Category Technology/Electronics

Sagar Doshi (left) and Erik Thostenson test an elbow sleeve outfitted with one of their novel sensors.
Credit: Kathy F. Atkinson

Engineers use carbon nanotube composite coatings. A team of engineers at the University of Delaware is developing next-generation smart textiles by creating flexible carbon nanotube composite coatings on a wide range of fibers, including cotton, nylon and wool. Their discovery is reported in the journal ACS Sensors where they demonstrate the ability to measure an exceptionally wide range of pressure – from the light touch of a fingertip to being driven over by a forklift.

Fabric coated with this sensing technology could be used in future “smart garments” where the sensors are slipped into the soles of shoes or stitched into clothing for detecting human motion...

This is a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond with two crossed wires for holonomic quantum gates over the geometric spin qubit with a polarized microwave. Credit: Image courtesy of Yokohama National University

Researchers show holonomic quantum gates under zero-magnetic field at room temperature, which will enable the realization of fast and fault-tolerant universal quantum computers. A quantum computer is a powerful machine with the potential to solve complex problems much faster than today’s conventional computer can. Researchers are currently working on the next step in quantum computing: building a universal quantum computer.

The paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, reports experimental demonstration of non-adiabatic and non-abelian holonomic quantum gates over a ...

This is the device compared to a US dollar coin.
Credit: Zhenlong Huang

By stacking and connecting layers of stretchable circuits on top of one another, engineers have developed an approach to build soft, pliable “3D stretchable electronics” that can pack a lot of functions while staying thin and small in size. The work is published in the Aug. 13 issue of Nature Electronics.

As a proof of concept, a team led by the University of California San Diego has built a stretchable electronic patch that can be worn on the skin like a bandage and used to wirelessly monitor a variety of physical and electrical signals, from respiration, to body motion, to temperature, to eye movement, to heart and brain activity. The device, which is as small and thick as a U.S...

Qingkun Liu, a postdoctoral research associate at CU Boulder, holds up samples of a new gel that could improve the energy efficiency of windows across the United States.
Credit: CU Boulder

A new, super-insulating gel developed by researchers at CU Boulder could dramatically increase the energy efficiency of skyscrapers and other buildings, and might one day help scientists build greenhouse-like habitats for colonists on Mars. The “aerogel,” which looks like a flattened plastic contact lens, is so resistant to heat that you could put a strip of it on your hand and a fire on top without feeling a thing. But unlike similar products on the market, the material is mostly transparent.

“Transparency is an enabling feature because you can use this gel in windows, and you could use it in extraterres...