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Engineering

Material scientist Liangbing Hu (left) holds wood stronger than titanium and tougher than steel after a two-step process. Mechanical engineer Teng Li (right) holds an untreated block of the same wood.

New Research

New Super Wood Beats Metals in Feats of Strength

A new method combining chemical, pressure and heat treatments can create ultra-dense material that is stronger than steel

View from the cockpit of Solar Impulse 2 as the plane heads for landing in Abu Dhabi.

Future of Energy

Inside the First Solar-Powered Flight Around the World

A new documentary highlights the challenges overcome by the experimental aircraft, Solar Impulse

An oyster-dominated anti-erosion structure in Texas

As Storms Get Bigger, Oyster Reefs Can Help Protect Shorelines

Municipalities and military bases are using the bivalve to defend against flooding and damage from climate change-driven storms

With a low cost attachment, Joshua Broder can upgrade a 2D ultrasound machine to 3D.

How a Wii Handset Inspired a Low-Cost 3D Ultrasound

After playing games with his son, a Duke physician invented a medical tool that could put ultrasound imaging in the hands of more doctors

What is that sound?

This App Can Diagnose Your Car Trouble

MIT engineers have developed an app that uses smartphone sensors to determine why your car’s making that funny noise

The Ten Best STEM Toys of 2017

Kid tested and parent approved, these tech toys stand out for holiday wish lists

This drug delivery system folds up to fit in a capsule, then would reopen in the stomach

Can Digital Pills and Drug Delivery Systems Get People to Take Their Meds?

They are among new approaches to dealing with a big problem in American health care

The formerly wobbly Millennium Bridge

New Research

What Makes Bridges Wobble? Your Awkward Walk

A new study asks: How many people does it takes to set a pedestrian bridge a-swaying?

The sKan device detects minute temperature changes associated with melanoma.

This Inexpensive Scanning Device Could Catch Skin Cancer Early

A team of biomedical engineers has won this year’s Dyson Award for “the sKan,” which detects the thermal changes associated with melanoma

Water-strapped cities with growing populations and energy needs could benefit the most. Greater Phoenix, for instance, is served by this reservoir and irrigation system fed by the Colorado River.

Five Questions You Should Have About Evaporation as a Renewable Energy Source

What’s the big deal with evaporation-driven engines?

Cool Finds

Watch This RoboBee Surge From Water to Sky

Researcher hope that someday similar robots could help with everything from biological monitoring to search and rescue

Could This Bionic Vision System Help Restore Sight?

The technology gives hope that blind patients, who lost sight from disease, might one day emerge from the dark

A smart window prototype dims in response to electricity.

Future of Energy

These Windows Tint With a Flick of a Switch

Stanford engineers are developing electric windows that block glare without blocking your view

Testing football gear

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Could This Strange Fluid Prevent Concussions and Twisted Ankles?

Army researchers, academics and industry have been using shear thickening fluids for body armor, better football helmets, rehabilitation tools and more

What can humans learn from this master of disguise?

Like Octopus Skin, This New Material Goes From 2D to 3D in Seconds

Octopi are masters of disguise, able to change both the color and texture of their skin. Engineers have developed a material that can do similar tricks

A VR animation of a 1945 design for a massive elevated airport over the Hudson River

New Exhibit Imagines the Buildings New York Could’ve Had

From a gigantic airport, to an urbanized Ellis Island, the show reveals the many fascinating ideas for New York City that never made it off the page

Don’t overlook immediate safety in a search for something better.

Some of the Best Parts of Autonomous Vehicles Are Already Here

Consumers with high hopes of driverless cars improving safety might be looking past the boring near-term advances that could make a real difference

The device is a pen-sized mass spectrometry device its developers are calling MasSpec Pen.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Scientists Invent a Pen That Can Detect Cancer in Seconds

This handheld mass spectrometer could make surgeries to remove cancerous tissue quicker and more accurate

The compound eyes of a robber fly

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These New Solar Cells Are Modeled After a Fly’s Eye

Stanford University researchers may have found a way for perovskites to compete with silicon in the solar panel market

Rebecca Richards-Kortum was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow of 2016.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Professor With a Genius For Global Health

Rebecca Richards-Kortum and her students at Rice University are designing low-cost devices that can help mothers and babies in a big way

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