Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)

Advances in supercapacitor technology could lead to wider use of fast-charging energy storage devices and novel designs for electronic gadgets Scientists at UC Santa Cruz and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have reported unprecedented performance results for a supercapacitor electrode. The researchers fabricated electrodes using a printable graphene aerogel to build a porous three-dimensional scaffold

Research employs popular devices used in home entertainment systems Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a new and inexpensive system to test the structural condition of short- to medium-span bridges. The system employs a network of tactile transducers – small-scale, inexpensive and off-the-shelf devices that create the sensation of shaking through feedback

What Big Data is seeing now looks like the classic industrial curve   The business of Big Data, which involves collecting large amounts of data and then searching it for patterns and new revelations, is the result of cheap storage, abundant sensors and new software. It has become a multibillion-dollar industry in less than a

Cyberdyne, Inc. is offering to help   The Japanese government is searching for new ways to clean up the mess created by the reactor meltdowns earlier this year at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. As lawmakers and officials study new energy policy options, which they plan to present by next spring, a company called Cyberdyne,

NASA’s Space Station On Earth The new Silicon Valley installation is designed to test the terrestrial applications for the space agency’s technologies and create the most efficient building imaginable. “How do you design a building like a tree?” It’s a question that William McDonough, an architect, designer, and one of the minds behind Cradle to

No longer just fantastical fodder for sci-fi buffs, cyborg technology is bringing us tangible progress toward real-life electronic skin, prosthetics and ultraflexible circuits. Now taking this human-machine concept to an unprecedented level, pioneering scientists are working on the seamless marriage between electronics and brain signaling with the potential to transform our understanding of how the

EPFL chemists have developed a method that can significantly increase the yield of sugars from plants, improving the production of renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials. Producing fuels and chemicals from biomass (wood, grasses, etc.) is one of the most promising solutions for building a renewable economy. The process involves breaking down, or “deconstructing”, plants to

African researchers demonstrate a 100x increase in the amount of information that can be ‘packed into light’. The rise of big data and advances in information technology has serious implications for our ability to deliver sufficient bandwidth to meet the growing demand. Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the