Books & Arts |
Featured
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Q&A |
Turning point: Riccardo Bevilacqua
Spacecraft designer's research takes off after move abroad
- Virginia Gewin
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News & Views |
The road to carbon nanotube transistors
Purifying and positioning carbon nanotubes are challenges for the synthesis of electronic devices based on these nanomaterials. Recent advances in such areas reveal trends that are beating an exciting path towards transistor technology.
- Aaron D. Franklin
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News |
Sulphur back in vogue for batteries
Lithium–sulphur batteries benefit from new materials.
- Richard Van Noorden
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News |
Location may stymie wind and solar power benefits
The health and climate gains made by green energies are often lowest in the windiest or sunniest places.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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News |
Pin-sized battery printed in 3D packs a powerful punch
Miniature lithium-ion device could power medical devices or miniature robots.
- Devin Powell
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Correspondence |
Use oil wealth to save Brazil's biodiversity
- Renan de França Souza
- , Roberto Leonan Morim Novaes
- & Saulo Felix
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News & Views |
50 & 100 Years Ago
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Article |
Anisotropic leaky-mode modulator for holographic video displays
Realizing holographic video displays is proving far from straightforward, but it is shown here that it may be possible to overcome the limitations of present displays by harnessing the desirable optical manipulation properties of anisotropic leaky-mode spatial light modulators.
- D. E. Smalley
- , Q. Y. J. Smithwick
- & S. Jolly
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Technology Feature |
The big challenges of big data
As they grapple with increasingly large data sets, biologists and computer scientists uncork new bottlenecks.
- Vivien Marx
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News & Views |
Flying like a fly
When biologists unravelled the principles of insect flight, they inspired a generation of engineers to build on their aerodynamic feats. Thanks to a revolution in micro-manufacturing techniques, the first robotic fly now flies.
- David Lentink
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News Feature |
Drones in science: Fly, and bring me data
Unmanned aerial vehicles are poised to take off as popular tools for scientific research.
- Emma Marris
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News |
Computer memory can be read with a flash of light
Prototype device combines speed and durability.
- Katherine Bourzac
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News |
‘Invisibility cloak’ hides cats and fish
Arrangement of glass prisms routes light around an object but cannot hide itself.
- Philip Ball
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Q&A |
Turning point: Hana El-Samad
Engineer takes a career risk in moving to biology.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Toy helicopter guided by power of thought
Technology to pilot aircraft with brainwaves offers promise for prosthetics.
- Devin Powell
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Research Highlights |
Artificial insect eyes
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Research Highlights |
A poor man's hologram
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News |
Quantum meld brings photons together
Merging the information of two photons could boost quantum-optical technologies.
- Philip Ball
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News & Views |
50 & 100 Years Ago
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Research Highlights |
Tiny, winged machines
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Comment |
A vision of our transport future
Lawrence D. Burns explains how networks of driverless, shared cars will revolutionize motoring.
- Lawrence D. Burns
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News |
Tiny robot flies like a fly
Engineers create first device able to mimic full range of insect flight.
- Ron Cowen
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News |
Digital camera gives a bug's-eye view
Insect-inspired device achieves panoramic view and sharp focus at any distance.
- Katherine Bourzac
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Letter |
Digital cameras with designs inspired by the arthropod eye
Digital cameras with layouts inspired by the compound, hemispherical designs of arthropod eyes have been built by combining elastomeric optical elements with deformable arrays of thin silicon photodetectors.
- Young Min Song
- , Yizhu Xie
- & John A. Rogers
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Research Highlights |
Diamonds tick like atomic clocks
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Editorial |
Energy crossroads
Everyone should wish Germany well in its great experiment in renewable energy.
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Technology Feature |
A better brew
Advances in cell culture media mean that scientists increasingly know what has gone into the mix, and cells are enjoying a more natural environment — even in the lab.
- Vivien Marx
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News Feature |
Renewable power: Germany’s energy gamble
An ambitious plan to slash greenhouse-gas emissions must clear some high technical and economic hurdles.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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News |
'Hologram-lite' idea for 3D phone displays
Tiny gratings in a visual display could beam images in different directions.
- Maggie McKee
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Outlook |
Biomedicine: The new gold standard
Prized for their versatility, optical properties and safety, gold nanoparticles are helping to image, diagnose and treat disease.
- Karen Weintraub
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News |
Physicists twist water into knots
3-D-printed vortex maker may improve understanding of braided fluids in nature.
- Ron Cowen
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Research Highlights |
Solid carbon, springy and light
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News |
Liquid storage could make hydrogen a feasible fuel
Catalyst efficiently recovers the gas from easily stored methanol.
- Richard Van Noorden
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News Feature |
Green cement: Concrete solutions
Cement manufacturing is a major source of greenhouse gases. But cutting emissions means mastering one of the most complex materials known.
- Ivan Amato
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News & Views |
A new spin on spintronics
By harnessing the way charge carriers move in a magnetic field, computing blocks based on semiconductor junctions have been made that are reconfigurable and can be interconnected to perform complex logic functions. See Letter p.72
- Sayeef Salahuddin
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News |
Magnetic logic makes for mutable chips
Alternative transistor relies on exotic semiconductor.
- Geoff Brumfiel
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Letter |
Magnetic-field-controlled reconfigurable semiconductor logic
A microchannel made from InSb, which has current–voltage characteristics that are strongly dependent on the sign and magnitude of an applied magnetic field, is used to demonstrate that circuits made from such structures can be programmed — and reprogrammed — to perform elementary logic functions, such as AND, OR, NAND and NOR.
- Sungjung Joo
- , Taeyueb Kim
- & Mark Johnson
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News |
South Korea makes billion-dollar bet on fusion power
Reactor to be built in 2030s represents a step towards commercial use.
- Soo Bin Park
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News Feature |
Computer engineering: Feeling the heat
The more that microcircuits are shrunk, the hotter they get. Engineers are on the hunt for ways to cool off computing.
- Philip Ball
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News |
How to see a redder red
Engineered pigment absorbs wavelengths undetectable by the natural human eye.
- Amy Maxmen
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News Feature |
Nuclear energy: Radical reactors
For decades, one design has dominated nuclear reactors while potentially better options were left by the wayside. Now, the alternatives might finally have their day.
- M. Mitchell Waldrop
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Books & Arts |
Engineering: Turbulent genius
Allan McRobie enjoys a life of the audacious engineer who pioneered the windproofing of bridges and skyscrapers.
- Allan McRobie
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News |
Roaming robot may explore mysterious Moon caverns
Spelunking rover could scout sites for lunar bases.
- Devin Powell
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Research Highlights |
Power from the ear
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News |
Laser lab shifts focus to warheads
US ignition facility will devote less time to energy research.
- Geoff Brumfiel
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News |
Pioneering battery maker files for bankruptcy
A123 Systems goes under after 11 years.
- Devin Powell
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