3+ week, 2+ day ago  (1448+ words) It's studded with tiny dots that vibrate to mimic the feel of real-world textures Worn on a fingertip, the new device uses a grid of tiny nodes to simulate textures, such as the feel of fabrics. Phones, tablets and other…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago  (1724+ words) Despite their size, the machines move, sense and make decisions on their own A tiny autonomous robot, less than a millimeter across, is pictured over a penny for scale. The image is so zoomed in that it's hard to identify…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago  (825+ words) Juan Espinoza is looking to automate agriculture " and'maybe one'day help you buy a car As a graduate student, Juan Espinoza designed an automated device'that makes citrus picking easier. Improper picking can damage fruit,'making it less valuable.'Now he has…...

4+ mon, 2+ week ago  (637+ words) Such "Miura-Ori" folds could be used to design pop-up emergency shelters Miles Wu (left) tested how much weight different versions of the Miura-Ori origami folds (right) could support. Miles Wu, 14, has been folding origami for seven years. Some of his…...

4+ mon, 3+ week ago  (1767+ words) You can defy gravity using sound waves, magnetism or even electricity In Avatar: The Last Airbender, waterbenders can levitate liquid water and solid ice. With a simple swish-and-flick of his wand, Ron Weasley yanks a troll's club high above its…...

6+ mon, 1+ week ago  (820+ words) The fanlike feet unfurl automatically, helping both bugs and bot dart across water A water strider known as the ripple bug has frilly fans on its feet. Those fans help it dart and turn atop turbulent rivers. If you want…...

6+ mon, 3+ week ago  (1504+ words) At the micro scale, their gap-filled wings work better than solid ones Some of the world's smallest insects, like the featherwing beetle in this microscope image, have wings that look more like combs than membranes. S. Farisenkov et al/Nature 2022 (CC…...

10+ mon, 2+ week ago  (1133+ words) The soft robot can cross uneven terrain and even walk underwater This 3-D printed robot doesn't need electronics. Instead, it uses an air canister to move. June 16, 2025 at 6: 30 am A new air-powered robot can practically walk right off the 3-D…...

10+ mon, 3+ week ago  (874+ words) The one-legged bot leaps from one perch to another " just like an agile squirrel This robot was named Salto " for saltatorial, a term meaning able to leap. Here, the squirrel-like bot jumps from one pipe to another and lands balanced…...

11+ mon, 1+ week ago  (1778+ words) Katie Grace Carpenter is a science writer and curriculum developer, with degrees in biology and biogeochemistry. She also writes science fiction and creates science videos. Katie lives in the U. S. but also spends time in Sweden with her husband, who's a…...