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Archive for the ‘materials’ category: Page 149

Dec 22, 2021

A Novel Carbon-Based Biosensor Could Revolutionize Brain-Controlled Robotics

Posted by in categories: materials, robotics/AI

It overcame three significant challenges.

A team of researchers from the University of Technology Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering and IT has created a biosensor that clings to the skin of the face and head to detect electrical signals transmitted by the brain. Then, these signals are translated into commands to control autonomous robotic systems.

The novel biosensor has overcome three major challenges of graphene-based biosensing: corrosion, durability, and skin contact re… See more.

Dec 22, 2021

SpaceX lands 100th Falcon booster

Posted by in categories: materials, satellites

Exactly six years after its first successful recovery, SpaceX has landed a Falcon booster for the 100th time.

On December 21st, 2015, the first Falcon 9 V1.2 Full Thrust (Block 1) rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral LC-40 launch pad on the company’s return-to-flight mission after a catastrophic in-flight failure just six months prior. Unwilling as ever to waste an opportunity, no matter how important the mission, SpaceX – on top of debuting a major Falcon 9 upgrade – chose to take advantage of the return to flight to attempt to land a Falcon booster back on land for the first time ever. Ultimately, on top of successfully deploying multiple Orbcomm OG2 communications satellites in orbit for a paying customer, Falcon 9 booster B1019 sailed through its boostback, reentry, and landing burns without issue. About nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket ultimately touched down on a concrete “landing zone” just a few miles from where it lifted off with uncanny ease relative to SpaceX’s numerous failed attempts in the ~18 months prior.

Exactly six years later, on December 21st, 2021, Falcon 9 booster B1069 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Pad 39A with an upgraded, flight-proven Cargo Dragon in tow for SpaceX’s 24th International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission. CRS-24 also marked the company’s 31st and final launch of 2021, representing more successful Falcon launches completed in a single year than SpaceX had even attempted in its entire nine-year history up to the point of that first successful booster landing.

Dec 21, 2021

Electricity transformed the world. Superconductivity could do it all over again

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

Future of

Now, scientists are on a quest to find a superconductor that can operate at room temperature and ambient pressure.

Scientists are using computer calculations to guide their search. These calculations help determine the structure and properties of the material they’re looking for, according to ScienceNews.

Dec 20, 2021

Frozen tardigrade becomes first ‘quantum entangled’ animal in history, researchers claim

Posted by in categories: materials, quantum physics

Some experts are skeptical that the frozen moss piglet really entered a quantum state.


A new pre-print study claims to have quantum entangled a tardigrade with two superconductor qubits, though experts are skeptical.

Dec 20, 2021

France Built the World’s First Carbon-Negative Public Building. And It’s Made of Hemp?

Posted by in categories: health, materials

It’s a sports hall.

A French architecture and landscaping company from the town of Croissy-Beaubourg has completed the country’s first hempcrete public building: Pierre Chevet sports hall.

The 4,000-square foot (380 square meters) building includes an exercise hall and changing rooms. What is Hempcrete? A mixture of hemp with lime and water, the sports hall that’s made of Hempcrete is a carbon-negative building.

Continue reading “France Built the World’s First Carbon-Negative Public Building. And It’s Made of Hemp?” »

Dec 16, 2021

What is Smart Clothing Technology and How Does it Work?

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, materials

Here are some of the most amazing advancements in fabric technology and smart fabrics.

Chain mail-based fabric for smart exoskeletons

Continue reading “What is Smart Clothing Technology and How Does it Work?” »

Dec 16, 2021

A New 0.4-MM-Thick ‘Paper Battery’ Can Power a Small Fan for 45 Minutes

Posted by in categories: energy, materials

The new zinc batteries are made up of electrodes that are screen-printed onto both sides of a sheet of hydrogel-reinforced cellulose paper. A layer of gold thin foil is coated on the electrodes to increase the conductivity of the battery. The battery is about 0.4mm thick, which is roughly the thickness of two strands of human hair.

Impressively, once the battery has reached the end of its lifespan, it can be buried in soil, where it will break down completely within a month.

Continue reading “A New 0.4-MM-Thick ‘Paper Battery’ Can Power a Small Fan for 45 Minutes” »

Dec 16, 2021

Russian Cosmonaut Makes Human Cartilage—With Magnets!—in Space

Posted by in categories: materials, space

Scientists aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have used magnetism as a gravity replacement in a biomanufacturing device that can make human cartilage tissue out of individual cells. The researchers say this isn’t just the first time a complex material has been assembled—it also represents an entire new field using magnets to “levitate” materials in zero-gravity environments.

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Dec 15, 2021

Wall-climbing HB1 robot can reduce workplace accidents

Posted by in categories: materials, robotics/AI

The HB1 has a 30m range from the ground but is potentially unlimited if the tether can be supplied from the roof. The robot can be equipped with different attachments such as a brush, robot arm, airless spray, concrete surveying equipment.

To ensure that the robot itself doesn’t fall, it had to undergo extensive electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing to make sure that fans, which essentially attach it to the surface, are functioning correctly.

Continue reading “Wall-climbing HB1 robot can reduce workplace accidents” »

Dec 13, 2021

Fecal Transplant Discovery Could Improve Care for Life-Threatening Infections

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

Findings suggest way to help patients heal from dangerous C. difficile.

New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine sheds light on why a fecal transplant can benefit patients with dangerous recurrent C. difficile infections – and suggests a way to improve patient outcomes.

C. difficile infection causes life-threatening diarrhea, and it often takes hold in patients in hospitals and nursing homes as a result of long-term antibiotic use. Doctors have known that fecal transplants – literally transplanting fecal material from a healthy person into the sick – can improve C. difficile outcomes, but they haven’t fully understood why. The new UVA research offers important answers.