Faster and more precise way to scan road surface

By Damir Beciri
7 April 2013

pavement-profile-scanner-1Surveying the damage weather and land moving caused to asphalt and concrete on roads is tedious and expensive. When it comes to Germany, which has roads worth around 470 billion euros, it is not a small endeavor to perform such a task. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute opted for a surveying system with a laser scanner… »

3D printer builds droplet network tissue-like material

By Damir Beciri
4 April 2013

droplet-network-sphereWe already published a couple of articles where we described efforts to create artificial tissue, however, a group of researchers at the Oxford University took a slightly different approach by developing a 3D printer that uses a tissue-like material with several of the properties of living tissues. The new type of material consists of thousands… »

Festo BionicOpter robot dragonfly

By Damir Beciri
3 April 2013

festo-bionicopter-1After devising systems inspired by penguins, herring gulls and elephant trunk, engineers at Festo devised a new system suitable for their Bionic Learning Network project. Inspired by dragonflies, they developed BionicOpter – an ultra-light system packed with everything needed to mimic the way dragonflies maneuver in all directions, glide without having to beat their wings… »

A foldable ceramic that is also electrically conductive

By Damir Beciri
31 March 2013

vanadium-pentoxide-ceramic-1Cooperation between researchers at Stuttgart University, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, resulted with a material which is as hard as copper, yet flexible enough to be rolled up or folded. This material is actually made from a vanadium pentoxide ceramic, and it has another… »

Cyro – large robotic jellyfish

By Damir Beciri
One Comment30 March 2013

jellyfishA group of researchers at the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, who previously developed a small robotic jellyfish Robojelly, developed its larger version and named it Cyro – a name derived from “cyanea” and “robot”. The cyanea part of the name originates from cyanea capillata (Lion’s mane jellyfish) – the largest known species of jellyfish… »

New terahertz imaging system could replace x-ray imaging

By Damir Beciri
27 March 2013

better-than-x-rays-a-more-powerful-terahertz-imaging-system-teamA group of researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M) have developed a laser-powered source and detector system which employs low-energy terahertz radiation with record high power and sensitivity. The breakthrough could enable doctors to see deep into tissues without the damaging effects of X-rays, or allow security guards to identify chemicals in a package… »

Marine animal tunicate can be used both as biofuel and fish food

By Damir Beciri
26 March 2013

forside-helbredde-tunicolFive researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) and Uni Research have found that a certain type of tunicate – marine filter feeders that serve as bacteria eaters and as a food in cultures that consume larger number of seafood – can be used as a renewable source of biofuel and fish food. That means… »

Study leads to broad spectrum antivirals for deadly viruses

By Maja Bosanac
26 March 2013

filone-chbiol-imageResearchers at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) found a new class of chemical compounds that have the potential to prevent replication of genetically diverse viruses. This could lead to the development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs which can be used to treat a great deal of viruses, including highly pathogenic Ebola and Marburg viruses…. »