Inventions

Believe it or not. We could keep our homes warm during the cold nights without using electric heaters or burning wood or fossil fuels. Thanks to the genius of a team of young mechanical engineers of Andhra Pradesh which has invented a technique that converts solar energy into heat energy. They had found that the [...]

In an age where the developing world is shadowed by paranoia in face of waves of terrorist attacks, no measure of precaution is spared. Preventing terrorist attacks has been a top priority for governments for a long time, especially since 9/11, and detecting explosives at critical check-ins like airport and customs makes for the first [...]

This has the potential to be the holy graal of solar energy – UCLA researchers have developed a new organic polymer that produces electricity, is nearly transparent and much more resistant than silicone. If you think about solar cells, usually, the blacker the better – the blacker they are, the less energy is lost. But [...]

It may still be a while until we get our Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak, but researchers have managed, for the first time, to render a cylinder invisible to microwaves. Science, not magic Invisibility is a notion that fascinated humans for centuries or even millennia; it’s just one of those things which never gets old, regardless [...]

Take a moment to think about what your ears do. The human ear has a complex system for turning mere sound waves into electric messages for your brain, and it serves to keep you balanced. In order to turn sound waves (which are mechanical energy) into the electrochemical energy that sends messages to the brain, [...]

It may not be the best footwork in the world, because much like your uncle after a few beers, Charli doesn’t really want to lift its feet too far from the floor – but it’s definitely something fun to look at. This US Navy robot has all the moves: the lasso toss, the horse riding, [...]

Researchers have just given us a way to point an accusatory finger at our polluting neighbors, by calculating the emissions made by individual buildings.   The program, named Hestia, after the Greek Goddess of the Home, can map CO2 emissions in urban landscapes and narrow them down to certain streets or homes, using public databases, [...]

Dissolvable electronic materials could be extremely useful in medical procedures and environmentally friendly gadgets – and they’re almost here. Dissolving electronics A team of researchers has created flexible electronic circuits which dissolve in water or inside your own body; the project is led by John Rogers, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at [...]

If you thought the computer devised out of soldier crab swarms was cool, wait till you hear what scientists at Aalto University managed to make. In a recently published study, the researchers built a hydrophopic set-up through which they channeled water droplets, and in the process encoded information, practically building a computer. The researchers used the term [...]

The Japanese scientific deep sea vessel Chikyu managed to set a new world record by drilling down to over 2.200 meters below the seafloor, obtaining samples from Shimokita Peninsula of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Drilling for science Whenever you hear about drilling, it’s almost always about oil. Given the humongous amount of oil [...]