Engineering

The material—the black blocks between the two plates, pictured here—could be used with cooking pots to charge phones or jewelry to power health sensors.

Is This New Material a Game Changer for Thermoelectricity?

Researchers at the University of Utah have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic material that converts heat to electricity

The mechanical lung would function outside the patient's body.

An Artificial Lung That Fits In a Backpack

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are developing a device that works like the sophisticated organ

Kaboom.

Your Alaskan Cruise Is Possible Because Canada Blew Up an Underwater Mountain

People predicted tsunamis and an earthquake, but nothing particularly bad happened

A permanent exhibition at Micropia in Amsterdam, the world’s only museum dedicated to microbes, called “A Fungal Future” showcases an array of everyday objects made from fungi.

Is Fungus the Material of the Future?

Scientists in the Netherlands have found a way to make slippers and other household objects using fungi

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden think that a helmet called the Strokefinder could quickly diagnose intracranial bleeding.

A Microwave Helmet May Help Diagnose Traumatic Brain Injury

Doctors find that a stroke-detection technology could be useful in screening for intracranial bleeding

Mesh billboards on the Moroccan mountainside will soon be joined by numerous others—a planned 31 in all—to create the world’s largest fog collection facility.

This Device Collects Water From the Clouds

CloudFisher does exactly as its name implies—drawing water down from the sky

Norway Proposes World's First Mile-Long Tunnel for Ships

The tunnel would help ships and ferries avoid rough seas around the Stadlandet Peninsula where 33 people have died since World War II

The prototype

Could This Be the Most Efficient Solar Panel Ever?

Taking advantage of temperatures upwards of 1,000 Celsius, these hot solar cells could produce twice as much energy as the industry standard

Engineers tested the new technology with this poster at a Seattle bus stop.

In Smart Cities of the Future, Posters and Street Signs Can Talk

University of Washington engineers show how "smart" posters can send a message via FM radio waves to smartphone or car radio

A close call at Lake Oroville raises questions about the safety of America's dams.

Failure at One of These 15,000 American Dams Would Be Fatal

A quiet crisis is afoot as the nation's infrastructure ages

Check out those chompers.

If We Can Get Past the Ickiness, Hagfish Slime May Actually Be Useful to Us

The gelatinous glop could be the key to everything from bio-inspired kevlar to shark defense for divers

Children have been crippled by land mines in Cambodia.

The Historic Innovation of Land Mines—And Why We've Struggled to Get Rid of Them

A number of researchers are developing tools to defuse or detonate land mines without harming civilians

Dream Big: Engineering Our World began playing nationally on February 17th, and it will be shown internationally starting March 25th.

The New IMAX Film "Dream Big" Roots for the Underdogs in the Engineering World

Director Greg MacGillivray's latest documentary premieres at the National Air and Space Museum

Cradle to Cradle laid out a strategy for reducing waste through smarter product design. Case in point: the book itself is plastic and waterproof; the pages can be recycled and the ink can be washed off for reuse.

The Inventors of Upcycling Published Their Manifesto In a Plastic Book. Why?

You might have heard the term in relation to crafting, but it means a lot more

A Rolls Royce concept for an autonomous ship

What Will the Autonomous Ship of the Future Look Like?

Shipbuilding companies are experimenting with self-driving, remotely-operated and crewless vessels

Iowa State University scientists modeled their artificial leaves after cottonwood leaves.

Are Artificial Trees the Future of Renewable Energy?

While a new device's flapping leaves can generate a lot of energy, extracting it is far from a breeze

DragonflEye

Turning Dragonflies Into Drones

The DragonflEye project equips the insects with solar-powered backpacks that control their flight

Smart Glasses

These "Smart Glasses" Adjust To Your Vision Automatically

The glasses' liquid lenses change shape according to the distance of objects, making reading glasses and bifocals unnecessary

A view into Flint drinking water pipes, showing various types of iron corrosion and rust.

Scientists Now Know Exactly How Lead Got Into Flint's Water

New report points blames corrosion and warns that fixing lead poisoning nationwide will require more work than we hoped

The structure of the battery is formed from a sheet of chromatography paper, divided into a grid of creases.

This Spit-Powered Biobattery Is Made From a Single Sheet of Paper

Researchers at Binghamton University are developing inexpensive paper biobatteries to power simple sensors that monitor things like blood sugar

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