University of Southampton

If someone asked you to move like a robot and you responded with the fluid art of ballet, your audience would be baffled, yet technically, you would be right. Robots are famous for their characteristic rigid movement, which is useful in some applications but can hinder adaptability. Now, researchers have developed a robotic wing that moves like no other.

Scientists have stored the entire human genome on a five-dimensional crystal capable of storing up to 360 terabytes of information and is built to survive for billions of years. The tech could be used to create an enduring record of human, animal, and plant genomes.

By deploying cutting-edge lasers, scientists at the University of Southampton have achieved a 5D optical data storage breakthrough that offers both incredible density and long-term archiving capabilities.

When it comes to developing robots that can move efficiently through water, scientists regularly turn to creature’s like jellyfish for inspiration, and a UK research team has just produced one that can swim with the best of them.

Researchers in Europe and the UK have managed to connect biological and artificial neurons together. The biological neurons were grown in Italy, sent signals through an artificial synapse in the UK to communicate with artificial neurons in Zurich.

A new student-led research program has been launched at the UK's University of Southampton with the aim of finding ways to improve the efficiency and extend the battery life of unmanned aviation vehicles used to monitor remote locations.

Supercomputers and quantum computers rely on a “brute force” approach to solve problems, performing billions of calculations very quickly until they arrive at the optimal solution. But a new system has the potential to outperform them, using “magic dust” as a beacon to highlight the solution.

The Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft (SULSA) bears the distinction of being the world's first aircraft to have an entirely 3D-printed body. While it's an impressive title, the little electric airplane has now been put to use scouting routes for an icebreaker in Antarctica.​

The quest for high-density immutable storage has taken a big leap forward thanks to "Superman crystals" developed at the University of Southampton. The glass discs are reportedly capable of storing up to 360 TB/disc of data and will last almost forever at room temperature.

​We've already seen micro air vehicles (MAVs) that mimic the flapping-wing flight of bats. Recently, however, scientists developed a bat-inspired membrane for use in MAV wings, that changes shape in order to improve its performance.​

Researchers have found that fiber optics can be used to build low-power, high-bandwidth artificial neurons that mimic their biological counterparts. This technology could lead to computers that think and learn like a human.

Researchers at the University of Southampton have created an extremely durable data storage technology that can store 360 TB of data on a single disc for an almost indefinite amount of time.