Technology, Innovation & Outdoor News

Wind-up elastic robot jumps forever when fed infrared light

September 27, 2026 | Malcolm Azania
Using a liquid crystal elastomer cord, these earring-like robots can jump forward three times their body length, and upward 80 times their body height. One day extraplanetary exploration could utilize their descendants as zero-power drones.

Man down: Vale the mighty Joe Salas, a colleague and a brother

September 24, 2026 | Loz Blain
Friends, I write today with tragic news. A treasured member of the New Atlas team has passed away, and it falls to me to pay some small tribute to a wonderful colleague and a close friend, Joe Salas.

Tent-like micro home unfolds into an off-grid A-frame

September 27, 2026 | Bridget Borgobello
Atelier Lune has been awarded a 2026 Red Dot Design Award for a micro-home called the Camping House that blends a folding shell with modular add-ons to create a compact, off-grid living space that can be deployed in just a few hours.

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Though tiny houses are getting more expensive, there are still cheap and cheerful models out there. This recently completed Fairfax 20' is a single-floor model that sleeps up to two people without breaking the bank.
This spacious park model "tiny house" really isn't so tiny. Instead, it provides an experience closer to a small cottage on wheels, with a large porch and an open, light-filled interior arranged entirely on one level.
The new high-roofed Ford Nugget Twin has officially launched to give buyers a new winter-ready camper van option with four solid walls, space for four people and AWD. The very same roof will soon be available for the Volkswagen T7, as well.
There's no denying that cargo trailers are great for transporting your stuff, but they do occupy a lot of garage space. The Faltos trailer offers a solution to that problem, as you can just fold the thing up like an accordion between uses.
Honda seems to believe its next frontier is building high-tech recreational vehicles. It's just shown off a concept for an electric mountain bike that's nearing production – and it looks pretty sick.
Researchers in Germany have developed a system for fabricating wood-based floor slabs that replace traditional reinforced concrete slabs in construction. They're impressively strong, and use only a third of the concrete needed in conventional slabs.

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Some people can’t get their bad cholesterol levels down, even if they take cholesterol-lowering meds. A clinical trial using a combination of existing and not-yet-released cholesterol tablets lowered bad cholesterol by almost half.
The LEO Solo just went up for preorder, pitched as an FAA Part 103-friendly (no pilot license required), single-seat personal eVTOL. It's supposedly landing in late 2025.
While the topical application of minoxidil is one of the most effective and popular ways to combat male pattern baldness, it is poorly absorbed by the skin. Looking to improve its efficacy, researchers have turned to an unlikely but very sweet ally.
Adding to the growing body of research that proves our microbiome is a powerful ally in fighting disease, scientists have found that an easy-to-get nutrient in our food causes our guts to produce powerful insulin-regulating compounds.
When we first caught wind of Thule's new Widesky rooftop tent, we took the model name to imply a large, clear stargazing skylight. Instead, Thule's latest tent encourages panoramic viewing in a different way, one we haven't seen on any other RTT.
A bacterium from the gut of Japanese tree frogs has "exhibited remarkably potent" tumor-killing abilities when administered intravenously, outperforming current standard therapies and paving the way for an entirely new approach to treating cancer.
Dragon Tiny Homes' Webster is well-suited to full-time living on wheels and features a spacious interior with three bedrooms, sleeping up to six people. The tiny house is currently up for sale for $85,000.
Roboticists today are wrestling with the question of whether AI needs a body? If so, what kind? And then there’s the “how” of it all; if embodied intelligence is the way forward to true artificial general intelligence, could soft robots be the next step?