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A smart filter with a shape-shifting surface can separate oil and water using gravity alone, an advancement that could be useful in cleaning up environmental oil spills, among other applications. The researchers created a filter coating that repels oil but attracts water, bucking conventional...

Scientists at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are taking more than inspiration from nature — they’re taking ingredients. The group has genetically engineered muscle cells to flex in response to light, and is using the light-sensitive tissue to build highly articulated robots. This...

The Canadian Space Agency will soon be testing a new device to rapidly diagnose the health of astronauts in space on the International Space Station (ISS). Microflow, a miniature flow cytometer that uses a unique fiber optics technology to test for diseases and bacterial infection within minutes, will...

With this article, we will begin posting a semi-monthly online wrap-up of Industrial Leadership, Expansions, and Mergers and Acquisitions short news items of interest to our readers. If you have news items that should be included in this category, please feel free to send them to the editor, Beth G....

Smartphone capabilities have extended, even to the wristwatch. Companies like Apple, Nike, Sony, as well as other startups, have created new wrist devices that connect to an individual’s smartphone. Most display the time, but the bands also provide information that keeps users from having to take out their...

Two engineers and a Harvard Medical School student have teamed up to enhance the human capabilities of touch with a robotic sensor glove. The glove could take the potential of a diagnosis altering physical exam and put it into the hands of patients. Its primary goal, they say, is to bring the glove...

As diabetes becomes more prevalent across the globe, it is clear that a new method to test blood glucose levels needs to be found. Sampling with needle pricks is pricks is unpleasant at best and places a significant burden on the patient population. Researchers at Purdue University, West Lafayette,...

Electrical and computer engineers at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, are developing a technology to predict when a person might fall. They created a small prototype wireless sensor that analyzes posture and gait, and sends an alert when there is a break in routine. The alert could signal muscle or vision changes, or may...

A multi-university research team led by North Carolina State University will be developing methods to create two-dimensional (2-D) materials capable of folding themselves into three-dimensional (3-D) objects when exposed to light. The effort, which is funded by a grant from the National...

Sandia National Laboratories wind energy researchers are re-evaluating vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) to help solve some of the problems of generating energy from offshore breezes. Though VAWTs have been around since the earliest days of wind energy research at Sandia and...

Three blind mice? No longer, say two researchers in the Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Cornell Medical College who deciphered a mouse's retina's neural code. Then, they linked this information to a novel prosthetic device that restored sight to blind mice. In addition, they say that they...

A significant milestone for remotely piloted aircraft was ushered in with the first student sortie in an innovative T-6 Texan II simulator. The new setup has dramatically increased the ability to train remotely piloted aircraft pilots, and the ingenuity behind the new...

Researchers at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are testing new technologies it created for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that could give commercial and military maintenance programs earlier warning of problems. Condition-based maintenance, known as CBM, will get safer aircraft...

The remotely piloted X-48C aircraft successfully flew for the first time on August 7 at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.

As the school season arrives, an increasing number of students will be studying through Internet-based systems. An NYC-based company called Knewton, for example, uses an adaptive learning technique that tracks learners' progress and shadows their online activities as they work....