City University of Hong Kong

Nobody likes needles, but they’re a necessary evil. Microneedle patches are emerging as a painless alternative, and now researchers in Hong Kong have developed a new version of the tech that’s made of ice, for easier manufacture and use.

Although wing-flapping micro-drones do already exist, the things tend to be quite fragile – and thus not ideally suited to real-world use. An experimental new one, however, utilizes a softer mechanism for greatly enhanced durability.

Last year gravitational waves were detected from a massive black hole collision. But now astrophysicists propose a new explanation: a collision of two boson stars – hypothetical, invisible objects that could help untangle the mystery of dark matter.

Diamond is a famously hard material, but now scientists have managed to stretch it further than ever before. Why? Stretching nanoscale samples changes their electronic and optical properties, which could open up a new world of diamond devices.

Scientists at the City University of Hong Kong have developed a new type of spray-on coating they say can give regular objects the capabilities of magnetically controlled robots, with particular potential in biomedical applications.

When natural ocean shoreline is replaced by an artificial seawall, a lot of precious intertidal habitat is lost. A new study, however, indicates that by covering those walls with specially designed tiles, a substitute habitat can be created.

An international team of scientists has created a new type of solar flow battery that’s efficient and long-lasting. The device is made up of a silicon/perovskite tandem solar cell, paired with a redox flow battery, with organic chemical electrolytes.

Although VR tech may allow users to see and hear computer-generated environments, the extent to which people can feel those worlds is still quite limited. That could be about to change, though, thanks to what's being called an "epidermal VR" system.

An ever-increasing number of research groups are developing tiny robots, capable of performing targeted drug-delivery inside the body. One of the latest such devices incorporates a flapping whale-flukes-like tail, along with wings that fold up or down as needed.

In the future, tiny robots of all kinds of shapes could be swimming and crawling through your body, delivering drugs or patching up wounds. The next robot to join those ranks is a caterpillar-inspired device, which gets around with ease on hundreds of tiny, pointy legs.

A researcher at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a self-cleaning coating made up of nanoparticles that removes stains from cashmere by exposing the garment to light.