Engineering

Nanotechnology is one of the hot buzzwords of the 21st century. You know that it has to do with things that are very small, but just what are the implications of technology on the molecular scale, anyway?

ByJonathan Strickland

If people could create nanomachines, they might be able to help fight diseases on the molecular level. They might even be able to replicate themselves. But what happens if that process gets out of hand?

ByJonathan Strickland

The American Marketing Association created the Edison Awards to honor inventors and their innovations. With many great ideas to choose from, what are some of the nominees for 2010?

ByNathan Chandler

It's common knowledge that Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph, but did you know he also developed concrete furniture and a phone to communicate with the dead?

ByMartha Barksdale

The Edison Awards annually honor the best new, cutting-edge products, companies and business executives -- all in the name of the record-setting inventor, Thomas Edison. What exactly does it take to earn an Edison Award?

ByElizabeth Sprouse

X-ray machines seem to do the impossible: They see straight through clothing, flesh and even metal, thanks to some very cool scientific principles at work. Find out how X-ray machines see straight to your bones.

ByTom Harris

A robot and a human being are made up of the same basic components. And with each passing decade, robots become more lifelike. Find out how robots operate and the marvelous things they're already doing.

ByTom Harris&Chris Pollette

CAT scans take X-ray imaging to a whole new level. Find out how a CAT scan machine uses "slices" to form a 3-D computer model of a patient's insides.

ByTom Harris

While traveling along the Interstate, you may have noticed that truck weigh stations occasionally dot the highway. What are these weigh stations for, and how do they measure the weight of a truck? Find out the answer in this article.

Unlike a regular SCUBA regulator which creates bubbles when the person wearing the apparatus exhales, a rebreather produces no bubbles when someone exhales. What exactly is a rebreather and how does it work?

One of my co-workers has an interesting thermometer on his desk. It is a glass tube with different-colored floating things in it. What kind of thermometer is this, and how does it work?

In the news about the recent accident at a ski resort in Austria, the reporters called the cable car that carried the skiers up the mountain a "funicular railway." What is that and how does it work?

纳米技术是新的,没有人能确定what will come of it. Even so, predictions range from the ability to reproduce things like diamonds and food to the world being devoured by self-replicating nanorobots.

By Kevin Bonsor &Jonathan Strickland

Radio controlled toys are as popular with adults as they are with kids. Get inside an RC truck and find out how it translates radio signals into motion.

By Jeff Tyson

The world's first floating city is absolutely gigantic, fully loaded with amenities and necessities and could set sail in about three years. Find out what the Freedom Ship has in store for its lucky residents.

By Kevin Bonsor

Ultrasound lets us peek into the human body to see everything from heart valves to a moving baby. But how do sound waves give us a picture?

ByCraig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

Smart Structures will completely change the way buildings react to earthquakes! See how they will work!

By Kevin Bonsor

See "Back to the Future 2"? Drool much over those hoverboards? Find out how these devices will work and see one that already does!

By Kevin Bonsor

In a lot of movies you see windows that are 'bulletproof.' Does bulletproof glass really exist, and if so, how does it work?

What if a scan could not only help diagnose diseases of the brain, but maybe even determine what we're thinking and feeling? A noninvasive fMRI test could do just that.

ByStephanie Watson

This nonlethal weapon doesn't cause any lasting damage, but it may cause you to pray to the porcelains gods if an officer shines one in your eyes long enough to subdue you.

ByCraig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

For a process that simply bonds two pieces of metal, welding affects a lot of our world and some stuff that's out of this world, like the International Space Station. What's it like to man the torch?

ByJonathan Atteberry

Will we see robots with Transformers' capabilities during our lifetimes? Some existing robots have a lot in common with Transformers. Learn how.

ByTracy V. Wilson

Learn all about BrainPort, a device for sensory substitution by electrotactile stimulation.

ByJulia Layton

I am curious about the ignition system in my lawn mower. I know that a spark plug creates a high-voltage spark, and I know in my car the electricity for the spark comes from the battery. My lawn mower doesn't have a battery, so where does the electricty come from?