Engineering

Mil-spec anti-mosquito fabric is also great for ... strawberries?!!

Maryna Holovnova — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 14:03:00 GMT

It’s hard to think of two things less related than military uniforms and strawberries. But apparently, they have something in common: a textile called Plant Armor.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: North Carolina State University, Agriculture, Plants, Crops, Textile

Anduril interceptor adapts to emerging threats via swappable stages

David Szondy — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 11:03:00 GMT

Reminding me of those toys where you could swap around parts to make a brand-new toy, Anduril's new Steelfin interceptor missile family uses a two-stage design that allows the vehicle to be quickly reconfigured to counter emerging missile threats.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Missile Defense, Anduril

Creality's new K3 printer swaps between four nozzles in seconds

Howard Armitage — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 02:03:00 GMT

For all the extraordinary things that consumer 3D printers can produce, changing color has remained a surprisingly messy business. Want to print something in red, white and blue? Certainly. Just be prepared for the machine to spend a considerable amount of time producing a small mountain of plastic waste alongside your masterpiece.

Category: 3D Printing, Manufacturing, Engineering

Tags: 3D Printers, Waste, Color, creality

Wound-helix robot leaps and bounds over obstacles

Etiido Uko — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 23:03:00 GMT

Remember that “dancing pencils” game schoolchildren played, where they passed two pencils through a small rubber band, twisted them repeatedly, and then let go to make the pencils jump around as the band unraveled? Turns out they were onto some serious futuristic robotics, as scientists are now applying a roughly related principle to facilitate movement in robots.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: UCLA, locomotion, University of Michigan

U740-Valkyrie Loyal Wingman rockets into maiden flight

David Szondy — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 04:36:38 GMT

After a dramatic, fiery takeoff, Airbus's U740-Valkyrie uncrewed combat aircraft completed its maiden flight on October 12, 2026, in the skies over Northern Europe as part of a program to provide Europe with its own autonomous Loyal Wingman.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Airbus, drones

Instant Air Base: Sikorsky packs Nomad 100 VTOL drone squad in a box

David Szondy — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 02:42:12 GMT

Sikorsky has taken its Nomad 100 VTOL drone and tucked it into a neat package along with its support gear. Known as the Fast Pack, the system uses a standard 20-foot ISO intermodal shipping container to house four Nomad 100 aircraft – two of which can be prepped and launched in as little as 15 minutes.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, drones

Wearable drone detection identifies threats over 3 miles away

David Szondy — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:04:39 GMT

Individual soldiers are getting their own drone protection as Danish defense company MyDefence rolls out Wingman Edge: a wearable that can detect drones by their control radio signals at a distance of up to 3.73 miles (6 km).

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: drones

If I could talk to the Main Battle Tank

David Szondy — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:03:00 GMT

If you've ever had an urge to talk to a Main Battle Tank, then General Dynamics Land Systems has your back. Teaming up with Primordial Labs, the company has announced that it will integrate natural language command and control in combat vehicles.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: General Dynamics, Tanks, Voice recognition, Interface, Control

Lockheed's new PAC-3 Edge interceptor to counter hypersonic threats

David Szondy — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 05:07:45 GMT

Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 interceptor missile family has stepped up a major notch with its PAC-3 Edge variant. Boasting an improved rocket motor for extended range, the new interceptor is built to engage hypersonic glide vehicles and advanced aerial threats.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Hypersonic, Missile Defense, Lockheed Martin

Biped bot uses your old, dusty phone for brains

Omar Kardoudi — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 01:10:18 GMT

That old phone gathering dust in a drawer could have a second life far more entertaining than being a paperweight. UCLA researchers have created PhoneBot, a little humanoid that puts your smartphone to work as the brains of a walking robot companion.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: UCLA, Android, smartphones, Recycling

Multi-material insulation delivers up to 10,000 x the stiffness

Maryna Holovnova — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Good insulation plays a crucial part in many industries, from space exploration and energy systems to electronics and cookware. The basic idea is simple: you want a material that can slow down the movement of heat, and prevent it from spreading from one area to another.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: North Carolina State University, Insulation, Heating

MineReader detector sniffs out explosives without the middleman

David Szondy — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 03:22:00 GMT

A new mine detector technology has been tested in Brisbane, Australia, that puts a new spin on hunting things that go boom. The MineReader RDX uses a new principle for mine detection that emphasises seeking the explosive instead of the mine.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Land Mines

Water-pumping robot worms its way over rugged coastal terrain

Maryna Holovnova — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:35:00 GMT

Biomimicry involves borrowing ideas from nature to solve engineering problems. This is what one of the research teams at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering specializes in. We recently covered their fish-inspired robot, so exploring water bodies seems to be taken care of.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: New York University, Biomimicry, locomotion

Impossibly tiny Swiss motor looks like anything but

Ben Coxworth — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 11:00:00 GMT

If you've already designed a soft-bodied robot, it kind of defeats the purpose if you just go and stick a rigid motor inside of it. That's why Swiss scientists have created a motor that takes the form of a thin, flexible fiber.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: EPFL, Soft Robotics, Artificial Muscles

Three shipping containers transformed into one luxurious home

Adam Williams — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 03:00:00 GMT

Despite its humble origins, the sheer versatility of the shipping container continues to impress us, and they are used for everything from tiny houses to sports stadiums. This example of container living is a lot more comfortable than most and involved transforming three of the metal boxes into a surprisingly spacious home complete with a rooftop terrace and even a sauna.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: House, Home, shipping containers, Building and Construction, Airbnb

Next-gen hopping robot is the smart flea we didn't know we needed

Maryna Holovnova — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 15:00:00 GMT

We’ve already seen robots that can swim like fish, stick to walls like geckos, and grab objects like elephants. Now, engineers at the University of Washington are building a new type of robot inspired by … the flea.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: University of Washington, locomotion, Biomimicry

This 1933 Escher-like structure is now the last of its kind in the world

Bronwyn Thompson — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Amid cranes on top of new skyscrapers and the blinding sunlight reflecting off the glass windows of those already standing tall, Shanghai has one of the most remarkable buildings you may ever experience – and it was built in 1933 by the British architectural firm Balfours to steer cattle to their deaths.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Shanghai, China, Concept Architecture, Concrete, Cows, Industrial design, History

Germany’s telescoping wind turbine becomes world’s tallest

Omar Kardoudi — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 08:56:29 GMT

Germany is taking wind power to new heights with a turbine almost as tall as Berlin’s iconic television tower at Alexanderplatz. Standing 365 m (1,198 ft) in Schipkau, the new world’s tallest wind turbine aims to tap stronger, steadier winds and test whether existing wind farms could gain a second story.

Category: Energy, Engineering

Tags: Wind, Energy, Engineering, Wind turbine, World's Tallest

Saudi 1km tower nears halfway point – already cracks tallest top 15

Adam Williams — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 22:16:53 GMT

The incredibly ambitious Jeddah Tower is currently under construction in Saudi Arabia. Due to be the world's new tallest building once complete, it has already made it into the top 15 tallest buildings worldwide – and it's still less than halfway to its final height.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Building and Construction, Skyscrapers, World's Tallest, Saudi Arabia

Supercapacitor cement is key to buildings that store their own power

Ben Coxworth — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:03:49 GMT

In the not-too-distant future, a building's emergency lighting, fire alarms, sensors and other features could be powered not by fuel-burning generators or bulky battery packs, but by the actual material that the structure is already made of. That's because scientists have developed an experimental cement-based supercapacitor.

Category: Energy, Engineering

Tags: Harbin Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, American Chemical Society, Cement, Supercapacitor

Tiny robot harvests battery power via skin on its feet

Omar Kardoudi — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 02:51:40 GMT

Researchers have developed a paper-thin foot membrane that lets crawling microrobots harvest electricity directly from the ground beneath them, ditching heavy onboard batteries by turning metal and silicon surfaces into an active power source.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: Robotics, Skin, Energy, Batteries

Spiral solar tower promises near-continuous power for Moon bases

David Szondy — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 22:44:48 GMT

Blue Origin has unveiled its Power Tower for future Moon bases, which will be carried by the company's Mark 1 lunar lander. After touchdown, the spacecraft will deploy a 20-m (66-ft)-tall solar array for around-the-clock electrical power.

Category: Space Systems, Engineering

Tags: artemis, Blue Origin, Solar Powered, Moon

Video: Dexterous robot hand learns the delicate art of silk embroidery

Omar Kardoudi — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 14:03:00 GMT

Agilink, a spin-off of Chinese robotics giant AgiBot, asked Fu Xianghong, a master of traditional Suzhou embroidery, to train its OmniHand 3 Ultra. The synthetic hand has learned to split silk strands, thread a needle, stretch fabric across a frame, and stitch, following a craft with more than 2,500 years of history.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: Robotics, Hand, Humanoid, Dexterity, Silk

Blue Talon packs high-level stealth in low-cost Loyal Wingman

David Szondy — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 21:00:00 GMT

Loyal Wingman technology continues to evolve rapidly as Northrop Grumman's YFQ-48A Blue Talon autonomous fighter completes its maiden flight at Mojave, California, controlling every aspect from engine start to landing with pilot intervention.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Northrop Grumman, drones

Smart wallpaper turns your wall into a small indoor powerplant

Omar Kardoudi — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Rooftop solar panels power millions of homes around the world. But a team of researchers at Binghamton University is asking what happens if some of that electricity came from inside the house. Their answer is a study, described in Advanced Energy Materials, that turns indoor humidity into a small electric current.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: Binghamton University, Paper, Energy, Humidity, Power

V2G system sucks energy out of parked EVs to supply the grid

Maryna Holovnova — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Electric vehicles already solve a lot of problems: they reduce our dependence on gas and help reduce emissions. At the same time, EVs are a major source of electricity consumption, and most existing electricity grids were simply not designed for this level of demand. That creates new challenges, but what if EVs could also become part of the solution to this same problem?

Category: Energy, Engineering

Tags: Battery Electric Vehicles, EV Charging

Boeing wins 'mystery fighter' contract for US Navy

David Szondy — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Boeing has been awarded a US$20-billion contract by the US Navy to develop the super-secret F/A-XX 6th-Generation fighter plane. The question is, what's under the covers for this aircraft that we've only caught glimpses of?

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Boeing, Fighter, US Navy

Dairy waste could be a sweet new source of biofuel

Etiido Uko — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT

For centuries, humans have obtained fuel from the strangest of sources: the remains of organisms that lived millions of years ago, seawater, decaying biomass and now, from cow's milk ... or more accurately, salty whey, a by-product produced during the manufacture of cheddar and similar cheeses.

Category: Energy, Engineering

Tags: Biofuel, Recycling, Heriot Watt University, Food waste, Milk

MIT robot swims through water via living muscle cells

Omar Kardoudi — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 01:00:00 GMT

An MIT robot powered by a single layer of living muscle cells swam through a watery maze, following a light held in a researcher’s hand. It is slow, tiny and nowhere near ready for the open ocean, but its thin design could point toward softer, cheaper swimming machines.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: MIT, Research, Robotics, Water, Swim

Sea sponges serve as inspiration for strong, lightweight metamaterials

Malcolm Azania — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:54:01 GMT

As one of nature’s most spectacular structures, Venus’ flower basket glass sponges can live thousands of years more than 2 km (3,300 ft) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Composed of lightweight, durable, flexible, glass-like silica structures, the pipe-shaped Euplectella aspergillum are also providing a stunning opportunity for aircraft and architectural biomimicry.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: University of California Berkeley, Metamaterials, Biomimicry, Harvard

Bio-based liquid bends wood like it's thin, pliable metal

Maryna Holovnova — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:15:55 GMT

Wood is an excellent construction material. It’s durable, strong, lightweight, insulating, and one of the most sustainable materials you can think of. But it has one major limitation: it doesn’t bend as easily as, let’s say, plastic or metal. Today, there are two main ways to make wood curve, but both have significant drawbacks.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: Italian Institute of Technology, Wood, Building and Construction, Environmentally-friendly

Largest rocket ever built successfully enters orbit

David Szondy — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:43:49 GMT

SpaceX has raised the bar for spaceflight again as its Starship, history's largest rocket, reaches Earth orbit. Despite the failure of an upper stage engine, an abort was avoided, allowing the spacecraft to reach orbit and deploy 26 Starlink satellites.

Category: Space Systems, Engineering

Tags: SpaceX, Starship

Wind-up elastic robot jumps forever when fed infrared light

Malcolm Azania — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 02:43:49 GMT

Robots – that is, self-guided mechanisms interacting with or changing their environments – exist in the popular imagination as large, blocky, metallic beings like R2D2 or TARS from Interstellar. But the field of soft robotics offers a vast array of robotic limbs, sensors, and body types that greatly expand our understanding of what shapes a robot can manifest and what tasks it can perform.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: North Carolina State University, Soft Robotics, locomotion, Infrared

FDA-cleared exoskeleton puts spinal-cord patients back on their feet

Omar Kardoudi — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 08:03:00 GMT

A robotic suit that lets someone with a spinal-cord injury stand up, look a friend in the eye, or stir a pot on the stove without anyone's help just cleared its biggest hurdle. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency that vets medical devices before they reach the public, has authorized commercial sale of Eve, a personal exoskeleton built by French company Wandercraft.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: Robotics, Exoskeleton, Mobility, Wearable

Apple's new music venue is actually a giant high-tech recording studio

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 04:03:00 GMT

Apple's latest innovation is a live concert venue unlike any other. Located in a decommissioned coal-fired power plant, the new space doubles as a recording and broadcasting studio – complete with a spatial audio setup.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Apple, London, Studio, Battersea Power Station

3D-printed Martian mud homes look critical for life beyond Earth

Etiido Uko — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 15:03:00 GMT

The future where humans colonize Mars is fast approaching. A future with self-sustaining biospheres, autonomous rovers, helicopters with rotors that break the sound barrier, and – perhaps – mud houses. Yes, literal houses made out of mud.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Mars, Building and Construction, 3D Printing

Bugatti is adding a $650 million residential tower to Miami's skyline

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 05:03:00 GMT

If you're a wealthy automotive enthusiast who enjoys their time in Miami, this might be your next preferred parking spot.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Skyscrapers, Bugatti, Miami

Super-strong wood-based floor slabs rival reinforced concrete

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 14:57:00 GMT

Researchers in Germany have developed a system for fabricating wood-based floor slabs that can be used in place of traditional reinforced concrete slabs in multi-story building construction. The new slabs are impressively strong, and use only a third of the concrete required in conventional slabs.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: Construction, Wood, Concrete, University of Stuttgart, Sustainability

US and UK achieve historic first with drone submarine torpedo launch

David Szondy — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:03:00 GMT

The US Navy and the Royal Navy have achieved a major milestone in autonomous warfare, successfully launching a US Mk 48 Heavyweight exercise torpedo from the Royal Navy’s robotic submarine, XV Excalibur. The test demonstrates growing autonomous combat capabilities designed to complement conventional crewed platforms.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: US Navy, Royal Navy, Submarine, drones

New atomic clock breaks record for world’s most accurate

Mike McRae — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:18:48 GMT

As the world considers redefining the precise length of a second, Singapore’s Centre for Quantum Technologies has delivered a new contender for the ultimate master timekeeper.

Category: Engineering

Tags: Atoms, Clock, Time, National University of Singapore, Optics

Open-air sky gardens bring 57-story tower to life

Bridget Borgobello — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:34:15 GMT

Vancouver-based firm Revery Architecture, has completed a 57 story residential tower alongside the restoration and expansion of a century-old Gothic Revival church. The development combines The Butterfly residential tower with the adjoining First Baptist Church complex. Located in downtown Vancouver, the 605,000-sq-ft (56,200-sq-m) development also includes a seven-story affordable rental building and a range of community facilities.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Urban Redevelopment, LEED, Residential towers, sustainable design

Did duct tape just get even better? New super-adhesives suggest it did

Etiido Uko — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 13:01:38 GMT

Few things are more annoying than an adhesive that refuses to stick. A strong contender, though, is one that refuses to let go when you no longer need it.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: Virginia Tech, Adhesive, Recyclable

China's newest art museum reinvents infinity

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 08:24:48 GMT

Suzhou, a historic city on the plains of eastern China, has just opened up the country's latest art exhibition space – and it's a spectacle for creatives, tourists, and architecture enthusiasts alike.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Museum, China, BIG, Bjarke Ingels Group

Scientists create world's first floating titanium

Etiido Uko — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 23:03:00 GMT

They say a drowning man is willing to grasp onto just about anything to stay afloat, but he would most likely think twice if you offered a titanium buoy. Yet, scientists have created a titanium structure that floats without compromising the metal’s strength.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: RMIT University, Titanium, Floating

Mystery Vectis Loyal Wingman breaks cover as fleet expands

David Szondy — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:03:00 GMT

We've learned a bit more about Lockheed Martin's Vectis Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) as the company unveiled a full-scale mock-up of the aircraft while announcing that production of the development prototypes is expanding to five airframes.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: Lockheed Martin, Skunk Works, drones

Quantum compass takes flight on Northrop’s Lumberjack drone

David Szondy — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 12:03:00 GMT

Northrop Grumman has successfully flight-tested a new quantum navigation system aboard its Lumberjack drone. By taking ultra-precise measurements of Earth's magnetic field, the system allows the aircraft to calculate its course and position without relying on satellite navigation.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: drones, Northrop Grumman, Quantum Mechanics

Mojave drone achieves battlefield STOL world-first

David Szondy — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 05:03:00 GMT

General Atomics has achieved another aviation milestone as its medium-class Mojave Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) carried out the first short take-off and landing (STOL) on a simulated battlefield before returning to its mission.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, drones

WWII battleship made from ice inspires strong new building material

Mike McRae — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:25:35 GMT

A new kind of “super ice” that has its origins in a wild World War II plan to build ships from ice and wood pulp could give future engineers a novel toolkit for construction in polar or even alien environments.

Category: Engineering

Tags: Ice, Building and Construction, World War Two, Concrete, Genetic engineering

Attrition-tolerant Wildfire combat drone brings mass firepower

David Szondy — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 05:15:07 GMT

General Atomics has unveiled its proposal for the next generation of Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance (MALE) drones in the form of its Wildfire Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS). Designed as a lower-cost, high-volume counterpart to the venerable MQ-9 Reaper, the platform aims to restore combat mass in high-threat environments.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: US Air Force, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Reaper, drones

In-wheel electric motors boost stealth and performance of infantry mule

David Szondy — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 23:03:00 GMT

The ESOX Group is advancing the concept of a robotic army mule with its X2 uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) by simplifying its design, placing electric motors directly inside each wheel for better off-road performance and greater stealth.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: UGV

Modern miracle? Plastic waste transformed into effective fertilizer

Malcolm Azania — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 15:03:00 GMT

Plastic is one of humanity’s most useful, flexible, and inexpensive inventions. Inexpensive, that is, until you remember the massive environmental and health costs of plastic production and waste.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: Plastics, Plants, chiba-university, Biodegradable

Will a cyborg cockroach paramedic save your life in the future?

Maryna Holovnova — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:40:31 GMT

If you think that cockroaches are creepy and useless, we can prove you wrong. Well, at least the “useless” part.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: University of Queensland, Cyborg, Insect, Rescue, Disasters

Frog muscle put to use in swimming robotic manta ray

Etiido Uko — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:03:00 GMT

Few things make the career jump from regional cuisine delicacy to robotics actuator. Yet, in research vaguely reminiscent of RoboCop, scientists have used skeletal muscle from a literal frog leg as an actuator to control a tiny robotic manta ray.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Muscle, locomotion, Biomimicry, Swimming

Robotic fish swims like the real thing, and can be built to any size

Maryna Holovnova — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:03:00 GMT

Nature is undoubtedly the smartest engineer. Scientists have borrowed ideas from armadillos, elephants and birds to build robots capable of doing things that conventional man-made machines struggle with. Now, researchers at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering have turned to fish.

Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: New York University, Biomimicry, Fish, locomotion

G. Lucas' $1B spaceship museum hides 714 geothermal wells underneath

Adam Williams — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:57:00 GMT

Following over a decade of development, costing around one billion dollars, and requiring a team of over 150 architects, engineers, and designers, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is now finally complete. Looking like a strange spaceship has landed in Los Angeles, the incredible building holds a huge amount of art dedicated to storytelling – everything from Star Wars props to ancient Egyptian pottery.

Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Building and Construction, Museum, Cinema, Art, MAD Architects

This cooler gets colder when you heat it up

Etiido Uko — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 23:03:00 GMT

You can’t brighten a room with darkness, you can’t dry a towel by soaking it, and you surely can’t cool things with heat. Right? Well, maybe. Scientists have just built a solid-state cooling device that can use heat to generate cold, potentially opening a way for processors and other hot-running electronics to recycle some of their own waste heat for cooling.

Category: Energy, Engineering

Tags: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Tsukuba, Shape Memory Alloys, Cooling, Solid-state

New epoxy built to stick until you tell it not to

Etiido Uko — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 14:03:00 GMT

Epoxy is one of the great unifiers of modern materials science, bringing different materials together to form composites with combined properties that exceed those of any individual component. The problem is that once conventional epoxy cures, the resulting union is practically permanent. Separating the constituent materials for recycling can be extremely difficult.

Category: Materials, Engineering

Tags: Empa, Recyclable

LightMake L4 puts four independent print heads on one desktop

Monica J. White — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:03:00 GMT

There are a few pretty well-known trade-offs associated with desktop 3D printing. Faster speeds generally mean a compromise in quality, multi-color 3D printers often waste some filament, and higher volume loads usually demand more hardware. LightMake’s L4 Kickstarter project aims to tackle all these issues head-on.

Category: 3D Printing, Manufacturing, Engineering

Tags: Kickstarter

These 3D-printed objects know if you’re using them properly

Malcolm Azania — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:03:00 GMT

In the 1960s Hanna Barbara animated series The Flintstones, prehistoric human beings lacked modern technology, so they used ancient animals (including dinosaurs, who for some reason in this universe lived at the same time people did) as household appliances and industrial machinery. And, for extra-cheap laffs, these animals routinely mugged to the camera about how awful their lives were at the hands of the humans misusing them.

Category: 3D Printing, Manufacturing, Engineering

Tags: MIT, Safety, Packaging

UK military tests powered paragliders for covert troop insertion

David Szondy — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:03:00 GMT

The British Ministry of Defence is looking into a novel way to drop troops behind enemy lines, with a £6-million (US$8.1-million) study to evaluate the use of foot-launched powered paragliders as transports for reconnaissance and troop insertion.

Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: U.K. Ministry of Defence, Aircraft