Tim Shank can guarantee you that he’ll never leave home without his keys. Why is that? Well, his house keys are located inside his body.
Smart contact lens monitors diabetes and delivers drugs
Researchers have made a smart contact lens that could be used to monitor diabetes and dispense drugs on-demand. The system includes cool-looking eyeglasses that wirelessly power and communicate with the circuit-lined, drug-releasing lens that a patient could wear for up to a month.
Continue reading… “Smart contact lens monitors diabetes and delivers drugs”
Lithium-air catalyst could make car and phone batteries last five times longer
US and South Korean scientists discovered catalyst materials that could make it possible to create lithium-air (Li-Air) batteries that can potentially store five times more power than lithium-ion (Li-On) batteries do today. Lithium-air batteries work by taking oxygen from the air and then using it in chemical reactions that will produce electricity, rather than storing an oxidiser internally like lithium-ion batteries.
Continue reading… “Lithium-air catalyst could make car and phone batteries last five times longer”
Harvard 3D laser printer prints metal structures mid-air by lasering nanoparticles
All futurists agree that consumer electronics of the future will be flexible, wearable and packed with sensors and antennas to perform a wide range of biomedical functions. This sound great, but unfortunately today’s production techniques are suitable for little more than flat, bulky and rigid devices.
Microscopic robots get tiny practical engines
Making machines smaller and smaller is becoming easier and easier to the point we can now make working machines that are only the size of complex molecules. The problem is making them work. Researchers have tried various power an propulsion systems, but they lack speed, strength and control. However, with the creation of tiny engines, nanobots could be coming to living cells near you.
Continue reading… “Microscopic robots get tiny practical engines”
New nanowire battery can survive thousands of charges
RMIT University researchers say self-cleaning clothes are on the way
Thanks to pioneering nanotechnology research being developed by RMIT University researchers, people could soon be able to replace their washing machines with a little bit of sunshine. The researchers have been working on self-cleaning textiles by growing nanostructures on textiles. When exposed to light, they release a burst of energy that then degrades organic matter.
Continue reading… “RMIT University researchers say self-cleaning clothes are on the way”
Researchers invent super-elastic conducting fibers to make artificial muscles, sensors, and capacitors
A University of Texas at Dallas research team has made electrically conducting fibers that can be reversibly stretched to more than 14 times their initial length and whose electrical conductivity increases 200-fold when stretched.
Coolest chemical substances humans have discovered
Scientists are creating and discovering new materials all the time, but few are so jaw-droppingly cool that they deserve to be recognized. Continue reading… “Coolest chemical substances humans have discovered”
World’s thinnest lightbulb developed using graphene
A postdoctoral research scientist, Young Duck Kim, has led a team of scientists from Columbia, Seoul National University (SNU), and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) that have demonstrated for the first time ever an on-chip visible light source using graphene, an atomically thin and perfectly crystalline form of carbon, as a filament.
Scientists create ‘friction-free’ material
US Department of Energy Scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory have found a way to use diamonds and graphene to create a new material combination that demonstrates so-called superlubricity. Continue reading… “Scientists create ‘friction-free’ material”
Record for black silicon solar cell efficiency now 22.1%
As certified by Fraunhofer ISE CalLab, researchers have obtained the record-breaking efficiency of 22.1% on nanostructured silicon solar cells. Continue reading… “Record for black silicon solar cell efficiency now 22.1%”