technology

Engineers at North Carolina State University invented the metallic bubble wrap as a way to improve the durability of packaging materials for electronics and suitcases, along with other products such as car doors, airplane wings and helmets, where it can also be used in the products themselves. The metal is not meant to replace traditional plastic bubble wrap, but to be used when circumstances call for sturdier cushioning.

An airplane has flown across the United States, powered only by sunlight. The impressive feat was made possible by improvements in solar cell and battery technology.

You're not actually covering the answers up... you know that right?

It's a remarkable claim considering that no one has yet come up with anything resembling actual "artificial gills." Codenamed "Triton," the mysterious concept comes in the form of a small mouthpiece, reminiscent of the "rebreather" James Bond uses in Thunderball (1965) and Die Another Day (2002). It is designed to mechanically capture the oxygen gas present in water and store it in a compressed air tank. As creator Jeabyun Yeon describes on his website, water is filtered using a pair of cylindrical shaped gills that house fine threads with "holes smaller than water molecules." A built-in micro compressor, powered by a quick-charging miniaturized battery, then condenses the oxygen, making it readily available as the wearer inhales.

Limbless organisms such as snakes can navigate nearly all terrain. In particular, desert-dwelling sidewinder rattlesnakes (Crotalus cerastes) operate effectively on inclined granular media (such as sand dunes) that induce failure in field-tested limbless robots through slipping and pitching. Our laboratory experiments reveal that as granular incline angle increases, sidewinder rattlesnakes increase the length of their body in contact with the sand. Implementing this strategy in a physical robot model of the snake enables the device to ascend sandy slopes close to the angle of maximum slope stability.

The Bionic Leg provides motorized assistance with extension (straightening your knee), which kicks in when you're standing up from a seated position, swinging your leg forward between steps, and going up stairs. It also provides resistance for flexion (bending your knee), so it kicks in when you're lowering yourself down to sitting, squatting, or when you're going down stairs. It enables patients to move without having to compensate in ways that would slow down their rehab or possibly cause other complications.