While there are examples of apparently ornamental cogs in the animal kingdom – such as on the shell of the cog wheel turtle or the back of the wheel bug – gears with a functional role have been elusive or rendered defunct by evolution. Scientists at the University of Cambridge have been able to reveal… »

Designer and developer of hardware and software for the consumer electronics market CSR recently unveiled what they claim to be the world’s thinnest wireless touch interface. The flexible device, which is less than 0.5 mm thick, turns any area into a touch surface and holds great potential to extend existing devices by adding touch interface… »

Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have developed a new lead-free, high temperature ceramic capacitor that could improve the efficiency and reliability of electric and hybrid vehicles. Aside having applications in the automobile industry, HITECA capacitors could improve high temperature electronics in the aerospace, power, oil and gas sectors, as well as in high… »

Relying on large flakes of graphene oxide that were developed back in 2010 at the Rice University, Rice researchers developed a new carbon fiber with improved strength of its knots. This more robust carbon fiber could be used to increase the strength of many products that use carbon fiber, such as composite materials used in… »

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and University of California, Los Angeles, have discovered a new chemical reaction that has the potential to lower the cost and streamline the manufacture of compounds ranging from agricultural chemicals to pharmaceutical drugs. The reaction resolves a long-standing challenge in organic chemistry in creating phenolic compounds from… »

Researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), a collaborative research partnership of the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol, have developed a novel way to charge mobile phones by using urine as the power source which generates electricity. The system generates enough power to enable SMS messaging, web browsing and… »

We already wrote about various new ways for information interaction, and a group of researchers at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) developed a low cost system which allows conversion of virtually any flat solid surface around us into a touch sensitive surface. The system relies on the principles of vibration and imaging, and it is… »

Experiments at Rice University meant to reveal how graphene grows under high pressure and in a hydrogen-rich environment resulted up with development of concentric hexagons of graphene. The process represents the first time anyone has synthesized graphene nanoribbons atom by atom on metal. Once perfected, the approach could lead to breakthroughs in electronics lithium ion… »