Breakthrough Starshot aims to reach Alpha Centauri within a generation.
Breakthrough Starshot is taking a novel approach to space exploration by using "nano craft" to reach Alpha Centauri within 20 years of its launch. These tiny crafts are designed to use light beams from Earth to accelerate themselves up to 100 million miles per hour. The project believes...
Nanomotors could allow for self-healing electronic systems
A team from the American Chemical Society have developed self-propelled gold and platinum nanomotors which can locate and repair miniscule scratches, thus allowing electronic systems to repair themselves. The nanomotors are powered by hydrogen peroxide, and work by lodging themselves within scratches and recompleting the circuit which had...
Built-in grocery store unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show
South Korean technology giant Samsung unveiled an array of new technologies at the 2016 CES in Las Vegas, the most popular of which was a fridge with a built-in grocery store. Samsung’s pioneering Family Hub refrigerator has built-in applications including a virtual grocery store which consumers will be...
US breakthrough in 3D printing
Engineers from HRL laboratories in California have developed a ceramic processing technique that is being hailed as a “breakthrough” by US engineers. The 3D printing technique is used to create complex, tough and heat resistant ceramic components, which the team claim has huge advantages over current production...
18-year-old Surrey student publishes research into plastic electronics
Thomas Burridge, a sixth-form student in Surrey, has co-authored a paper investigating gated transistors. It is thought these components could be important for the future of flexible electronics. The research shows that the effects of self-heating on the transistors are minimal. Burridge wrote a computer code to simulate...
Researchers turn clothes into electronic displays
Researchers have demonstrated the world’s first stretchable and comfortable LED display laminated into textiles. This advance could lead to wearable technology being less obtrusive and more comfortable, which would encourage them to be worn more often and increase the quality of data collected. Greater feedback to the wearer...