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Engineering

A cooling device built to last: Sustainable refrigeration system maintains performance through one million cycles

Although invaluable to modern society, refrigeration faces challenges from traditional vapor-compression systems, which are energy-intensive and use refrigerants that exacerbate the greenhouse effect and damage the ozone ...

Engineering

Pilot system couples seawater desalination with hydrogen production

Seawater holds enormous potential for green hydrogen production, but realizing that potential remains far from straightforward. Direct seawater electrolysis can damage electrodes, whereas conventional freshwater electrolysis ...

Engineering

Waste from paper production could help make stronger, lower-carbon car materials

Carbon fiber is a key component in automobile manufacturing, aerospace engineering and energy infrastructure, but it mostly relies on petroleum-derived products, which can be expensive and contribute to carbon emissions. ...

Robotics

Bio-inspired whiskers enable tiny drones to navigate in darkness using touch

Rats and mice can scurry through dark, tight spaces with ease—in caves, underground burrows, buildings or sewers. Their superpower is their whiskers. Now, tiny autonomous drones could soon navigate through darkness, dust ...

Technology news

Electronics & Semiconductors

Harvesting hot electrons could break solar panel barrier

Physics predicts that no more than 33% of the solar energy that falls on a solar panel can be converted into electricity. However, experiments and simulations by scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands ...