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Engineering

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

Could this brace alleviate "crouch gait?"

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This Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Kids With Cerebral Palsy Walk Upright

Children with cerebral palsy often walk in a crouched position, which is difficult to maintain over long distances. A robot suit can help.

Robots can also lend a hand of sorts.

How Robots Could Help the Elderly Age in Their Homes

But these helpful machines won’t be the humanoid butlers of science fiction

The H.L. Hunley, a confederate Civil War era submarine, sits in its water tank at the Hunley Lab in North Charleston, SC.

One Scientist May Have Finally Figured Out the Mystery of Why a Civil War Submarine Sank

A Navy engineer used creative modeling and her knowledge of underwater explosions to tackle the century-old Hunley conundrum

A new tissue paper (as in, paper made from biological tissue) is so strong it can be folded into origami.

A Lab Accident Leads to Bioactive “Tissue Paper”

A spill of bioactive ink made from ovarian cells led to the creation of paper made from organs and tissues, with various potential medical uses

A TEMS device mounted on eyeglasses, with the electrical signal recorded.

Blink Once For Yes: You Can ‘Talk’ to This New Computer Interface With Your Eyes

A tiny sensor mounted to eyeglasses can track eye blinks, allowing communication from locked-in patients

This is no ordinary origami paper, it's made out of organ tissues and could eventually become a high-tech band aid.

New Research

This “Tissue” Paper Is Made From Real Tissue

Made from powdered organs, the flexible paper could be used as a sophisticated bandage during surgery

An environmental sample processor is lowered into Lake Erie.

Underwater Robot Labs Monitor Toxins

The labs have been deployed in Lake Erie, where blooms of toxic algae have made water undrinkable in past years.

A visualization of the harness.

This Robotic Harness Could Help People Relearn to Walk After Injury

Swiss researchers have developed an algorithm-backed “smart” harness to help stroke and spinal cord injury victims practice walking in a more natural way.

Spider silk is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar, but making it in the lab has eluded scientists for decades.

New Artificial Spider Silk: Stronger Than Steel and 98 Percent Water

Researchers at Cambridge University have developed a process for making strong, stretchy threads in an environmentally friendly way

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