Southeast University

Ice in and of itself isn't slippery – it becomes slippery when friction causes a thin layer of liquid water to form on top of it. Scientists have now applied that same principle to an injectable medication that could be used to treat osteoarthritis.

Although soft robotic graspers may be squishy on the outside, they usually still have hard, unyielding electronic components on the inside. A new and potentially more versatile bio-inspired grasping system, however, is 100 percent soft.

​If you've ever tried using eye drops, then you'll know that a great deal of the medication simply ends up being flushed from your eye by flowing tears. Drug-dispensing contact lenses are an alternative, with an experimental new one changing color to verify that it's done its job.

British scientists have already looked to principles employed by butterfly wings, as a means of thwarting currency counterfeiters. Now, researchers from China's Southeast University have developed another such technology, that's inspired by a different insect – a color-changing longhorn beetle.