Lifeboat Foundation

A large percentage of a building’s energy usage is consumed by heating and cooling, but a new dynamic shading system designed by researchers at the University of Toronto could help. Inspired by the skin of krill, the system uses cells of blooming pigment that can block light on demand.

Krill are tiny marine organisms that are usually transparent, but have the ability to move pigments around in the cells beneath their skin, allowing them to turn darker to protect themselves from UV damage in bright sunlight. This, the UToronto team reasoned, would be a useful ability for windows and building facades to have.

Continue reading “Low-energy fluidic cells could shade and cool buildings dynamically” »

A team of researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia’s Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory has developed a new pleat-based soft robotic actuator that can be used in a variety of sizes, down to just 1 centimeter. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes the technology behind their new actuator and how well it worked when they tested it under varied circumstances.

Engineers working on soft robotics projects have often found themselves constrained by standard pneumatic artificial muscle actuators, which tend to only work well at a given size due to the large number of complex parts. In this new effort, the researchers have added a new feature to such actuators that requires fewer parts, resulting in a smaller actuator.

Continue reading “A new type of soft robotic actuator that can be scaled down to just one centimeter” »

VinFast is an unknown Vietnamese automaker selling electric vehicles (EVs) in America. Top staffers hail from industry leaders such as BMW.

Physics World.

One of the most distant galaxies ever observed is very likely to be rotating, say astronomers. An in.

Glioblastoma tumors take advantage of mechanisms used to create neurons to spread far and wide, scientists in Germany say.

With breathtaking videos, citizen scientists have shown researchers a new pattern of auroras that may solve the mystery behind a strange red glow.

You really want to view this photo from Juno’s recent flyby in full length if possible.

An AI shown videos of physical phenomena and instructed to identify the variables involved produced answers different from our own.

In abandoned silver mine in Pulpí, in Spain’s south-eastern Almería Province, lies a treasure that’s not made from any precious metal at all. Instead, what’s hidden here is the world’s largest geode – a natural crystal phenomenon that has stunned scientists.

As Mila Carretero, geologist and coordinator of the Pulpí Geode, explained, a geode is a cavity inside a rock that is covered with crystals. Sitting against a backdrop of oversized crystal spars, she broke open a tiny rock with tiny gems inside, to show a comparison. “It’s the same as the one I have behind me, only this one is a super-sized version,” she said with a laugh as she pointed over her shoulder.

The Pulpí Geode is eight metres wide, two metres high and two metres deep. “When it comes to a geode, by definition, this is the biggest ever discovery,” she noted, adding that Pulpí is not to be confused with another crystal marvel, the Naica Mine in Mexico, which has larger spars (15m long compared to Pulpí’s two metres), but which is a cave lined with crystals rather than a geode.