Field: Engineering

Aerospace company Stratolaunch has dropped a hypersonic aircraft from its record-breaking Roc launch platform for the first time.

Carnegie Mellon researchers want to return a sense of touch to touchscreens.

Israel’s Brenmiller Energy has opened what is believed to be the first thermal energy storage gigafactory in the world.

CATL, the largest manufacturer of EV batteries in the world, has announced a new super powerful one — but details are light.

GM-backed Cruise has announced that it can now operate its driverless car service 24/7 in San Francisco.

There are many techniques to search for planets orbiting other stars. Perhaps the simplest of these is called direct imaging, but it's not easy.

Boeing engineers who grew up folding paper planes at family days have broken the distance flight record.

The Nancy Roman Telescope is already being built with a goal no smaller than to find inhabited planets beyond Earth.

Steam cars went extinct because gas-powered cars became far more convenient. Will technology ever bring back the steam car?

Large-scale additive manufacturing, like 3D printing, involves building objects one layer at a time, transforming architecture as we know it.

Researchers discovered a way to turn superglue into strong, clear plastic that can be made into many shapes.

London’s unique Cody Dock “rolling bridge” can be moved by hand winches.

Batteries are the weak link for wearable and implantable devices. But what if you could harvest energy from the heat, sweat or vibrations of the wearer?

3D printing could help solve the nation’s housing crisis, as it's cheaper, faster, and more sustainable than conventional construction methods.

Made from a variety of recycled and repurposed materials, the tire may be perfectly suited for electric vehicles.

The first global assessment of land reclamation found that people have added 900 square miles of land to Earth’s coasts this century.

By using shaped ultrasound, researchers in Germany have developed a way to 3D print objects in one shot.

An AI-powered technique called “generative design” is helping NASA engineers design better hardware, more quickly.

Direct air capture technology is starting to take off, with ever-larger CO2 removal facilities opening across the globe.

Inspired by chemistry observed on the surface of Venus, researchers produced a synthetic material that could improve air quality.

How have Roman walls held up so long? Their ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.

With ever-improving efficiencies, and rising sales in multiple countries, heat pumps are only getting harder for their detractors to dismiss.

The US’s first certification of a small modular reactor design could lead to cheaper, safer nuclear power plants.

The US’s first two-story 3D-printed house is being built in Houston, Texas, from a mix of concrete and wood.

A new test flight puts the world’s largest plane one step closer to helping the US develop — and respond to — hypersonic weapons.

A Swedish startup has joined the race to build the world’s first electric airplane to help reduce the carbon impact of flying.

Several full-scale demonstration projects with floating wind turbines are already operating in Europe and Asia. How do they stay afloat?

On Nov. 29, 2022, the Shenzhou 15 mission launched from China’s Gobi Desert carrying three taikonauts – the Chinese word for astronauts.

MIT researchers have developed a scalable fabrication technique to produce ultrathin solar cells that can be stuck onto any surface.

SpinLaunch has a working prototype successfully launching objects at 1,000 miles-per-hour, but will the laws of physics stand in the way?

Stanford researchers have developed a battery electrolyte that can allow lithium-ion batteries to operate safely at much higher temperatures.

This year, NIF reports that it has achieved "ignition" — that is, it has achieved slightly more fusion energy output than laser energy input.

Building materials and construction generate about 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. What if there was an alternative?

A lab-made version of tetrataenite, a mineral found in meteorites, could replace rare earth elements in the production of permanent magnets.

The UK has successfully test-fired the $115 million DragonFire, its first high-powered, long-range laser weapon.

A recent study tested how well the fungi species Cladosporium sphaerospermum blocked cosmic radiation aboard the International Space Station.

The new material’s architecture is based on that of an artificial neural network – layers of interconnected nodes that can learn to do tasks.

A system for monitoring motion and muscle engagement could aid the elderly and athletes during physical rehabilitation.

There is currently no possibility of the world reaching the 30% target for marine protected areas with existing policies. Tech to the rescue?

Wind catchers — an ancient technique to beat the heat — could help us once more in our quest for emissions-free cooling.

Automatic Construction can erect a concrete house in less than two hours thanks to a new technique involving inflatable fabric molds.

MIT’s new “passive cooling” system could break the spiral of more air conditioning.

With just an incubator and some broth, researchers can grow reusable filters made of bacteria to clean up pollution and more.

Aerospace engineer Gökçin Çınar discusses sustainable aviation concepts, including hybrid-electric planes and hydrogen fuel alternatives.

Combating the rise of facial-recognition technology, designers have created clothing and accessories to help to conceal people's identities.

By storing renewable energy as heat in brick “batteries,” Rondo Energy believes they can decarbonize heavy industry.

The electric vehicle’s environmental credentials might give them a final push to win the long game over traditional cars.

Norwegian startup World Wide Wind wants to build offshore wind turbines based on a completely different design from traditional models.

Researchers have created a solar-powered device that can pull water from the air to create hydrogen.

Can electric school busses bring cleaner air and lower maintenance costs to school districts across the country?

Seawater contains millions of tons of uranium, but it’s too expensive to extract. A new material may change that.

Researchers use machine learning to automatically solve, explain, and generate university-level math problems at a human level.

The Agricultural Internet of Things involves technologies such as wireless underground communications and antennas in soil.

Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the earth’s magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic.

The mega drive might provide enough thrust for a spacecraft to travel near the speed of light using only electricity, says one physicist.

Using a heating process, Duke researchers have created a synthetic cartilage hydrogel that can outperform the real thing.

With new capital from a Bill Gates-backed VC firm, Terabase wants to automate solar farm construction.

If Russia is able to build the laser, it would be capable of shielding a large part of the country from the view of satellites.

MIT scientists unveil the first open-source simulation engine capable of constructing realistic environments for autonomous vehicles.

Da Vinci dreamed up a helicopter 400 years before they actually existed. Now, engineers have brought his design to life, but with a twist.

To create artificial gravity for off-world explorers, Japan plans to build spinning, cone-shaped facilities on the moon and Mars.

Quaise Energy wants to repurpose coal and gas plants into deep geothermal wells by using X-rays to melt rock.

Engineers have created an AI chip with alternating layers of sensing and processing elements that can communicate with each other.

Cement production currently accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions.

A first-of-its-kind quantum simulator could lead to the creation of never-before-seen materials powered by quantum phenomena.

Denmark is building an artificial island in the North Sea that will eventually be capable of meeting all the nation’s electricity needs.

Nuclear fusion reactors have existed for years, but none of them are able to sustainably produce energy yet.

Researchers at China’s Xidian University have successfully tested a proof-of-concept for collecting solar power via satellites.

Tested using a new brain tissue model, the particles may be able to deliver chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients.

The Kazungula Bridge has turned a cartographic near-miss into a geopolitical marvel, with a chance to renew Africa's economy.

Construction company Alquist 3D plans to build 200 3D-printed houses over the next 5 years through Project Virginia.

People who aspire to own a brand new electric vehicle will struggle to move forward. Will this also slow down the journey to net-zero?

University of Tokyo researchers have created a living skin, made from human cells and collagen, for a robotic finger.

Nuclear thermal propulsion systems could power missions to Mars, help defense satellites evade attacks, and more.

Australian researchers blasted bitumen with a UV machine to discover how used tires can act as road “sunscreen.”

Inspired by the ancient compound eyes of the trilobite, researchers have created a record-breaking camera with a depth of field of just over a mile.

The Hyperloop is physically possible, but engineering challenges will make its construction difficult. Also, accidents would be catastrophic.

Batteries have a limit to how small they can be made, and they need to be charged. What if you could power your own medical device?

A new MRI machine with a larger opening and a weaker magnetic field overcomes many shortcomings of other scanners.

Robots are helping humans in a growing number of places - from archaeological sites to disaster zones to sewers.

The flexible, thin-film device has the potential to make any surface into a low-power, high-quality audio source.

Scientists knew that it would probably explode, but they did not expect to reach such a record magnetic field.

The world's biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is back online after a three-year hiatus.

GM has announced plans to bring the Corvette roaring into the electric vehicle market.

Urban Aerial Mobility - or 'flying cars' - could present a more flexible way for cities to invest in future infrastructure.

Engineers at Stanford University have created a solar cell that generates electricity at night by exploiting the process of radiative cooling.

A team of scientists have shattered the record for the amount of energy produced during a controlled, sustained fusion reaction.

It would only take 2.5 hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai, a journey of more than 1,000 km or 620 miles.

The advance may enable real-time imaging devices that are smaller, cheaper, and more robust than other systems.

Maryland high schoolers have created a filter that removes lead in water. It costs just $1 and alerts users when it needs to be replaced.

The fuel's reliance on sunlight makes desert areas prime land for production sites, leaving valuable agricultural land available for food.

An MIT team has designed an “acoustic fabric" to convert sound vibrations into electrical signals.

3G networks are built using completely different equipment and algorithms than its newer replacements.

Stanford engineers have developed a cost-effective way to convert a toxic byproduct of a wastewater filtration process into useful chemicals.

The skeleton of the knobby starfish has a structure unlike any other found in nature so far, and it could inspire new lightweight ceramics.

A new method for extracting rare earth elements from fly ash could help end the U.S.’s reliance on China for the valuable metals.

A new record set by the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor is giving researchers confidence we’re on the path to usable fusion energy.