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Inspired by how dew drops form on spider webs, UCLA engineers and mathematicians have designed a unique and effective water vapor capture system that could be used to produce clean, fresh water, or to recycle industrial water that would otherwise be wasted. Their system is a dense array of parallel cotton threads strung vertically, with a steady stream of water droplets flowing down the strings.

Publication from the Laboratoire Reproduction et développement des plantes (RDP) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) on January 23, 2019. Abstract:  Morphogenesis often yields organs with robust size and shapes, whereas cell growth and deformation feature significant spatiotemporal variability.

By studying the movement of runners at the start of marathons, researchers from the Laboratoire de physique (CNRS/ENS de Lyon/UCBL) have just shown that the collective movements of these crowds can be described as liquid flows. Their results, published in Science on January 4, 2019, have enabled them to predict how fluctuations in speed and density are transmitted through massive crowds.

EPFL scientists have developed microscopic, hydrogel-based muscles that can manipulate and mechanically stimulate biological tissue. These soft, biocompatible robots could be used for targeted therapy and to help diagnose and prevent disease. Human tissues experience a variety of mechanical stimuli that can affect their ability to carry out their physiological functions, such as protecting organs from injury.

Scientists have developed a 3D-printed robotic hand which can play simple musical phrases on the piano by just moving its wrist. And while the robot is no virtuoso, it demonstrates just how challenging it is to replicate all the abilities of a human hand, and how much complex movement can still be achieved through design.

When an organism develops, masses of cells combine to form different types of tissue, all of which have different functions. In order to be able to form and to move, a cell needs to generate mechanical forces by remodelling its cytoskeleton, which consists of various filaments. Filaments from the actin protein, for example, contract and expand.

The silent, lightweight aircraft doesn't depend on fossil fuels or batteries. Now MIT engineers have built and flown the first-ever plane with no moving parts. Instead of propellers or turbines, the light aircraft is powered by an "ionic wind" - a silent but mighty flow of ions that is produced aboard the plane, and that generates enough thrust to propel the plane over a sustained, steady flight.

A new technique by which to 3D print metals, involving a widely used stainless steel, has been shown to achieve exceptional levels of both strength and ductility, when compared to counterparts from more conventional processes. The findings, published in Materials Today , outline how a joint research team from the University of Birmingham, UK, Stockholm University, Sweden and Zhejiang University, China were able to optimizing the process parameters during 3D printing to achieve the results.

Novel surface design overcomes problem of condensation that bedeviled previous systems. "Omniphobic" might sound like a way to describe someone who is afraid of everything, but it actually refers to a special type of surface that repels virtually any liquid. Such surfaces could potentially be used in everything from ship hulls that reduce drag and increase efficiency, to coverings that resist stains and protect against damaging chemicals.

A team of researchers at COSIC, an imec research group at the University of Leuven, has uncovered serious security flaws in the Passive Keyless Entry and Start (PKES) system used by some luxury vehicles. The study shows that the key fob (the unlocking device) used by the Tesla Model S is using out-dated and inadequate cryptography.

Passive solar-powered system could prevent freezing on airplanes, wind turbines, powerlines, and other surfaces. From airplane wings to overhead powerlines to the giant blades of wind turbines, a buildup of ice can cause problems ranging from impaired performance all the way to catastrophic failure.

Technique could be used to scale-up self-assembled materials for use as optical sensors, color displays, and light-guided electronics. MIT engineers have united the principles of self-assembly and 3-D printing using a new technique, which they highlight today in the journal Advanced Materials . By their direct-write colloidal assembly process, the researchers can build centimeter-high crystals, each made from billions of individual colloids, defined as particles that are between 1 nanometer and 1 micrometer across.

Rahul Panat, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and a team of CMU researchers in collaboration with Missouri University of Science and Technology have developed a revolutionary new method of 3D printing battery electrodes that creates a 3D microlattice structure with controlled porosity.

Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a new semiconductor material — defect-free boron arsenide — that is more effective at drawing and dissipating waste heat than any other known semiconductor or metal materials. Managing heat in electronics is one of the biggest challenges in optimizing performance, in part because as as transistors become smaller, more heat is generated within the same footprint, which in turn slows down processor speeds, in particular at "hot spots" on the chips where that heat concentrates.

A new understanding of the mechanics of dragonfly larvae respiration and maneuvering could lead to the next generation of prosthetic heart valves, say Caltech engineers.

By Werner Schandor In the CHIP project, Ceratizit Austria, TU Darmstadt, Material Center Leoben and TU Graz are improving the recording and analysis of heat flows in milling machining. With sensational results. "What is sensational about our project can be found hidden away in this rather inconspicuous chart," says Franz Haas from the Institute of Production Engineering as he points to a diagram reproducing a saw-toothed temperature progression for the period of a tenth of a second (Figure 2).

Nanokirigami has taken off as a field of research in the last few years; the approach is based on the ancient arts of origami (making 3-D shapes by folding paper) and kirigami (which allows cutting as well as folding) but applied to flat materials at the nanoscale, measured in billionths of a meter.

By Eberhard Schutting New types of vehicles have to prove their conformity to emission standards in thetype approval test. Previous procedures were criticized for insufficiently reflecting the real driving pattern. Thus, end of 2017, the regulatory authorities (the EC) introduced a new test procedure that includes the measurement of emissions during real¬world driving, commonly known as RDE legislation (Real Driving Emissions).

A system's state is characterised as entangled or quantum correlated if two or more particles cannot be described as a combination of separate, independent states but only as a whole. Researchers at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics of Heidelberg University recently succeeded in verifying so-called non-local quantum correlations between ultracold clouds of rubidium atoms.

Scientists have solved the riddle behind one of the most recognisable, and annoying, household sounds: the dripping tap. And crucially, they have also identified a simple solution to stop it, which most of us already have in our kitchens. We were all surprised that no one had actually answered the question of what causes the sound.