Empa

Firefighters could soon have a formidable ally in their daunting task of entering buildings set ablaze: specialized drones that can handle the heat from live flames and relay visuals to help them assess the situation.

If you live in a noisy urban area, you're gonna love the sound of this. Researchers in Switzerland have developed a material that can dampen street noise while being four times thinner than similar-performing absorbers used in construction.

Researchers in Switzerland have developed a new film-like material that incorporates living cells from fungi, so it's biodegradable and can help break down waste too. Oh, and you can eat it, if you're curious like that.

Swiss researchers claim to have devised a functional living battery powered by the combined efforts of two types of fungi – all in a biodegradable, non-toxic 3D-printed package to run sensors for agriculture and environmental research.

Imagine a glow-in-the-dark designer desk, or wooden fence posts that guide you home with their eerie light. Scientists in Switzerland have developed a way to make glowing wood, with the help of a fungus.

Imagine if there were inexpensive 3D-printed sensors that changed color to show us if something had gotten too warm or was subjected to too much stress. Well, there soon could be – and they'll biodegrade once discarded, to boot.

Firefighters have a dangerous job at the best of times, but especially so when they're first entering burning buildings. A new flame-resistant drone could help, by scouting structures to let firefighters know what they'll be up against.

Imagine an army of flying drones focused on detecting building issues before they become serious and carrying out repairs autonomously. It sounds like science fiction, but researchers aim to explore whether it could indeed be realized at the DroneHub.

While glass bricks are effective for allowing daylight into buildings, they're not good insulators and they can't be used for entire load-bearing walls. Such is reportedly not the case, however, with experimental new aerogel-filled translucent bricks.

Building structures in difficult-to-reach locations is a daunting task, as bringing in the cranes, scaffolding and whatnot can be difficult. That's why scientists are creating a bee-inspired system, which uses flying 3D-printing drones to do the job.

Although it's always best to reuse and recycle, many small, simple, low-power electronic devices tend to be single-use. A new paper battery could make them more eco-friendly, as it's activated by water, and it biodegrades once discarded.

Although aerial drones can travel much faster than their underwater counterparts, they certainly aren't as good at gathering water-related data. The MEDUSA multi-rotor drone addresses this conundrum, by landing on the water and deploying an underwater pod.