Category Technology/Electronics

The next generation of Harvard’s Ambulatory Microrobot (HAMR) can walk on land, swim on the surface of water, and walk underwater, opening up new environments for this little bot to explore. Credit: Yufeng Chen, Neel Doshi, and Benjamin Goldberg/Harvard University

‘HAMR’ can walk on land, swim, and walk under water. In nature, cockroaches can survive underwater for up to 30 minutes. Now, a robotic cockroach can do even better. Harvard’s Ambulatory Microrobot, known as HAMR, can walk on land, swim on the surface of water, and walk underwater for as long as necessary, opening up new environments for this little bot to explore.

This next generation HAMR uses multifunctional foot pads that rely on surface tension and surface tension induced buoyancy when HAMR needs to swim but can also apply a...

Screenshot of video showing hybrid catalyst for water splitting (see video at: https://youtu.be/nkouqCFaqAk). Credit: Image courtesy of University of Houston

Catalyst uses inexpensive elements and could be scaled up for commercial use. Researchers from the University of Houston and the California Institute of Technology have reported an inexpensive hybrid catalyst capable of splitting water to produce hydrogen, suitable for large-scale commercialization.

Most systems to split water into its components – hydrogen and oxygen – require two catalysts, one to spur a reaction to separate the hydrogen and a second to produce oxygen. The new catalyst, made of iron and dinickel phosphides on commercially available nickel foam, performs both functions.

Researchers said it has the potential to dramat...

Sandia National Laboratories postdoctoral appointee Polina Vabishchevich, left, and Senior Scientist Igal Brener made a metamaterial that mixes two lasers to produce 11 colors ranging from the near infrared, through the colors of the rainbow, to ultraviolet. Credit: Photo by Randy Montoya

First nanostructured material for broad mixing of light waves. A multicolor laser pointer you can use to change the color of the laser with a button click – similar to a multicolor ballpoint pen – is one step closer to reality thanks to a new tiny synthetic material made at Sandia National Laboratories...

a) This is a photograph of the spherical colloidal crystals containing 0.20 wt% carbon black (CB). The size of the fine silica particles ranges from 200 to 300 nm, and 11 different sizes were used. b) This is a picture of a weevil drawn using spherical colloidal crystals prepared using monodispersed silica particles with various particle sizes and CB. The surroundings of the weevils are drawn with spherical colloidal crystals that do not contain CB and change with the color of the background. Credit: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Researchers at Nagoya University develop a composite material that, by adjusting its composition and exposing it to different types of light, can mimic animals’ changes in color...