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Consisting of 16,000 computer processors, an "unsupervised," self-learning neural network from Google is capable of hierarchically arranging data, removing duplicate similar features, and grouping certain images together. The network, which simulates the human brain, was...

Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, affects millions of Americans. Implantable sensor technology and custom-designed cartilage scaffolding systems could greatly improve quality of life for these patients. Researchers at the University of Arizona and three other universities around the world are...

By synchronizing 98 tiny cameras in a single device, electrical engineers from Duke University and the University of Arizona have developed a prototype camera that can create images with unprecedented detail.The camera’s resolution is five times better than 20/20 human vision over a 120 degree...

Maximum load capacity with minimal consumption of materials – this is how supporting structures in construction should be today. Researchers from the University of Stuttgart and Bosch Rexroth have now come a great deal closer to achieving this goal. They have constructed a wooden...

Traveling 300 million miles to Mars is difficult, but successfully landing there is even harder. During the first four minutes of entry, friction with the atmosphere slows a spacecraft considerably. But at the end of this phase, the vehicle is still traveling at over 1,000 mph with...

The Leveraged Freedom Chair (LFC) was developed through the MIT Mobility Lab, which Amos Winter created as a graduate student in 2007. The LFC is a mobility aid specifically designed for developing countries. It has a variable mechanical advantage lever drive train that enables its user to travel ten to 20 percent faster on...

Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide, but in a third of these cases, medication cannot keep seizures from occurring. One solution is to shoot a short pulse of electricity to the brain to stamp out the seizure just as it begins to erupt. But brain implants designed to do this have run into...

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research engineer Javier Atencia has a reputation for creating novel microfluidic devices out of ordinary, inexpensive components. This time, he has combined a glass slide, plastic sheets, and double-sided tape into a “diffusion-based gradient generator” - a tool...

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths — an improvement over similar jet-injection systems that are now...

Mammograms involve placing one breast at a time between two plates that compress and spread breast tissue, causing discomfort for many women. A newly developed robotic device has been designed to mimic manual breast palpations, enabling doctors to record accurate data about the underlying tissue....

By incorporating the right sensors and software, robots can be given the ability to identify different materials by touch. A specially designed robot even outperformed humans in identifying a wide range of natural materials according to their textures, in a recent study by research from the USC...

A team of Rice University students has designed a mousetrap-inspired device that could make IV-fluid delivery a "snap" in developing areas of the world. Treating dehydration among children is currently a challenge in these regions — children may be connected to adult-IV bags, and a tool like this device...

Beginning this summer, and over the next several years, NASA will be sending unmanned aircraft dubbed "severe storm sentinels" above stormy skies to help researchers and forecasters uncover information about hurricane formation and intensity changes. The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3)...

A multiyear collaboration among Stanford engineering departments uses some of the world's fastest supercomputers to model the complexities of hypersonic flight. Someday, their work may lead to planes that fly at many times the speed of sound.

Aeronautical innovators at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia are one step closer to confidently crafting a viable commercial airliner that can fly faster than the speed of sound, yet produce a sonic boom that is quiet enough not to bother anyone on the ground below. Wind tunnel tests of...

A robot was equipped with a new type of tactile sensor built to mimic the human fingertip. Imitating human strategies, it also used a newly designed algorithm to make decisions about how to explore the outside world.Capable of other human sensations, the sensor can also tell where and in which direction forces...