University of Canberra

We’ve already seen the Solar Kettle, which uses heat from the sun to boil water. Now we have a product called SolSource that also harnesses the sun’s heat, but instead of boiling water, it can cook anything you would put on a regular grill. The team at One Earth Designs began working on this product with

When it comes to “painless” bandages, many of us might assume that they’re designed mainly for children, who simply don’t like the sting that comes with the removal of conventional products. The fact is, however, that approximately 1.5 million patients in U.S. health care facilities receive skin injuries caused by bandage removal every year. Many

Wearable sensors that track heart rate or steps are popular fitness products. But in the future, working up a good sweat could provide useful information about a person’s health. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a headband that measures electrolyte levels in sweat. And unlike many previous sweat sensors, the device

A Case Western Reserve University researcher has turned the origami she enjoyed as a child into a patent-pending soft robot that may one day be used on an assembly line, in surgery or even outer space. Kiju Lee, the Nord Distinguished Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and her lab have moved from paper

It’s the kind of spectacular driving stunt we expect of James Bond or Frank Martin (Jason Statham in the Transporter film series). Slam the car in reverse, plant the gas pedal against the metal in a screech of tires, wait for momentum to pick up then flick the wheel to perform a faultless backwards 180

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that an elastic polymer possesses broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, allowing it to kill a range of viruses and drug-resistant bacteria in just minutes – including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). “We were exploring a different approach for creating antimicrobial materials when we observed some interesting behavior from this polymer

Illumination from nanobionic plants might one day replace some electrical lighting. Imagine that instead of switching on a lamp when it gets dark, you could read by the light of a glowing plant on your desk. MIT engineers have taken a critical first step toward making that vision a reality. By embedding specialized nanoparticles into

In broadest view yet of world’s low oxygen, scientists reveal dangers and solutions In the past 50 years, the amount of water in the open ocean with zero oxygen has gone up more than fourfold. In coastal water bodies, including estuaries and seas, low-oxygen sites have increased more than 10-fold since 1950. Scientists expect oxygen

The first thermodynamically-reversible chemical reactor capable of producing hydrogen as a pure product stream represents a “transformational” step forward in the chemical industry. The novel reactor, described today in the prestigious academic journal Nature Chemistry, avoids mixing reactant gases by transferring oxygen between reactant streams via a solid state oxygen reservoir. With our Hydrogen Memory Reactor

Chaos in bodily regulation can optimize our immune system according to a recent discovery made by researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute. The discovery may prove to be of great significance for avoiding serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes. de gaps exist in our understanding of how the immune system works