mechanical and aerospace engineering

A person holds two small blocks of steel metal foam.

Oct 7, 2025

Some Like It Hot: Composite Metal Foam Proves Resilient Against High Stresses at High Temperatures

Coupled with the material’s high strength-to-weight ratio, the finding suggests that CMF could be used in applications ranging from automobile engines to aerospace components to nuclear power technologies.

A police officer and detective lift the caution tape to enter the crime scene of a killing.

Sep 30, 2025

Understanding Bloodstain Patterns Better

New research findings could help forensic analysts more accurately determine how fast blood was traveling when it hits cotton fabric.

satellite image shows the night side of earth, with cities lit up by electric light

Aug 8, 2025

New Physical Model Aims to Boost Energy Storage Research

The new model can be incorporated into computational tools to help design better batteries and capacitors.

a hand wearing a latex glove holds six tiny metal strips, each only millimeters wide and no longer than a thumbnail.

Jul 28, 2025

New Spectrometer Is Small Enough to Fit on Your Phone

The technology makes it possible to create portable, hand-held spectroscopy devices.

red stains are spattered across a white background

Jul 14, 2025

Forensics Study Helps Investigators Draw New Clues From Bloodstains

New research offers key insights into how blood stains cotton fabrics, allowing investigators to gather additional information from forensic evidence.

sunlight reflects off the water on a large lake

Jun 24, 2025

Why The Sun Is So Good At Evaporating Water

The key factor turns out to be the oscillating electric field inherent to sunlight itself.

Jun 6, 2025

Set It and Forget It

Dynamic structures leap into the air on a predetermined schedule without intervention from computers or external stimuli.

May 29, 2025

Laser Technique Revolutionizes Ultra-High Temperature Ceramic Manufacturing for Space, Defense Applications

The new technique uses lasers to create ceramics that can withstand ultra-high temperatures, with applications ranging from nuclear power technologies to spacecraft and jet exhaust systems.

diagram illustrates physical forces that allow users to concentrate particles in liquid using ultrasound

May 21, 2025

Physics Advance Details New Way to Control Solid Objects in Liquid

The discovery will allow researchers to engineer technologies that make use of the technique to develop applications in fields such as biomedical testing and drug development.

illustration shows an aerial tramcar next to a soft robot that can also ascend and descend along a track

Apr 28, 2025

High-Wire Act: Soft Robot Can Carry Cargo Up and Down Steep Aerial Wires

Researchers have created a light-powered soft robot that can carry loads through the air along established tracks, similar to cable cars or aerial trams.

A underwater photograph of a manta ray swimming in the ocean in French Polynesia.

Dec 13, 2024

The World’s Fastest Swimming Robot

Drawing inspiration from manta rays, NC State researchers have engineered a soft robot that can swim even faster than its record-breaking predecessor.

left image is titled support and shows a black polymer sheet lifting four stacked petri dishes that are loaded with spheres. right image is title manipulates and shows a black polymer sheet undulating in a way that rotates the multicolored spheres in a petri dish in a counterclockwise direction

Dec 6, 2024

Magnetically Controlled Kirigami Surfaces Move Objects: No Grasping Needed

The new technology is useful for lifting and moving items that cannot be easily grasped, such as fragile objects, gels or liquids.

time-lapse image from a video shows a manta-shaped soft robot swimming over and under obstacles in a glass tank filled with water

Dec 4, 2024

Manta Rays Inspire the Fastest Swimming Soft Robot Yet

A team of researchers has drawn inspiration from manta rays and beaten its own record for the fastest swimming soft robot.

Aug 13, 2024

Quantitative Ultrasound Parameters Offer New Tool for Diagnosing Lung Disease

The researchers demonstrated the parameters' ability to accurately diagnose and assess the severity of lung diseases in an animal model.

image shows four photos of a glove and a graph. The hand wearing the glove is underwater. In each photo, the hand is extending a different number of fingers, which correspond to different electrical signals shown on the graph.

Aug 7, 2024

‘Amphibious’ Sensors Make New, Waterproof Technologies Possible

Researchers have demonstrated a technique for creating sensors that can function both in air and underwater.