Princeton University

​Cloudina was a tiny sea creature that existed about 545 million years ago, and many scientists believe that it played a major role in building the first reefs. Princeton geoscientists Adam Maloof and Akshay Mehra, however, think otherwise – and they do so because of a unique rock-grinding machine.

​When it comes to part-picking robots, they're typically programmed to grasp a specific object in a specific fashion. Scientists from MIT and Princeton, however, have developed a system that allows robots to grab random objects from a bin, then identify what the objects are and where they should go.

Scientists may eventually be able to biologically engineer unique artificial lifeforms from scratch. A new study from Princeton has brought that future a step closer, by confirming that an artificial protein the team developed functions as an enzyme in living bacteria.

There are stories in the stars, so they say, and the story of Kronos is a doozy. Astronomers from Princeton noticed some marked chemical differences between the star and its binary partner, Krios, and determined the most likely cause: Kronos has devoured the equivalent of 15 Earths.

Future windows could change their tint or opacity on demand to keep out unwanted heat, light or nosy neighbors. A team from Princeton has now developed a self-powered “smart window” system that uses a transparent solar cell to harvest UV energy from sunlight.

A new water purification technology developed by researchers at Princeton University doesn't require filters, instead relying on the injection of CO2 gas to change the water's​ chemistry and separate waste particles based on their electrical charge.

​The grasslands of the Namib Desert in Africa are pock-marked with patches dubbed “fairy circles.” These strange structures have sparked debate for years about how they form, and now scientists at Princeton have put forward a new explanation: it’s actually both plants and termites working in unison.

​​Millions of selfies are snapped every day, but they often fail to accurately portray reality, featuring unflattering distortions. A new tool could change that, allowing selfies to be adjusted, giving the impression that they’re taken from a little farther away, or from a slightly different angle.​

An exotic particle dubbed the "Weyl fermion", has been discovered 85 years after its existence was first mooted. Able to create completely massless electrons, the use of this particle may result in super-fast electronics and significant inroads into new areas of quantum computing.

Albert Einstein will be forever remembered for his famous E=mc2 formula, but there was much more to the man than this. To show this, Princeton University has now released an online archive of his documents spanning the years 1897 - 1923 that provides much insight into the man and his life.