Kinetic Energy

Scientists at ETH Zurich have discovered a new type of magnetism. Experiments show that an artificially produced material becomes magnetic through a mechanism that hasn’t been seen before.

SpinLaunch has released on-board footage from its eighth suborbital flight test, giving us a unique opportunity to imagine what it'd be like to be hurled skyward out of a centrifugal accelerator at more than a thousand miles per hour.

NASA has signed up to test SpinLaunch's extraordinary whirl 'n' hurl space launch technology, which accelerates a launch vehicle to hypersonic speeds using an electric centrifuge arm instead of a rocket, hurling it skyward like a space discus.

When a car crashes into a roadside object at an intersection, chances are pretty high that object will be a traffic light pole. If it's a new energy-absorbing pole, however, the likelihood of injury or even death may be significantly reduced.

Startup SpinLaunch has been exploring alternatives to rockets through the development of what it calls the world's first kinetic space launch system, which literally flings satellites into orbit – and it's recently completed its first test flight.

​​We've seen quite a few experimental systems that can generate energy from movement. A new device developed at Michigan State University is the latest take on this problem, consisting of an energy-producing film-like system that increases its output when folded into up into a smaller package. ​

HandEnergy is a new hybrid generator created to offer on-demand power from the palm of just one hand. It is designed to produce electricity at wall socket speeds through gentle wrist rotations.

The US army and Marine Corps are taking wearable batteries into the field. Vancouver-based tech company Bionic Power will soon supply troops with its PowerWalk Kinetic Energy Harvester, a lightweight device worn around the knee that recharges batteries while soldiers walk.

UK tech firm Pavegen has been harvesting pedestrian power with floor tiles that convert the kinetic energy of footsteps into electricity since 2009. Today, the firm has launched a new version of the tiles and, in addition to being more efficient, they are able to capture footfall data.

A recently announced partnership with a New York City-based start-up is set to bolster Las Vegas' commitment to renewable energy sources. Soon enough, some of "Sin City's" sidewalks will be illuminated by EnGoPLANET's innovative, sun- and people-powered street lights.

A team of researchers is claiming to have made a big breakthrough in the collective effort to turn human motion into usable energy, developing a new method of producing high, useful amounts of electricity from our footsteps.

Claiming almost 10 percent of lost days of work in Germany are due to lower back problems, researchers are developing CareJack, an orthopedic prosthetic embedded with flexible, smart electronics to ensure those lifting heavy loads don't have to go home early.