News by Subject Technology & Engineering

Although magnesium diboride (MgB2) is an interesting superconductor made from abundant materials, increasing its critical current density through easily accessible means has proven challenging. In a recent study, scientists form Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, used ultrasonication to turn cheap commercial boron into a fine powder. With it, bulk MgB2 with enhanced superconducting properties can be produced, paving the way to affordable superconducting magnets for medical and transportation applications.

A major roadblock to computational design of high-entropy alloys has been removed, according to scientists at Iowa State University and Lehigh University. Engineers from the Ames Lab and Lehigh University's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics have developed a process that reduces search time used for predictive design 13,000-fold.

Robotics researchers at the University of Zurich show how onboard cameras can be used to keep damaged quadcopters in the air and flying stably -- even without GPS.

A team of Harvard researchers have developed fish-inspired robots that can synchronize their movements like a real school of fish, without any external control. It is the first time researchers have demonstrated complex 3D collective behaviors with implicit coordination in underwater robots.

Robotic engineers led by Wyss Associate Faculty member Robert Wood, Ph.D., and postdoctoral fellow Peter York, Ph.D., at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School for Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) have developed a laser-steering microrobot in a miniaturized 6x16 millimeter package that operates with high speed and precision, and can be integrated with existing endoscopic tools.

Florida's threatened coral reefs have a more than $4 billion annual economic impact on the state's economy, and University of Central Florida researchers are zeroing in on one factor that could be limiting their survival - coral skeleton strength. In a new study published in the journal Coral Reefs, UCF engineering researchers tested how well staghorn coral skeletons withstand the forces of nature and humans, such as impacts from hurricanes and divers.