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“The blackest black” is a shade coveted by optical engineers seeking to create more effective blinders to reduce glare, astronomers looking for space telescopes that can more easily spot orbiting exoplanets, and artists looking to make…

Bananas are the world’s most popular fruit and its fourth most important food crop after wheat, rice, and maize. The  U.S. imports 18% of the global banana crop. But with the global population set to reach 10 billion in 2050, the pressure…

While the most valuable aspect of human-machine interfaces (HMIs) from an industrial perspective is the ability to closely monitor production and respond to changing demands, there are also many benefits for non-industrial applications.…

Biomimicry is an established practice in robotics, with researchers developing everything from robots that hop like grasshoppers to those that run like cheetahs. The next leap? Figuring out how to create robots that perch as effortlessly…

Urethral strictures prevent urine from passing out of the body and instead collects in the bladder where it can reach life-threatening levels. And it’s not as rare as you may think. One in every thousand children across the world develops…

The sun is always releasing streams of charged particles, dubbed “solar winds.” When a fast-moving solar wind stream overtakes a slower stream, it creates a shock wave, much like a boat moving through water creates a wake, resulting in…

When on the hunt for a new clothing item, we don't often consider a piece that's super high-tech, but we may be able to soon. Imagine being about to turn on lights or music, as well as repel bacteria, directly from your shirt. A new…

With the need for organ transplants increasing steeply, the ability to 3D bioprint functional human organs becomes more and more crucial. Patients on organ transplant lists not only suffer decreased quality of life while awaiting a…

Quantum light sources integrated into photo circuits are highly sensitive. When placed in atomically thin material layers, they make quantum sensors for smartphones and the development of extremely secure encryption technologies for data…

Controlling the brain with a click of a smartphone seems like the stuff of science fiction, but scientists from Korea and the United States have made it happen. Their new device can control neural circuits using a tiny brain implant…

Early detection of all forms of cancer provides the best hope for successful treatment—if not eradication, then at least increased survival rates. But despite widespread education and the development of screening guidelines, many of the…

Dragonflies are natural predators that have been around since the Paleozoic Era, or the time of the dinosaurs. With 300 million years experience, it’s not surprising they are good hunters, even with a brain smaller than the tip of our pinky…

Engineers have tried to create imaging technology using terahertz radiation for some time, only to be stymied by what they call the “terahertz gap.” Terahertz radiation is useful to penetrate substances such as fabrics and plastics, and to…

If you think the question above is the beginning of a bad joke, think again. In fact, the answer could revolutionize the way robots and autonomous vehicles operate. Boston University neuroscientists Jake Hinman, William Chapman, and…

While Moore’s Law, which projected doubling the number of components per integrated circuit every two years, no longer really describes the state of the industry, it’s true that for decades, the transistors on our microchips have become…