to light compared to their conventional silicon… »