Engineers at Columbia University have 3D-printed a block of “digital wood”, using a voxel technique that enables the creation of objects with rich internal textures. The resin block is modelled on an olive wood sample, with its exact grain pattern replicated throughout. Because of the grain and colour gradient involved, this kind of wood effect was previously outside of the […]

It seems that the more technology progresses, the easier it becomes to produce convincing counterfeit goods. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen are fighting back, however, with product tags that they claim cannot be replicated – even by an item’s legitimate manufacturer. Known as the physical unclonable functions (PUFs) system, the technology was developed by researchers Riikka Arppe-Tabbara, Mohammad Tabbara […]

Scientists a Hokkaido University have found a way to create materials that actually get stronger the more you use them. By mimicking the mechanism that allows living muscles to grow and strengthen after exercise, the team led by Jian Ping Gong developed a polymer that breaks down under mechanical stress, then regrows itself into a stronger configuration by feeding off […]

Beginning with the principles of the Stirling engine, SoundEnergy’s THEAC thermal acoustic engine takes heat – either industrial waste heat or solar heat – and turns it into powerful cooling without requiring any other power source. This completely renewable technology could prove highly disruptive. The THEAC system uses no mechanical moving parts, no refrigerants, no CO2, no precious metals or […]

German businessman Radoslav Albrecht has founded an online bank that will use Bitcoin to facilitate international money transfers. Albrecht says that Bitbond’s use of cryptocurrency will allow it to transfer money quicker and at a lower cost than standard banks. “Traditional money transfers are relatively costly due to currency exchange fees, and can take up to a few days,” he told Reuters. […]

Approaches to dealing with communication impairments, whether they are caused by disability or otherwise, have long-since been outdated. The limitations of using a flashcard-based approach often mean that some of the most fundamental aspects of improving communication can easily be missed. Whilst useful as an educational tool, the flashcard method is unable to offer as much of a sensation of […]

German start-up Holoride has designed a virtual-reality experience for the backseats of taxis, for passengers in autonomous vehicles or for kids on long car trips. Holoride‘s games and visualisations provide entertainment that’s specifically tailored to passengers, incorporating the car’s real-time movements, such as acceleration and steering. The resulting experiences are not only immersive, they help to combat motion sickness by syncing […]

3D printers leave behind a type of “fingerprint” that can be used in tracing 3D-printed weapons through digital forensics, according to a joint-study released by university researchers in the US. Just as ballistics analysts can match a bullet to the gun that fired it by studying the markings on the bullet, so too can analysts look to the markings on […]

You know the scenario: A group of friends and family come to visit, and they all want to get on your Wi-Fi network, which means several tedious minutes of reading out the lengthy passcode for your network. That’s a problem that the new Wi-Fi Porter could solve. The dinky puck-shaped device uses NFC (Near Field Communications) – the same tech […]

Washing the inside of a reusable water bottle can be tricky, perhaps causing some people to wonder just how clean it actually is. Well, CrazyCap is designed to continuously kill microbes by replacing a bottle’s existing cap with one that shines ultraviolet light into the water. It can even be used to purify water that’s collected on the go. Developed […]