NASA engineers have added a new twist to a cutting edge aerospace technology by demonstrating how a new Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator can fold a 300-lb (136 kg) wing section from an F/A-18 Hornet supersonic fighter plane. | Continue reading
"Smart" internet-connected devices could indeed make life easier for us, but the things DO typically have to be equipped with battery-powered electronics. That may not necessarily be the case for much longer, however, if the Wi-Fi-based LiveTag system reaches fruition. | Continue reading
A NASA team has found definitive evidence of water ice at the poles of the Moon. Using data from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, the new discovery indicates that not only is water present on the Moon, but it is readily accessible from … | Continue reading
A study has found significant overlap between experiences reported by subjects who have had near-death experiences and volunteers administered with a powerful psychedelic called DMT. The research builds on a long-standing body of work hypothesizing a strange correlation between t … | Continue reading
After a massive international effort involving over 200 scientists across 20 countries, the entire wheat genome has been finally sequenced. The landmark human achievement is hoped to lead to more efficient wheat breeding and production of crops. | Continue reading
In today’s ultra-connected world, with many people often getting work emails sent to their smartphones, a growing number of countries and companies are endorsing “right to disconnect” laws, recreating a much-needed boundary between work and home. | Continue reading
Twenty years after the breakthrough discovery illustrating how RNA interference can be used to silence certain genes, and over a decade after the research won a Nobel prize, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug utilizing this method for adult clinical … | Continue reading
British company Camcon Automotive has built a fully digital engine valve system, uncoupled from the crank, that offers unprecedented control over the combustion cycle. It enables some weird and wonderful ideas we've never seen before, such as giving 4-stroke engines brief 2-strok … | Continue reading
Spain is set to receive a shiny new facility for the development of next-gen transport, with Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop One reaching an agreement with local authorities to open a research center in the region of Andalusia, in the country's south. | Continue reading
New research, from Augusta University, reports a connection between symptoms associated with brain fogginess, including poor short-term memory and difficulty concentrating, and a particular bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine resulting from probiotic consumption. | Continue reading
A new prototype USB stick called the SuperSpeedBlazer is claimed to turn a Mac in to a Windows 10 machine capable of running the latest games. The device is claimed to boot Windows in around 10 seconds. | Continue reading
It's a novel idea, using light diffracted through numerous plates instead of electrons. And to some, it might seem a little like replacing a computer with an abacus, but researchers at UCLA have high hopes for their quirky, shiny, speed-of-light artificial neural network. | Continue reading
Depression can be a frustrating illness, as sufferers often have to try numerous types of medication before finding one that works – if any work for them at all, that is. There could be new hope, however, in the form of an existing off-the-shelf product. | Continue reading
Israel's Urban Aeronautics (UA) has announced it's going into full-scale development of its CityHawk VTOL flying car. The first manned flights of this hybrid-powered, 170 mph six-seater will take place in 2021-22, after which it'll be converted to run on hydrogen fuel cells. | Continue reading
The story of how humans spread across the globe is constantly being rewritten. Dating back to about 13,000 years ago, the “Clovis culture” was long thought to be the earliest humans in North America. Now archaeologists have uncovered stone tools in Texas that could be as old as 2 … | Continue reading
A new study from the University of Waterloo has revealed that cravings for high-calorie foods can be increased by suppressing activity in a part of the brain responsible for self-control. The research offers key insights into how neurocognitive mechanisms can be modulated to alte … | Continue reading
The Airbus Group's stable got a bit larger on July 11 as an A220 made its first appearance in Airbus livery. Coming fresh from the paint shop, the A220-300 landed at the company's Henri-Ziegler Delivery Centre near Toulouse at 12:25 pm CEST as an audience of media and Airbus empl … | Continue reading
A team has developed the first wearable skin sensor that can measure a person’s cortisol levels from their sweat. Cortisol, a hormone that spikes in response to stress, is an important biomarker for scientists that can help measure everything from emotional stress to metabolism a … | Continue reading
Scientists are reporting success in using ultrasound to treat cognitive dysfunction in mice with simulated vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, which are the two most common forms of dementia. The ultrasound improved both the formation of blood vessels, and the regeneratio … | Continue reading
When a hawk folds its wings, it plummets to the earth in a controlled high-speed dive. Not exactly the kind of scenario we’d imagine being ideal for modern aircraft. But wing folding can have advantages and NASA wants to make it happen. | Continue reading
A new study has used a VR-based treatment to help people overcome a fear of heights. The treatment is the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of a completely automated therapy guided by a computer-generated virtual therapist that responds to the patient's voice. | Continue reading
Of all the items currently on display at this year's Eurobike show in Germany, one of the most attention-getting is CeramicSpeed's DrivEn pinion-style shaft-drive transmission. According to its designers, it creates 49 percent less friction than a chain-and-derailleur setup. | Continue reading
With microplastics now in the deepest ocean trenches and moving up the food chain, it’s no surprise that plastic pollution is in the crosshairs for Earth Day 2018. IBM has now released a video outlining how it's helping clean up the seas, using plankton as a kind of living water … | Continue reading
A new study by a team of international researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Nanyang Technological University is suggesting that electrically stimulating the prefrontal cortex can reduce the desire to carry out violent antisocial acts by over 50 percent. | Continue reading
In the future our streets will be crawling with autonomous vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Massive supermarket retailer Kroger is racing ahead to bring autonomous home deliveries to the market, partnering with start-up Nuro to begin testing unmanned delivery vehicles later this … | Continue reading
In a rare case of corporate awareness of social responsibility, Adobe has just revealed it is working on an artificial intelligence system that can quickly detect whether an image has been artificially manipulated. | Continue reading
Last year, we heard about an MIT-designed system that detects when someone has observed a robot making a mistake, and that stops the robot as a result. A new addition now allows that person to let the robot know what it SHOULD be doing, using hand gestures. | Continue reading
A new study has uncovered a new mechanism that helps explain the rapid, and long-lasting, antidepressant effects of controversial drug ketamine. The research reveals the drug operates in a way similar to that of conventional SSRI antidepressants except is it significantly more ef … | Continue reading
After nearly a decade in development, Belgian startup Magnax claims it has developed an ultra-high power, lightweight, compact axial flux electric motor with performance figures that blow away everything in the conventional world. Crucially, it says it's worked out how to manufac … | Continue reading
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in association with LCW Supercritical Technologies has made a potentially important breakthrough for the nuclear industry by extracting five grams of powdered uranium, called yellowcake, from ordinary seawater. | Continue reading
In breakthrough new research described as "somewhat mind-boggling," a team at Stanford University has developed a technique than can transform human immune cells found in a regular blood sample into functional neurons in just three weeks. | Continue reading
A guerrilla augmented reality exhibition has taken over a room at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The unauthorized exhibition, accessed via a smartphone app, overlays the glitch art of David Kraftsow on top of classic Jackson Pollock artworks. | Continue reading
Psychedelic Medicine 101 is a series investigating the psychedelic renaissance in medical research, examining the past, present and future clinical uses of these formerly taboo substances. | Continue reading
A big challenge humanity faces in venturing off Earth and into deep space is how to tackle the dangers of cosmic radiation. A team has now discovered a drug treatment that could not only prevent cognitive deficits caused by this radiation, but actually repair damage in the brain … | Continue reading
Computer monitors are big and splashy, and can reveal sensitive information or activities to bystanders. An additional layer of security (and fun) can be added to your computer's LCD display by removing your display's outer polarizing filter, and using polarizing sunglasses inste … | Continue reading
Most batteries have a cathode on one side and an anode on the other, with a separator between them. Engineers at Cornell University have developed an unusual new structure that intertwines the components together in a swirling shape, which they say lets the device recharge in a m … | Continue reading
The Boring Company has made some pretty impressive strides in its relatively short existence. It is now adding the finishing touches to its first burrow, a test track running beneath the city of Los Angeles. | Continue reading
A team from Duke University has used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique to switch off certain genes in mice to reduce cholesterol levels, marking the first time CRISPR has been used to silence genes – without making edits – in adult animals. | Continue reading
Inexpensive 3D printers often have a problem called "warpage," in which objects printed by them tend to curl up as they harden. Now, however, scientists have harnessed the power of warpage to create flat items that self-fold into predetermined 3D shapes when heated. | Continue reading