University of Zilina

EVER since Marty McFly arrived in 2015 in “Back to the Future Part II” and discovered a levitating skateboard, people have tried to make one for real. But the film’s prediction, made in 1989, never quite came true. Although so-called hoverboards have created quite a public splash this Christmas (see Schumpeter) they do not really

MICHAEL PAWLYN is a British architect with an affinity for the natural world.   So he is passionate about biomimicry—a discipline that looks at nature’s best ideas to inspire solutions to human problems. The Eden Project in Cornwall (pictured bottom), where Mr Pawlyn worked as a lead architect, is probably the best-known example of this

If you’re like me, the idea of clothes shopping – let alone having to try on multiple sizes of shirts in a tiny dressing room – is downright tedious and a waste of my precious time. So you’ll understand my interest in the Fits.me virtual fitting room. It’s an online changing room where you simply

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have combined biology and 3-D printing to create the first reactor that can continuously produce methanol from methane at room temperature and pressure. The team removed enzymes from methanotrophs, bacteria that eat methane, and mixed them with polymers that they printed or molded into innovative reactors. The research, which could

“Multiple Natures-Fibrous Tower”   Architects have been drawing inspiration from nature for centuries. But it’s only with recent developments in production materials and digital modeling tools that it became possible to design buildings that perform like biological, organic forms. Austrian architectural firm SOMA, presented this concept design titled “Multiple Natures-Fibrous Tower” for a client in

Image via Wikipedia A series of promising compounds can cripple all enveloped viruses’ ability to invade cells as well as circumvent any resistance that hobbles traditional antiviral drugs. But will they work outside the lab? Benhur Lee may have discovered a medical silver bullet that can disable pandemic HIV, exotic Ebola, the common flu and

University of Pennsylvania researchers have found a way of traversing the blood-brain barrier, as well as a similar physiological obstacle in the eye, the retinal-blood barrier The body is structured to ensure that any invading organisms have a tough time reaching the brain, an organ obviously critical to survival. Known as the blood-brain barrier, cells

New embedded transducer approach allows surface acoustic wave device to transmit signals with six times the speed of most commercially used devices. In today’s “internet of things,” devices connect primarily over short ranges at high speeds, an environment in which surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices have shown promise for years, resulting in the shrinking size