Most complete exploration of fly landing maneuvers to advance future robots
To inspire advanced robotic technology, researchers have published the most complete description of how flying insects land upside-down.
Read moreEngineering and Construction
Creating a nanospace like no other
Researchers have built a self-assembled nanocage with a very unusual nanospace: Its walls are made of antiaromatic molecules, which are generally considered too unstable to work with. By overturning assumptions about the limits of nano-chemical engineering, the study creates an entirely new nanospace for scientists to explore. Nanometer-sized cavities are already finding a range of useful applications in chemistry, medicine and environmental science.
Read moreCracking the mystery of nature's toughest material
Nacre, the rainbow-sheened material that lines the insides of mussel and other mollusk shells, is known as nature's toughest material. Now, a team of researchers has revealed precisely how it works, in real time.
Read moreClimate change could hasten deterioration of US bridge infrastructure
Scientists are studying the toll climate change may take on aging US infrastructure, which includes over 600,000 bridges. A new study links the potential impacts of climate change with the structural integrity of thousands of bridges transecting America's highways and towns. The analysis demonstrates a need to rethink the nation's priority order of bridge repair, as climate change looms and infrastructure funding remains limited.
Read moreMonitoring the corrosion of bioresorbable magnesium
Researchers have recently been able to monitor the corrosion of bioresorbable magnesium alloys at the nanoscale over a time scale of a few seconds to many hours. This is an important step towards accurately predicting how fast implants are resorbed by the body to enable the development of tailored materials for temporary implant applications.
Read moreTurning plastic trash into treasure
Researchers have developed a new catalyst that can cleave plastic's strong carbon-carbon, converting it into higher value products.
Read morePushy robots learn the fundamentals of object manipulation
Researchers have compiled a dataset that captures the detailed behavior of a robotic system physically pushing hundreds of different objects. Using the dataset — the largest and most diverse of its kind — researchers can train robots to 'learn' pushing dynamics that are fundamental to many complex object-manipulation tasks, including reorienting and inspecting objects, and uncluttering scenes.
Read moreElusive atomic-scale magnetic 'signal' in a Mott insulator revealed
Spin-polarizing scanning tunneling microscopy allowed researchers to detect an elusive atomic-scale magnetic signal in a Mott insulator, reports a team of scientists.
Read morePorous polymer coatings dynamically control light and heat
Engineers have developed dynamic porous polymer coatings that enable inexpensive and scalable ways to control light and heat in buildings. They took advantage of the optical switchability of PPCs in the solar wavelengths to regulate solar heating and daylighting, and extended the concept to thermal infrared wavelengths to modulate heat radiated by objects.
Read moreListening in to how proteins talk and learning their language
A research team has created a third approach to engineering proteins that uses deep learning to distill the fundamental features of proteins directly from their amino acid sequence without the need for additional information.
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