Face-on Alignment More Efficient in Generating Power: Organic Solar Cell Technology

Pooja Kashyap

In an attempt to study the viability of organic solar cell technology, researchers from North Carolina State University and UNC-Chapel Hill have discovered that efficiency of energy transference within three-dimensional organic solar cells increases relatively when there is face-to-face alignment between the donor molecules and the acceptor molecules. Exciton or the concentration of energy formed by excited particle upon absorbing by the material is the phenomenon upon which efficiency of organic solar cells is dependent. Within a solar cell, easier the exciton between the donor and acceptor molecules, higher will…

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Squarepusher and Z-Machines: Music Performing System

Pooja Kashyap

Squarepusher, UK based recording artist famous for the live instrumental playing and digital signal processing has again hit the music world but this time, in a collaborative effort with the Z-Machines, Japan’s party robot band. The evolved band has come up with a 78-fingered guitarist stringing out with 12 picks and a dreadlocked robot drummer. The effort is to explode the stereotypical myth, says Squarepusher where people think human touch or emotion is necessary to churn out the melody, which goes into the music. He wanted to prove that machines…

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Biomimicry: Insect-Inspired Micro-Robots For Stealthy Surveillance

Neha Shukla

Drawing inspiration from tiny insects, researchers at the University of Maryland, are developing the world’s tiniest mobile robot, suitably named as micro robots. These tiny robots are designed to take the long distance leap just as bugs do, with the aim of moving quickly or jump over any obstacle with ease in extremely rough terrain. Sarah Bergbreiter leading the research and other teammates from UM, envision the micro robots helping rescue teams in searching victims by quickly crawling through the rubble, at the disaster site, where humans and other traditional…

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Medical Droid to Perform Surgeries Inside the Human Body: New Endoscopic System

Neha Shukla

Robot assisted surgeries are not new and is being widely used by the surgeons to perform minimal invasive surgeries with great precision. To further extend the benefits of robot assisted minimally invasive surgery such as quicker recovery and shorter hospital stay, Flex system has been designed. This will allow more patients to undergo minimal invasive surgeries, thus cutting down the waiting time in hospitals. 

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10 Unbelievably Startling Facts About Our Universe

Pragati Kashyap

From its acceleration to expansion to dark matter and energy, the Universe continues to consistently amaze and perplex our scientists & astronomers alike. From unimaginably gigantic to incredibly minute stuff, there’s an awful lot going around in this field we refer to as ‘existence’. The recent discovery made by the scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider, a place near Geneva, revealed a startling new fact about elusive Higgs boson particle. A lot of buzz surrounded the information revealed by this discovery regarding the constitution of the fabric of the…

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Reinforcing Positive Thinking Can Morph a Pessimist to an Optimist: Behavior Analysis

Neha Shukla

Brain determines whether an individual is an optimist or pessimist by nature. It’s been quite some time experts were working on defining a set approach that establishes a person’s attitude towards life and lately Jason Moser from Michigan State University has been able to derive a ‘brain marker’ which is responsible for differentiating between positive minded people from negative minded individuals. 

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Anti-Glare Surface based on Moth Eyeballs: Futuristic Solar Panels

Neha Shukla

Researchers observed that the moth eyeball consisted of numerous minute cones arranged in a pattern that diminish glare. This anti reflective property provides the moth with the ability to see during the night and at the same time makes them less visible to the predators around. The team reproduced the pattern on a flexible film and applied a thin layer of gold that could be used to coat various products as solar panels and electronic displays. They also discovered that the material so developed could also repel moisture and dust…

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An Interview with Industrial Designer Ivan Luccion

Pooja Kashyap

Ivan Luccion is an industrial designer from Madison, Wisconsin Area. He has been recipient of the General Motors Fund Scholarship in Industrial Design from 2005 to 2007. As a child, he observed fondness to cars and their designs, which later in his life inspired him to go into the world of designing. Ivan’s current work includes designing cycling helmets and other cycling accessories for the Bontrager brand. He enjoys sketching as he feels it’s one of the most easiest and quickest medium to communicate an original idea. We asked him…

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10 Festo Robots Based on Their Biological Models: Biomimicry

Pooja Kashyap

Festo, a Germany based industrial control and automation company has been into research and development of bionics since more than two decades. It collaborated with renowned universities, institutes, development companies and private inventors across the globe and launched the Bionic Learning Network during 2006. And since then it has been delving into the subject and bringing about the best of biomimicry. Every time their new project gets into air, they prove how they are able to merge industrial automation, and combining electronics with pneumatics in new and efficient ways. Here…

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Everyday Health Monitoring Gets Easy with Stick on Electronic Patches

Neha Shukla

After biomedical engineers from South Korea, who designed a dermal patch that monitor patient’s health and release drug under the skin, scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have come up with another revolutionary dermal, electronic patch that looks like a tattoo. 

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Antibacterial Soaps Proves Ineffective at Homes but not at Hospitals

Neha Shukla

Every other soap or hand wash available in the market, targets the consumers by emphasizing on its anti bacterial quality. Bacteria are the culprits that cause several diseases and infection. Sadly, these microscopic bacteria are present all around us. The easiest way to get rid of these bacteria is to maintain hygiene and so far, it was believed that antibacterial soap and hand wash effectively shield us against these bacteria. 

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Sightless Mechanism of Navigation: Mouth Suction by Cavefish

Neha Shukla

When it comes to visualizing environment, eyes play an important role. But there are other ways of navigation such as echolocation used by bats and dolphins. Recently, researchers studying Mexican blind cavefish (Astyanax fasciatus), have found a unique and new method of navigation. These fishes spend their entire life in the deep sea or dark caves, which are devoid of any source of light and so as the name suggests, their eyes are rendered useless and over the time the fish losses their eyeballs. 

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New Laser Technology Allows for Controlling Lightning Strikes

Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Central Florida have created a technology that has an ability of beaming high-intensity lasers all the way through the layers of atmosphere hence crossing the limitations that it had before. The research is still in its testing phase but the optical scientists envision that it might steer lightning strikes away from human inhabited areas and buildings. Extending the laser beam Lasers undergo diffraction because of which it fades away after beaming some feet only. This phenomenon does not allow it…

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Tactile Stimulation and Reproduction go Hand in Hand Amongst Female Cockroaches

Neha Shukla

Generally, the antenna, key sensory organ of insects is known to aid insects in perceiving information about its surroundings such as availability of food, danger of predator, obstacles and potential mates and so on. They have many sensory receptors for audition, olfaction, balance, stability, gustation, graviception, thermo, hygro and mechanoreception, to name a few. They also play an important role during social interactions. In German cockroaches (Blattella germanica), during such social interaction, antennal contact alters juvenile hormone production which leads to an increase in female reproduction rate. In short the…

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Bioengineered Self Healing Muscle, Successfully Grown in Laboratory

Neha Shukla

Biomedical engineers have finally achieved success in growing skeletal muscle under a laboratory conditions. These laboratory grown muscles, similar to real muscle are capable of contracting and expanding quickly. Most important breakthrough in the research is that the muscles when implanted in mice were capable of healing itself from any injuries, which was not possible till now.

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