Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced that they have figured out how to engineer a biofilm that harvests the energy in evaporation and converts it to electricity.
Read moreA flexible device that harvests thermal energy to power wearable electronics
Wearable electronics, from health and fitness trackers to virtual reality headsets, are part of our everyday lives. But finding ways to continuously power these devices is a challenge.
Read moreResearchers improve cement with shrimp shell nanoparticles
Putting nanoparticles from shrimp shells into cement paste made the material significantly stronger—an innovation that could lead to reduced seafood waste and lower carbon emissions from concrete production.
Read moreSolar is the cheapest power, and a literal light-bulb moment showed us we can cut costs and emissions even further
Recent extreme weather events have underscored the need to cut the COâ‚‚ emissions that are driving up global temperatures. This requires a rapid transition of the energy economy to renewable energy sources, the cheapest being solar photovoltaics...
Read moreNew 3D printing process is faster and more precise than conventional methods
Rutgers engineers have created a way to 3D print large and complex parts at a fraction of the cost of current methods.
Read moreNew material pushes sodium-ion batteries to phase out costly lithium
With lithium prices over five times higher than they were a year ago, researchers from Skoltech and Lomonosov Moscow State University have developed a material for sodium-ion batteries that offer an alternative to the increasingly expensive...
Read moreNewly developed optical microphone sees sound like never before
A camera system developed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers can see sound vibrations with such precision and detail that it can reconstruct the music of a single instrument in a band or orchestra.
Read moreRobots found to turn racist and sexist with flawed AI
A robot operating with a popular Internet-based artificial intelligence system consistently gravitates to men over women, white people over people of color, and jumps to conclusions about peoples’ jobs after a glance at their face.
Read moreComputer vision technique to enhance 3D understanding of 2D images
Upon looking at photographs and drawing on their past experiences, humans can often perceive depth in pictures that are, themselves, perfectly flat. However, getting computers to do the same thing has proved quite challenging.
Read moreUS lawmakers push for universal chargers for smartphones, mobile devices
A trio of U.S. senators is urging support for a universal charging standard for smartphones and mobile devices after the European Union recently agreed on new rules.
Read moreFirst West African hydro-solar plant deployed in Ghana
The first West African hydro-solar plant was deployed in Ghana in January, with technical support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory...
Read moreA focus on chemistry, not electronics, could help future solar panels reach their potential
A University of Surrey team has found that fusing perovskite materials with an element called ferrocene dramatically increases the efficiency of perovskite-based solar panels. The team found that this focus on the chemistry of solar panels...
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