Piezoelectric “taxels” enable human-like tactile sensing

By Damir Beciri
1 May 2013

piezotronic-transistors-1Researchers at Georgia Insittute of Technology (Georgia Tech) developed arrays piezotronic transistors capable to convert mechanical motion into electronic signals. Named “taxels”, these touch-sensitive transistors could provide significant improvements in resolution, sensitivity and functionality for tactile sensing. The arrays could aid in robotics as tactile sensors, provide better security in handwritten signatures and offer new… »

WorldKit – touch-based interfaces on everyday surfaces

By Damir Beciri
28 April 2013

world-kitIn one of our previous articles we described OmniTouch – a prototype of a wearable multitouch system that turns any surface into interface for information interaction. Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have played with that idea and created WorldKit – a system able to create these touch-based interfaces and enable information interaction in… »

FlipperBot robot locomotion inspired by sea turtle hatchlings

By Damir Beciri
27 April 2013

sea-turtleCollaboration in an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Northwestern University and Temple University led to development of a robot inspired by sea turtle hatchlings. Named FlipperBot, the robot is being developed for better understanding of principles that govern movement using flippers – thus leading to more efficient robots that… »

Organovo creates fully cellular 3D bioprinted liver tissue

By Damir Beciri
25 April 2013

organovo-novogen-bioprintingAs we reported in one of our previous articles, Organovo came up with a bio-printer able to print human tissue and organs in 3D. They recently attended 2013 Experimental Biology conference in Boston, Massachusetts, where they presented the company’s in vitro three-dimensional liver generated by Organovo’s NovoGen bioprinting platform. The tissues are highly reproducible and… »

Modified E. coli makes diesel on demand

By Maja Bosanac
23 April 2013

bacteria-can-produce-diesel-on-demandCollaboration between researchers at the University of Exeter and the researchers at the Shell Projects & Technology resulted with the development of a new technology for modifying certain strains of E. coli bacteria to produce diesel when needed. Although produced diesel is substantially similar to conventional diesel fuel, the method still confronts many challenges before… »

Using bees as early warning for a fruit tree disease

By Damir Beciri
One Comment23 April 2013

bees-tubes-1When blossoms and leaves wane and turn black, it is usually too late to fight off the disease which attacks the plant. Fire blight is a plant disease which strikes fruit trees such as apple and pear trees. Clearing the affected trees was often the only chance left before it takes over the entire orchard…. »

Bioreactive façade with algae filled panels

By Damir Beciri
3 Comments22 April 2013

biofacade-1The SSC GmbH conducts extensive research since the beginning of 2008 to the development of processes and systems through to large-scale cultivation of microalgae. The technology was tested at a pilot plant in Hamburg Reitbrook back in 2008in collaboration with various colleges and universities in North Germany as part of the interdisciplinary R&D project TERM… »

Pine cones inspire new materials that change their shape according to stimuli

By Damir Beciri
21 April 2013

pineconesInspired by the ability of pine cones to close their scales when wet and open them again once they have dried out, a group of researchers at ETH Zurich devised a new method to produce a variety of composite materials that are able to change their shape to a pre-programmed shape after being influence by… »