Tech

Computing

Paint by Pixel

Aaron Hertzmann is both a computer scientist and a painter. Among his art-related programming projects, he has developed a way for computers to refashion images and animations to reflect different painting styles. Other work includes a stretched “canvas” that projects a continually-changing painting of the viewer and a learning-by-example system that animates characters based on […]

Tech

Snappy DNA: Long strand folds into octahedron

By harnessing the self-assembling properties of DNA, researchers coerced a single strand of the genetic material to assume the shape of an octahedron.

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Diagnosing the Developing World

Researchers are learning how to adapt sophisticated technologies to meet the health-care needs of the developing world.

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Software enhances view of aircraft flaws

New software can run an ultrasonic machine that will map corrosion beneath the surface of an airplane more quickly, safely, and effectively than can existing devices.

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Virtual Nanotech

With computers becoming ever more powerful, researchers are simulating nanoscale materials and devices down to the level of atoms and even electrons.

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Tapping sun’s light and heat to make hydrogen

Researchers have demonstrated a highly efficient means of splitting water molecules to generate hydrogen fuel.

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Electronic skin senses touch

A pressure-detecting membrane laminated onto a sheet of flexible plastic electronics may lead to artificial skin for robots.

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Flashy Transistors: Electronic workhorses also shed light

Researchers have discovered that the transistor can emit light, a yet-untapped talent.

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Gene Screen: Ultrasensitive nanowires catch mutations

Researchers have devised a nanowire sensor that binds to DNA molecules and produces an electrical signal almost instantaneously.

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Gel Bots? Vibrated goo mimics slithery motions

The ability of soft, jellylike hydrogels to move as do snails, snakes, and inchworms may point the way to a new class of squishy robots that promise to be simple, quiet, and versatile.

Tech

Gel Bots? Vibrated goo mimics slithery motions

The ability of soft, jellylike hydrogels to move as do snails, snakes, and inchworms may point the way to a new class of squishy robots that promise to be simple, quiet, and versatile.

Tech

Glow with the flow

Potentially usable electricity flows when water is forced through millions of ceramic tubes thinner than a human hair.