Gourmet Coffee? High-Protein Insects? There’s a Desktop Gadget for That
The world is probably ready for a temperature adjustable, precise, coffee pot that learns. But is it ready for a desktop edible insect farm?
Molybdenum Dilsufide Outperforms Graphene in Water Desalination
MoS2 would filter 70 percent more water than graphene, because of its peculiar chemistry
Advertisement
Flexible Optogenetics Implants Hack the Sense of Pain
Squishy optoelectronics should make longer-lasting implants
Video Friday: Shape-Changing Interface, Robot Pro-Wrestling, and 3D-Printed Humanoid
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Remembering Gene Amdahl
Gene Amdahl, who died yesterday, started companies because “people’s needs aren’t all technical”
Better Brain-Reading Software Compensates for Squishy Brains and Vacuum Cleaner Noise
Really, those are serious problems.
Shocking Trick To Desalinate Seawater
An electrically driven shockwave can push the salt out of brackish water; uses much less energy than other methods
Graphene Coating Protects Nanowires for Displays
Protection from UV radiation could be the recipe for nanowires making it into a wide range of electronic products
Bosch's Giant Robot Can Punch Weeds to Death
A modular agricultural robot from Bosch startup Deepfield Robotics deals with weeds the old fashioned way: violently
How to Design a Robot You Can Swallow
Vanderbilt researchers launch open-source platform for make-your-own ingestible capsule robots
High Magnetic Fields Can't Stop These Superconducting Transistors
Discovery could lead to more robust quantum computers
Sculpted Bone Healing, Active Leg Compression, and More from Health Device Startups
Latest launches from hardware accelerators go beyond measurement of health and fitness to intervention
Experts Still Think uBeam’s Through-the-Air Charging Tech Is Unlikely
The ultrasound phone-charging company has backed off some awe-inducing claims as the cold reality of physics sets in
Advertisement
Vizio Smart TVs Snitch on Viewing Habits to Advertisers
Your Vizio smart TV tracks viewing habits by default so that advertisers can target you elsewhere
Alpha 2, a Humanoid Robot With Social Skills, Is Now on Indiegogo
UBTECH Robotics has big plans for this small and affordable robot
Putting California Wind Power Out to Sea
Proposals for floating wind farms such as Trident Winds' California project no longer sound like science fiction
Nanoscale Fasteners Strengthen Cost-Effective Membranes in Fuel Cells
Mechanical connection between membrane and electrodes offers fuel cells that are less expensive, more efficient, and easier to manufacture
The Best Robots at IROS 2015
Meet six of the most interesting robots from the 2015 IROS expo hall
Cars Talk to Cars on the Autobahn
Quick-as-lightning communications will let cars share highway info
Finally, the Jetpack We've Always Wanted
Jetpack Aviation's JB-9 is a compact, high-performance jet turbine backpack that can fly for a solid 10 minutes
Paris Climate Talks Facing Growing Carbon Emissions and Credibility Gaps
Pledged carbon emissions fall well short of what's needed to hold global warming to 2 degrees Celsius this century. Emissions denial could ultimately turn up the heat even more
Most Tech Professionals Are Happy Campers, Survey Says
But money could make them walk, and work-life balance could be better
Can Another Bushnell Revolutionize the Way We Play?
With $6.5 million of new investment, Two Bit Circus hopes to turn its STEAM Carnival into an entertainment empire
Disney Software Makes It Easy to Design and Print Custom Walking Robots
In minutes, you (yes, even you) can design a complex, customized walking robot
Can uBeam's Through-the-Air Phone Charging System Live Up to the Hype?
The company has backed off major awe-inducing claims as the cold reality of physical limits sets in
Researchers Achieve Long-Distance Teleportation and Quantum Entanglement With Twisted Photons
Two quantum leaps in quantum communication
Upcoming
Acoustics Simulation in Transducers, Mobile Devices & Hearing Aids
10 December 2015 In this presentation we will demonstrate modeling small devices such as miniature loudspeakers, microphones, hearing aids, and mobile devices using COMSOL Multiphysics®.
Oculus Co-founder Jack McCauley’s Next Challenge: The Perfect Head-Tracker for VR
“I’m going to use a couple of MEMS mirrors and a laser,” he says
Large-Scale Solar and Repurposed EV Batteries to Play Large Role in California's Renewable Energy Future
In October, California passed a bill requiring the state to get half of its electricity from renewables by 2030
Hydrogen Treatment of Graphene Makes for Super Li-ion Batteries
Hydrogen improved both the the transport and storage capacity of lithium in graphene-based electrodes
The 2015 Top Ten Programming Languages
New languages enter the scene, and big data makes its mark
Watch This Massive Drone Launch and Recover Another Drone in Flight
The FLARES system uses one enormous drone to launch (and capture) another
Video Friday: Breakfast Robot, Programmable Matter, and Exploding Ping Pong Balls
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Novena: A Laptop With No Secrets
How we built a laptop with nothing but open-sourced hardware and software
Toyota Invests $1 Billion in AI and Robots, Will Open R&D; Lab in Silicon Valley
The Japanese automaker is establishing a Silicon Valley company and hiring hundreds of engineers to advance AI for cars and robots
BAE Systems, UK Gov't Invest $120 Million in Skylon Space Plane Engine Prototype
Reaction Engines' futuristic Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine could be in ground testing by the end of the decade, with test flights by 2025
These Exercise Machines Turn Your Sweat Into Electricity
Exercise equipment that generates power is the latest fad. But will the economics work out?
Why Every GPS Overestimates Distance Traveled
Math proves that GPS distance, on average, exceeds the actual distance traveled
Solar Energy Isn’t Always as Green as You Think
Do cheaper photovoltaics come with a higher environmental price tag?
Leap in Lithium-Air Battery Tech Could Supercharge Electric Cars
Lithium-air batteries can have up to 10 times more capacity than lithium-ion ones
The STEM Crisis Is a Myth
Forget the dire predictions of a looming shortfall of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians
Cree Engineers a Cheaper LED Bulb by Losing the Heat Sink
Using natural ventilation and higher-power LEDs, Cree shaves the cost of consumer LED bulbs further
Shape-shifting Liquid-Metal Antennas
Researchers devise antennas that can be lengthened—or shortened—to adjust their frequency
The 807, a Vacuum Tube for the Ages
Eight decades on, this device still has a niche among ham radio enthusiasts and audiophiles
Self-driving Cars Real-World Safety Tested And Found Okay
The crash rate is a bit higher but also a bit less severe than for human-driven cars
Wal-Mart Wants to Use Delivery Drones, Our Skepticism Reaches New High
Another massive retailer wants to use drones to deliver packages, and consumers are still buying the hype
VW Emissions Cheating Scandal Spreads to Sports Cars
Volkswagen denies new EPA findings of emissions-cheating software in luxury and sports car models
The Mt. Gox Bitcoin Debacle: An Update
Investigators are still tight-lipped and some observers disagree on just what happened
Could Tesla Become the Google of the Internet of Things?
Silicon Valley technologists and VCs debate that and other questions about hot tech topics—such as, Is mining the killer app for 5G?—at an AT&T; salon
Another Year, Another ERP Lawsuit: Accenture/Microsoft Joint-Venture Sued for Bait-and-Switch Tactics
ScanSource seeks tens of millions to cover its costs
Micromansions
Tiny, energy-efficient, homes are bucking the trend toward bigger and bigger houses
Startup Developing Autonomous Delivery Robots That Travel on Sidewalks
Finally an urban delivery robot that might actually work
A Radical Proposal: Replace Hard Disks With DRAM
DRAM is expensive and volatile. It’s also the future of cloud storage
ESA and NASA Will Try to Smash an Asteroid Out of Its Orbit in 2022
The test mission will see how much we can deflect an asteroid by hitting it with a spacecraft
Offshore Wind Farms Just Need a Little Stagger to Generate More Power
A new approach to spacing offshore wind turbines could significantly increase capacity
Monitor Diabetes From Your Smart Watch
Connecting a smart watch to a glucose sensor lets parents keep tabs on diabetic children
NASA's LEAPTech X-plane Will Fly with 18 Electric Motors and Tiny Wings
With a double nonet of small electric motors, the LEAPTech X-plane increases efficiency by 60%
Open Source Project Proposes Vision-Free Grasping With RFID and Touchscreens
Who needs perception when you can reliably grasp objects blind
Drought-Busting Innovations Pull Water From the Air, the Sea, and Your Toilet
Technology takes on the drought at Singularity University competition
How Not to Be Sony Pictures
Lessons learned from the recent Sony Pictures hack