Engineering

This electric flying boat might transform traveling

A Norwegian company is now developing a small electric seaplane that can transform local passenger traffic on a large scale. The design of the hull...

Scientists find the factors behind rechargeable battery decay

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries don't last forever. After enough cycles of charging and recharging, they'll eventually go kaput, so researchers are constantly looking for ways to...

Scientists develop a wearable sensor for plant leaves

Plants can’t speak up when they are thirsty. And visual signs, such as shriveling or browning leaves, don’t start until most of their water is...

New tandem solar cells deliver record efficiency of 29.2%

EPFL scientists in Neuchâtel have developed a tandem solar cell that can deliver a certified efficiency of 29.2%. This achievement was made possible by combining...

Scientists reveal how lithium’s narrow paths limit batteries

If you could shrink enough for a fantastic voyage across a lithium battery electrode, you’d see the level of charge at every scale is...

New solar cells set world record efficiency: 24%

Scientists have developed a tandem solar cell that reaches 24 percent efficiency. This sets a new world record as the highest efficiency achieved so far...

Scientists make world’s first LED lights from rice husks

Milling rice to separate the grain from the husks produces about 100 million tons of rice husk waste globally each year. Scientists searching for a...

This robotic gripper could grab items with feeling

The notion of a large metallic robot that speaks in monotone and moves in lumbering, deliberate steps is somewhat hard to shake. But practitioners in...

This heat engine with no moving parts is as efficient as a steam turbine

Engineers at MIT and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have designed a heat engine with no moving parts. Their new demonstrations show that it...

This recyclable pollen paper can print on and “unprint”

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University have developed a pollen-based "paper" that, after being printed on, can be "erased" and reused multiple times without any...