Emerging Tech

Harnessing the piezoelectric effect, researchers at Cornell propose a wind-power generator that has more in common with rustling leaves than airplane rotors. Videos after the jump.

GOOD's Nicola Twilley wonders how the industrial analysis of qualities like texture, consistency, and juiciness will transform age-old culinary cultures, in the second in a joint series exploring the science and technology of food.

Researchers have developed a prototype for coiled nanowires that could one day serve as stretchable circuitry. But can they make them walk down nano-stairways on their own?

An Android-powered projector-in-a-lightbulb inspires images of a world in which every gadget wants a heart�or at least a brain.

According to sci-fi novelist Arthur C. Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That's how I feel about American pizza delivery. It's all about an obsession with convenience bordering on the quantum, and it's what makes America the best country in the world.

With chocolate and other delicacies in the genomic crosshairs, it's tempting to imagine science-fictional scenarios for the future of flavor.

A team of scientist at Purdue University takes a biomimetic approach to engineering solar cells, appropriating the components of living systems to novel ends.

The teeth of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus remain sharp through a lifetime of rock-scraping. But do they come with a matching fork for easy carving?

With a fabbed flute, we see emergence at its natal stage; the imperfect copy of the old instrument is a promising harbinger of the novel sounds to come.

The Norwegian firm Elliptic Labs’ booth at CES next week will feature several implementations of a touchless, gesture-based interface for tablets and mobile devices, according to the company. Unlike the Kinect, Elliptic’s interface, called Ultrasonic Touchless Input, graphs hand movements using echolocation. Bathing the user in a silent ultrasonic torrent, it measures the return time of rebounding sonic impulses to ...