Batoid rays, such as stingrays and manta rays, are among nature’s most elegant swimmers. They are fast, highly maneuverable, graceful, energy-efficient, can cruise, bird-like, for long distances in the deep, open ocean, and rest on [...]

You’d be amazed at how much you can learn from a plant. In a paper published this week in the journal Science, a Michigan State University professor and a colleague discuss why if humans are [...]

“If we can start to use carbon dioxide and light to power reactions in organic chemistry, there’s a huge benefit to that” Harnessing the power of the sun has inspired scientists and engineers to look [...]

Robots equipped with tactile sensor able to identify materials through touch, paving the way for more useful prostheses What does a robot feel when it touches something?  Little or nothing until now.  But with the [...]

Superhydrophobicity is one of most important interfacial properties between solids and liquids. SHI Yanlong and his group from the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key laboratory of Hexi Corridor Resources Utilization of Gansu Universities, [...]

What do fireflies, nanorods, and Christmas lights have in common? Someday, consumers may be able to purchase multicolor strings of light that don’t need electricity or batteries to glow. Scientists at Syracuse University found a [...]

Unique structure of fist-like club of mantis shrimp could transform materials used to create military body armor and vehicle and aircraft frames. Military body armor and vehicle and aircraft frames could be transformed by incorporating [...]

The applications of bioinspired robots are as diverse as the animals on which they are based. The translucent bell-shaped figure pumps rhythmically upward through the water, the rise and fall of its body almost identical [...]

Smart clothing that can camouflage itself against different backgrounds If you’ve ever watched a cephalopod such as a squid changing color, then you’ll know that it’s a pretty amazing process – they can instantly change [...]

The robotic future is here, and it looks nothing like we thought it would. Instead of humanoid, highly-intelligent robots that do our bidding, the future is increasingly one of robotic swarms, robotic quadrotors, and tiny [...]

“Airborne geometrical band with inversion drive” Festo, a German automation technology company that brought us, among other things, the smartbird robotic seagull and bionic flying penguins, has built a flying object unlike any we have [...]

Making 3D models of large real-world objects Take one piece of software that can stitch 2D photos into a 3D model, one camera-carrying UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), and mix well to impress and inspire. This [...]