Design
Six ways nature has inspired technological innovation
Whale fins and cow udders, wasp appendages and gecko feet - just some of the natural phenomena that have inspired technological innovation over the years. The field, known as biomimicry or biomimetics, has already given us well-known practical applications, such as cats' eyes for the road and Read More...
You may soon access the internet via ordinary light bulbs
Getting the entire world connected to the internet may soon be as easy as changing a light bulb. German physicist Harald Hass and his team have created a technology called Li-Fi that uses light waves from LED light bulbs to deliver internet connectivity that is 100 times faster than broadband Read More...
Can nature provide solutions to our cybersecurity problems?
They lurk in the dark alleys of the Internet; they keep you awake at night; they are relentless and quite successful. They are the agents of cyber crime, cyber espionage, hacktivism and cyber terrorism. They find and share zero-day vulnerabilities; they patiently research your organizations and Read More...
Six million dollar plant: Scientists grow cyborg roses
When you think of cyborgs, plants probably aren't the first thing that pops into your head, but it's time for that to change. A team of researchers at the Laboratory for Organic Electronics at Linköping University in Sweden has managed to grow living roses with electronic circuits threaded Read More...
This house runs on poop and food waste
An abandoned farm in rural Spain, a mile from the nearest tiny village, is the unlikely site of cutting-edge energy technology. The new farmhouse under construction on the property will eventually be powered partly by the owners' poop. The mini waste-to-energy system takes organic Read More...
Small artificial kidneys may free patients of big dialysis machines
If you suffer from kidney failure, you're confined to visiting a hospital or clinic several times a week, to be hooked up for hours to a dialysis machine. Doing so, you're likely to develop buildup of fluids and minerals, which can result in high blood pressure and breathing problems and require Read More...
North Face launches winter jacket using synthetic spider's silk
Silk is a remarkable product of nature. For many millennia, silkworms and spiders have known how to make a fantastic fibre that's thinner than human hair, stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar. We, humans, are only catching up. Several teams of researchers around the world are exploring how Read More...
MIT researcher turns soot into printer ink
Always watch out when buying a printer: the machine itself is cheap, but the ink is very expensive... Printer companies notoriously make a lot of profit selling cartridges. MIT scientist Anirudh Sharma has now found a clever way to turn soot into printer ink. He made a device that can use harmful Read More...
Bacteria-slaying paint wants to disinfect a wall near you
The very walls of hospitals could become germ-fighting structures. It sounds sci-fi, but paint maker Sherwin-Williams is introducing Paint Shield, a microbicidal paint that kills infection-causing bacteria. The company says it's the first microbicidal paint to be registered with the US Read More...
This building doesn’t need an AC: The building itself is an AC
Dutch architect Ben Bronsema has developed what sounds like any office worker’s worst nightmare: a large building with no electric air conditioning system. But nobody needs to worry. It’s only because this building itself acts an air conditioner. Without the need for electric fans, this Read More...