Researchers at University of Michigan (U-M) and Penn State University are studying how plants like the Mimosa can change shape, and they’re working to replicate the mechanisms with artificial cells. Currently, their artificial cells are palm-size and larger, but they’re trying to minify them by using microstructures and nanofibers to construct them. They’re also exploring… »
If you like to sing or listen to the music while you shower, here is another way to annoy your neighbors. The team that helped commercialize the award winning Wind-Up Radio has launched the world’s first water powered radio named H2O Shower Powered Radio. It uses the water pressure provided by household showers to power… »
The Wind Explorer is a lightweight electrically-, wind- and kite-powered vehicle all in one. It might seem as a concept, but it already exists and it is on its route across the Australian continent. With extreme efficiency, the Wind Explorer combines technologies that are available today, but neither sensibly nor fully utilized. The wind explorer… »
A group of about 35 people, part of the European project RoboEarth, is currently creating a worldwide, open-source platform that allows any robot with a network connection to generate, share, and reuse data. RoboEarth is developed in hope that it will greatly speed up robot learning and adaptation in complex tasks, as well as providing… »
PaPeRo (Partner-type-Personal-Robot) – a personal robot from NEC Corporation – has been developed since 1997. It is being developed to interact with people and provide them with more information or entertain them. Due to increasing number of elderly people living alone, the folks from NEC conducted a research where they programmed PaPeRo to provide them… »
Vicino House is another example of architecture practice where sustainable and luxurious intertwines, and it has earned LEED for Homes Platinum certification. Perched on the steep bank of Pacific Palisades, California, the house features spectacular 180-degree views of the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Bay. Materials used in the build and the building envelope are… »
Spray-on skin that could help you heal your skin within several days after a serious burn seems as something we used to see in science fiction, but that technology has been developed worldwide for over 5 years. Compared to other currently available skin regeneration or replacement methods, this method shortens the time needed for generation… »
A multidisciplinary team of Stanford engineers led by Mike McGehee, Yi Cui and Mark Brongersma, and joined by Michael Graetzel at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), is developing a new type of thin solar cell that could offer a new direction for the field. They succeeded in harnessing plasmonics – trapping light within… »
