Mechanical Components

A team of engineers at MIT, Cambridge, MA, have fabricated a new elastic material covered with microscopic, hair-like structures that tilt in response to a magnetic field. Depending on the field’s orientation, they say, the microhairs uniformly tilt to form a path through which fluid can flow. They...

The natural mechanical properties of natural joints are considered unrivalled. Cartilage is coated with a special layer of lubrication that allows joints to move virtually friction-free, even under high pressure. Using simulations on supercomputers, scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany...

A team of engineers at The University of Texas at Austin say that they have built the smallest, fastest, and longest-running synthetic motor to date. This nanomotor, which could fit inside a human cell, is an important step toward developing miniature machines that could one day move through the body to...

Physicians at the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Regents University, Augusta, say that the intra-aortic balloon pump, one of the most frequently used mechanical circulatory assist devices in the world may have untapped potential. One of its many uses is helping ensure adequate oxygen...

While vanadium dioxide is already known for its ability to change size, shape, and physical identity, a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory say that super strength can now be added to that list of attributes. They demonstrated a micro-sized robotic...

A new optical device about the size of a hand-held video camera, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, can scan a patient’s entire retina in seconds and could aid primary care physicians in early detection of many retinal diseases, including diabetic retinopathy,...