Category Physics

A scanning tunneling microscope image shows two three-wheeled nanoroadsters created at Rice University and tested at the University of Graz. The light-activated roadsters, next to their molecular models, reached a top speed of 23 nanometers per hour. Credit: Alex Saywell/Leonhard Grill

Scientists are driving 3-wheeled, single-molecule “nanoroadsters” with light and, for the first time, seeing how they move. The Rice lab of nanocar inventor and chemist James Tour synthesized light-driven nanocars 6 years ago, but with the aid of experimental physicists in Austria, they’re now able to drive fleets of single-molecule vehicles at once...

Fraunhofer researchers have developed an energy-saving display that reduces the power consumption to a fraction. Credit: © Photo Fraunhofer FEP

Data glasses mirror information to the eye without interfering with the wearer’s vision. However, the battery runs down quickly as the electronics consume a great amount of electricity while playing back images. Fraunhofer researchers have developed an energy-saving display that reduces the power consumption to a fraction. Via a small display, data glasses present the eye with information or images which are received using a radio link from the frame of the glasses.

The big advantage: With data glasses, the wearer’s hands are free – in contrast, a smartphone has to be held in the hand. This may be interesting for mechanics...

A newly developed wing architecture could greatly simplify the manufacturing process and reduce fuel consumption by improving the wing’s aerodynamics. It is based on a system of tiny, lightweight subunits that could be assembled by a team of small specialized robots, and could ultimately be used to build the entire airframe. Credit: Kenneth Cheung/NASA

High-tech wizardry by MIT and NASA engineers will allow some aircraft to return to their roots, with a new kind of bendable, “morphing” wing. Wright brothers accomplished their first powered flight more than a century ago, and controlled the motion of their Flyer 1 aircraft using wires and pulleys that bent and twisted the wood-and-canvas wings...