Northwestern University

Researchers have proposed a fascinating way to eliminate CO2 in the notoriously hard-to-abate shipping sector. The ships would use existing marine fuels, run through solid oxide fuel cells, and all CO2 would be stored back in a partitioned fuel tank.

A new thermoelectric material may be the most efficient one yet. The new and improved polycrystalline form of purified tin selenide has all the right properties to make it a practical material for converting waste heat into electricity.

As the world's strongest artificial material, graphene may have a lot to offer the world of construction, and scientists have offered another example of this by using it to create a novel form of cement that is highly resistant to water and cracks.

Ordinarily, if you want to change the shape in which an object is 3D-printed, you have to alter the computer model that tells the printer what to do. A new and simpler technique, however, allows the printer to initiate the changes itself, as the print job is in progress.

The Japanese folding paper art form of kirigami has a lot of potential for engineering. Scientists have taken this technique down to the nanoscale for the first time, opening up new possibilities in applications ranging from robotics to aerospace.

As a way of demonstrating advances in energy and where they might lead us, a team of researchers has built a Game Boy that requires no battery, instead powering itself from a combination of solar energy and the user’s interactions with the device.

Once discarded, spongy polyurethane foam typically just ends up in landfills, where it takes up a lot of space. Thanks to a newly-developed process, however, it could soon be recycled into higher-quality rubbers and hard plastics.

Scientists are continually looking at better ways to prevent ice buildup on planes, among them a Northwestern University team that is claiming a new surface coating inspired by mint leaves can reduce frost formation by up to 60 percent.

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.

While it's now common to see 3D-printed prototypes, the use of 3D printers for manufacturing is still limited. That could be about to change, thanks to a new model that's being heralded as "the largest and highest throughput printer in its class."

It’s not unusual to find rust around salt water, but now the pairing might be more useful. Researchers have found that electricity can be produced when salt water flows over the top of thin films of rust. The process was previously seen in – what else – graphene, but rust is far easier to scale up.

​​There has been a lot said and written about the possibilities of graphene sheets, but material scientists at Northwestern University are casting their minds toward a malleable form of the material that can be kneaded and molded like Play-Doh.