Researchers in Japan have clocked a new speed record for data transmission – a blistering 1.02 petabits per second (Pb/s). Better yet, the breakthrough was achieved using optical fiber cables that should be compatible with existing infrastructure. | Continue reading
Kidneys perform a vital function in removing waste and toxins from the blood, but how exactly cells transport that fluid through the organs has remained a mystery. Now researchers at Johns Hopkins University have investigated the mechanical forces at work and found a previously u … | Continue reading
A team from the University of Illinois and UC Berkeley has demonstrated a new cooling method that sucks heat out of electronics so efficiently that it allows designers to run 7.4 times more power through a given volume than conventional heat sinks. | Continue reading
It's a sad fact that mass shootings have become an all-too-common occurrence in the US. Defense tech company Axon has announced what it states will be a new means of resolving such incidents quickly and relatively safely, utilizing a drone equipped with a Taser. | Continue reading
Quantum computing may have just taken a major step forward, as a supercomputer facility in Australia becomes the first to have a quantum computer integrated into it. The quantum processor, developed by German-Australian start-up Quantum Brilliance, runs at room temperature, and w … | Continue reading
A new study has concluded young people today rate similarly on interpersonal skills compared to those who grew up in the 1990s. The research suggests smartphones, screen-time, and social media have not negatively affected kids’ social skills, and modern concerns over the impact o … | Continue reading
Researchers have discovered what seems to be the largest plant in the world – a meadow of seagrass off the coast of Western Australia that covers a total of 200 km2 (77 miles2). The entire expanse has grown from just one seedling, spreading by cloning itself. | Continue reading
As carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere, it won’t be enough to simply curb our emissions – we’ll need to actively remove some of what we’ve already released. In a new advance, researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a new compound that can reportedly r … | Continue reading
3D printing typically involves depositing layers of molten plastic, laser-melting powdered metal, or using UV light to harden gelatinous resin. A new technique takes yet another approach, however, by utilizing sound waves. | Continue reading
If humanity is ever going to curb our waste problem, we’ll need to get creative with recycling and reusing materials. In a new study, researchers at Rice University and Ford’s Research and Innovation Center have demonstrated how waste plastic from old cars could be used to make g … | Continue reading
Vitamin D deficiency is a growing health issue, but very few foods are rich in the nutrient. To help combat the problem, scientists have now used CRISPR gene editing to fortify tomatoes with vitamin D. | Continue reading
Water scarcity is a major problem for much of the world’s population, but with the right equipment drinking water can be wrung out of thin air. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have now demonstrated a low-cost gel film that can pull many liters of water per day ou … | Continue reading
NASA has released a huge new report that astronomers are calling Hubble’s magnum opus. Analyzing 30 years of data from the famous space telescope, the new study makes the most precise measurement yet of how fast the universe is expanding. | Continue reading
Logic gates are the fundamental building blocks of computers, and researchers at the University of Rochester have now developed the fastest ones ever created. By zapping graphene and gold with laser pulses, the new logic gates are a million times faster than those in existing com … | Continue reading
In photography, depth of field refers to how much of a three-dimensional space the camera can focus on at once. A shallow depth of field, for example, would keep the subject sharp but blur out much of the foreground and background. Now, researchers at the National Institute of St … | Continue reading
A TU Delft team has demonstrated a one-way superconductor that gives zero resistance in one direction, but blocks current completely in the other. The discovery, long thought impossible, heralds a 400x leap in computing speed and huge energy savings. | Continue reading
A new algorithm developed by researchers at the Mayo Clinic can effectively detect patients with a dangerous heart dysfunction using data gathered by an Apple Watch. A large trial is now underway looking to test the clinical utility of the algorithm in one million people. | Continue reading
Scientists working on NASA's James Webb Telescope have reached an important milestone, completely aligning the space observatory's massive mirrors. The achievement means the team can now move ahead with configuring the onboard instruments and prepare them to begin capturing sharp … | Continue reading
The idea of deploying enzymes to break down plastic waste is gaining momentum through a string of breakthroughs demonstrating how they can do so with increasing efficiency, and even reduce the material to simple molecules. A new study marks yet another step forward, with scientis … | Continue reading
We've already seen camera-equipped glasses that tell blind wearers what they're looking at. Well, Voicee is a bit different, in that it's a microphone-equipped set of glasses which display the text of what other people are saying. | Continue reading
The West Japan Rail Company has released video of its new humanoid heavy equipment robot. Mounted on the end of a crane, this gundam-style robot torso mimics the arm and head motions of a human pilot, who sees through the robot's eyes via VR goggles. | Continue reading
Researchers in Japan have developed a new method for making 5-cm (2-in) wafers of diamond that could be used for quantum memory. The ultra-high purity of the diamond allows it to store a staggering amount of data – the equivalent of one billion Blu-Ray discs. | Continue reading
Direct air carbon capture is currently far too costly – but this London company says it can do it at enormous scale for a tenth the price, using engineered algal blooms in ponds located near desert coastlines. Oh, and it'll de-acidify the ocean, too. | Continue reading
Fusion Processing has announced that an autonomous public transport project will start on-road testing this week, en route to beginning a new 14-mile pilot service ferrying passengers across a long-span suspension bridge in Scotland later this year. | Continue reading
For some time now, it's been known that the application of electricity can help heal wounds. The experimental new ePatch bandage takes that approach, plus it boosts the healing process by killing bacteria. | Continue reading
A revolutionary cryogenic tank design promises to radically boost the range of hydrogen-powered aircraft – to the point where clean, fuel-cell airliners could fly up to four times farther than comparable planes running on today's dirty jet fuel. | Continue reading
In what it describes as the most significant demonstration of its kind in half a century, the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) beamed 1.6 kW of power over a kilometer (3,280 ft) using a microwave beam at the US Army Research Field in Maryland. | Continue reading
Rockets are expensive, complex, bad for the environment and prone to occasionally exploding – so alternative launch technologies are popping up to reduce their use. We wrote about SpinLaunch's remarkable kinetic launch system earlier this week, which spins a rocket up to incredib … | Continue reading
NASA has signed up to test SpinLaunch's extraordinary whirl 'n' hurl space launch technology, which accelerates a launch vehicle to hypersonic speeds using an electric centrifuge instead of a rocket, hurling it skyward like a space discus. | Continue reading
Preliminary data presented at the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting has provided promising signs for a new cancer treatment that combines immunotherapy with an mRNA vaccine. The first reports from the Phase 1 human trial indicate the experimental treatment is … | Continue reading
Promising new research has raised the possibility of treating type 2 diabetes without drugs. Across three different animal models researchers have demonstrated how short bursts of ultrasound targeted at specific clusters of nerves in the liver can effectively lower insulin and gl … | Continue reading
Modern cities produce an absolute avalanche of data every second of every day, from cameras and sensors belonging to dozens of separate systems. In such a smart world, it's amazing that so many traffic lights are still so dumb. A new project beginning in Melbourne, Australia aims … | Continue reading
Oxytocin is a hormone found in most animals. In humans it plays a fundamental role in childbirth, and has been informally referred to as the "love hormone" because it influences social bonding, particularly between a mother and child. | Continue reading
HB11 is approaching nuclear fusion from an entirely new angle, using high power, high precision lasers instead of hundred-million-degree temperatures to start the reaction. Its first demo has produced 10 times more fusion reactions than expected, and the company says it's now "th … | Continue reading
One of the first products made using a novel animal-free egg white is now available in the United States. The unique macarons are the first to be made with an egg white protein that comes from engineered yeast, designed to be indistinguishable from what is found in chicken eggs. | Continue reading
Lead-contaminated tap water is still a problem in much of the world, where conventional lead removal filters may be too expensive for most households. An inexpensive new filter could help – and it was designed by a group of high school students. | Continue reading
If you've ever eaten okra, then you'll know that the stuff can be pretty … gooey. According to new research, that quality could allow a compound from the plant to be used in a less toxic method of removing microplastics from drinking water. | Continue reading
A team of European researchers has suggested that the Moon’s orbit could be used as a gigantic detector for gravitational waves – ripples in the very fabric of spacetime itself. These waves, much smaller than those that existing detectors can pick up, could originate from the ear … | Continue reading
Over the years we've looked at many interesting studies and research prototypes demonstrating how contact lenses could one day be used for much more than correcting vision, and the delivery of medication is one of the more promising possibilities. A new approval from the FDA has … | Continue reading
A kilogram of hydrogen holds 39.4 kWh of energy, but typically costs around 52.5 kWh of energy to create via current commercial electrolyzers. Australian company Hysata says its new capillary-fed electrolyzer cell slashes that energy cost to 41.5 kWh, smashing efficiency records … | Continue reading
Modern medicine has provided many cancer drugs with life-saving capabilities, but often toxic effects on healthy cells and resulting side effects stop them from reaching their full potential. Modifications to an existing drug promise to overcome this problem for a common and dead … | Continue reading
Puerto Rican startup Lift has introduced its third-generation eFoil, offering customers a cheaper point of entry to the young but burgeoning watersport, and a smoother ride at the same time. The company has redesigned its board from the ground up for improved stability, while a n … | Continue reading
As with most things, nature’s data storage system, DNA, far surpasses anything we’ve created. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have doubled its already incredible storage capacity by adding extra letters to its “alphabet,” and developed a new way to … | Continue reading
The CRISPR gene-editing system is a powerful tool that could revolutionize medicine and other sciences, but unfortunately it has a tendency to make edits to the wrong sections of DNA. Now, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have identified a previously unknown struc … | Continue reading
Among the many challenges in treating tumors is the difficulty in getting anti-cancer drugs to the right locations, and in the right amounts. A new type of implant developed at Rice University tackles both these issues, carrying the cellular machinery needed to produce and delive … | Continue reading
Australian mining company Fortescue is working to clean up its own operations by 2030, while developing green solutions it can sell to others. It's forking out into green tech through a subsidiary called Fortescue Future Industries, which has recently acquired Williams Advanced E … | Continue reading
Weight is often a key consideration for scientists pushing the boundaries of bullet-proof materials, imagining armor that keeps the wearer safe while also improving their mobility. Engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have now forged a new type of ultralight armor mat … | Continue reading
A new kind of milk will soon hit US shelves but it isn’t some plant-based product designed to resemble dairy milk. Instead it is made from whey proteins produced by microflora engineered to spit out exactly the same proteins found in milk from a cow. | Continue reading