Most of your exposure to silk probably comes in the form of uncomfortably sensual linens or cobwebs in a dusty old closet. In reality, though, silk is an incredible and overlooked material. While it may have roots in the ancient past, it could also form the building blocks of the future. More »
Graphene is touted as being the supermaterial to beat all supermaterials—but not so fast! Researchers have discovered a weakness that occurs in many sheets of graphene that renders it half as strong as we thought. More »
Common sense dictates that you don’t want to be anywhere near a concrete pylon when the load it’s bearing is too much: when all that weight comes crashing down, you’ll find out quickly how much weight your body can shoulder as well. More »
The world’s hottest new supermaterial isn’t as fancy as you might think; in fact, it’s produced by feeding wood pulp to algae. The result, nanocellulose, is amazingly light, super-strong, and conducts electricity. That versatility lends it to plenty of fantastic possible applications. Here are some of the most exciting. More »
Imagine if silicon chips were smaller than a grain of sand and could be made using a laser printer: everything under the sun could be made unobtrusively smart. But that’s not science fiction, and you don’t have to imagine too hard—because researchers at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center have already done it. More »
You wouldn’t think there’s much room for improvement when it comes to a conveyor belt, or much demand for it. They just move things along, right?. Well Festo’s new WaveHandling conveyor system can actually move objects in any direction, and even individually sort them allowing it to replace multiple components in an assembly line. More »
Unless it’s been brought to life by Disney or Pixar, it’s hard to feel much empathy for robots, particularly the emotionless cyborg experiments being developed around the country. But not this little guy. Designed to stay on its feet no matter what happens, you can’t help but feel a little sad as you watch these researchers push, prod, and bully it like a nerdy fifth grader. More »
In the horological world, Skeleton watches are some of the most tricky to design and build since all of the timepiece’s inner workings are completely exposed and visible at all times. They can also be a great teaching aide, which is why Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet hired artist Krzysztof J. Lukasik to create this tool that lets watch owners learn more about the investment. More »
A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, has created the first ever pair of graphene-based earphones. It might not surprise you to find out that they’re utterly incredible. More »
Any professional sporting venue hoping to stay profitable is designed to accomodate a varying sports so it’s always in use. And in an attempt to reduce the wasted hours often needed to convert a field, a pair of Dutch companies have developed the 4D Sportsground which uses rotating three-sided segments to almost instantly transform it for different activities. More »
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