Repurposed EV batteries could find a second life as power storage units in rural and impoverished areas. The batteries in electric vehicles are typically deemed unsuitable when they fall below 80 percent capacity, but they can still be instrumentalvery useful in standard, home-based applications. To keep these materials in use and reduce waste, the team from the University of Warwick […]

An innovative new method of creating conductive pathways is safer for the environment and potentially much more affordable. Typically, conducting lines in metal for electronic devices are made by removing the metal using harsh chemicals and expensive inks. As a safer alternative, the technique from the team at Warwick University was built on the discovery that silver and copper will […]

A new technique has been used to turn ordinary metals into “metallic wood” with a greatly improved strength-to-weight ratio. By manipulating materials at the atomic scale, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, Middle East Technical University in Turkey, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the University of Cambridge claim to have created a […]

Though crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been used by startups and small businesses to bring their ideas to life, established companies have also been using these platforms more and more. The latest to do so is Philips, which has listed its PicoPix Max compact projector on Indiegogo. Philips Projection says that it’s chosen to launch on Indiegogo to […]

A Texas-based startup has raised US$4.5 million in seed funding to develop and commercialize a remarkable electric motor technology. The father/son team claims the design can massively reduce the size and complexity of electric powertrains while also significantly boosting efficiency and doubling the torque output. Electric cars are stunning performers off the line. In sprint tests they routinely humble high-performance […]

Although ice formation on the wings is a major cause of aircraft crashes, that ice must still mainly be spotted by eye – a process that’s subject to human error. A new sensor could change that, however, as it uses microwaves to instantly detect the formation of ice that may not be visible to pilots or ground crews. Developed at […]

If cost savings and convenience aren’t enough to bolster the argument in favor of using rechargeable batteries, the environmental impact of discarded single-use, non-rechargeable alkaline batteries is the topper. According to EPA statistics, Americans throw away more than 86,000 tons of alkaline batteries each year. That’s enough to circle the globe more than six times with the batteries placed end-to-end. […]

The website for Seedo isn’t too far off from something you might have seen at the Home Depot. Their main product is a hermetically sealed grow box controlled and managed by artificial intelligence, employing machine learning technology, computer vision algorithms, and wholly enclosed systems including advanced lighting systems to nurture plants like herbs, flowers, or vegetables. I moved to California […]

One of the oldest problems in optics has been solved. Rafael Gonzalez from Mexico’s Tecnologico de Monterrey has come up with an almost comically dense equation that can be used to almost completely eliminate spherical aberration in optical lenses, and the effects could be widespread. Camera lenses are insanely complex and extraordinarily precise devices, and one of the reasons for […]