Hi-Tech News

Imagine an iPad or a Kindle for the blind, with inflatable Braille that changes shape under a user's touch. A Cornell-led collaboration has made a crucial component for such a technology: A haptic array of densely packed actuators that cause silicone membrane "dots" to pop up when triggered by combustion.... Read more

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a novel process to manufacture extreme heat-resistant carbon-carbon composites at a faster rate. The performance of these materials will be tested in a U.S. Navy rocket that NASA will launch this fall.... Read more

Equipped with a color 3D camera, an inertial measurement sensor, and its own on-board computer, a newly improved robotic cane could offer blind and visually impaired users a new way to navigate indoors. When paired with a building's architectural drawing, the device can accurately guide a user to a desired... Read more

If Rosie the Riveter had access to a new riveting technology, the character of WWII fame could have worked faster and made lighter products. Today, a newly patented riveting technique developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) makes lightweight magnesium easier to form and reduces the time needed to join... Read more

A piece of science fiction technology could be one step closer to reality with a new development in haptic holograms.... Read more

The team at Virgin Hyperloop has released a video detailing the company's plans for building its version of a hyperloop system. In the video, a voiceover describes the type of hyperloop the company plans to build, and differences between it and other designs.... Read more

A team of researchers working at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has created a new type of ink that can be used to print tiny 3D generators. In their paper published in the journal Nature Electronics, the group describes developing their new ink.... Read more

After dominating the electric vehicle market and throwing his hat into the billionaire space race, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced the latest frontier he's aiming to conquer: humanoid robots.... Read more

The spiderweb is an everyday architecture—non-monumental and easily overlooked. Yet artists and scientists are working to unlock the secret of its complex geometry, a mystery that could inspire everything from resilient new building materials to deeper understandings of the structure of the universe.... Read more

Microwave engineers, infectious disease specialists and polymer scientists from the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University and the University of Strathclyde have teamed up to create a novel microwave sterilization method that could revolutionize the way ambulances and hospitals are being disinfected.... Read more

A research team led by Prof. Liu Zhiqiang from the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the team led by Prof. Gao Peng from Peking University and the team led by Prof. Liu Zhongfan from Beijing Graphene Institute (BGI), recently realized the concept of... Read more

The Jamaican sprinter and her Olympic-record time captured everyone's attention. What's under foot, though, might have been a factor when Elaine Thompson-Herah broke a 33-year-old Olympic record in the women's 100 meters.... Read more

Honda has announced on its News Room website the establishment of a startup called Ashirase, Inc.— the first new business venture to originate from the company's IGNITION program. Ashirase will produce an in-shoe navigation system to help people with low vision navigate in public spaces.... Read more

An approach that reduces the computational power required to analyze huge amounts of DNA data for identifying new microbes and their proteins could be used for manufacturing anything from new antibiotics to plastic-degrading enzymes.... Read more

Sending a rocket into space typically requires about 90% of the rocket's initial weight to be fuel. This limitation could be overcome by wirelessly transmitting the needed power to the rocket through a beam of microwave radiation. A research team from Japan has investigated the viability of using such microwave-powered... Read more