NASA

It all comes down to the price of the lithium-ion battery   GETTING the equivalent of 106 mpg (2.2 litres/100km), the Nissan Leaf electric car would seem a motoring skinflint’s dream come true. Even an advanced plug-in hybrid like the Chevrolet Volt (Opel/Vauxhall Ampera in Europe), with an energy consumption equivalent to 61mpg, sounds pretty

A driver assistance system that uses LEDs to alert zoned-out drivers to danger It’s probably happened to all of us at one time or another … we’re driving with a passenger in the car, we get distracted by some thought or task, and are suddenly jolted back into the present moment by our passenger yelling

Toward a new generation of screening tests As part of an international research project, a team of researchers has developed a DNA clamp that can detect mutations at the DNA level with greater efficiency than methods currently in use. Their work could facilitate rapid screening of those diseases that have a genetic basis, such as

Really. Fishing activity now covers at least 55 percent of the world’s oceans — four times the land area covered by agriculture — and can now be monitored, in near real time, to the level of individual vessels. In fact, 70,000 vessels of the global fishing fleet traveled 460 million kilometers in 2016, equivalent to

Makerbot‘s fourth generation desktop 3D printer was launched yesterday, and it’s very impressive indeed. The Makerbot Replicator 2 continues to raise the bar for at-home 3D printing with increased build volume, new software and significantly finer layer resolution than the company’s previous offering. It seems like yesterday the idea of owning an affordable yet competent desktop 3D printer

A new lightweight lift cable will let buildings soar ever upward WHEN Elisha Otis stood on a platform at the 1854 World Fair in New York and ordered an axeman to cut the rope used to hoist him aloft, he changed cityscapes for ever. To the amazement of the crowd his new safety lift dropped

New MIT system of contracting fibers could be a boon for biomedical devices and robotics. As a cucumber plant grows, it sprouts tightly coiled tendrils that seek out supports in order to pull the plant upward. This ensures the plant receives as much sunlight exposure as possible. Now, researchers at MIT have found a way

Botanists at Trinity College Dublin have launched a database with information that documents significant ‘life events’ for nearly 600 plant species across the globe. They clubbed together with like-minded individuals working across five different continents to compile the huge database of plant life histories, for which data have been gathered over a near 50-year span.