Rice becomes weaker when compressed quickly, while staying stronger under slow pressure—a discovery enabling scientists to design a new material that could be used to build “soft” robots that change stiffness automatically and protective gear that adapts to impact speed. Researchers harnessed this effect to design a new “metamaterial”—an artificially engineered composite structure designed to behave in ways impossible for natural materials.
Rise of the rice robots—creating active smart materials
-
HighlightsFree Dark Web Monitoring Stamps the $17 Million Credentials Markets
-
HighlightsSmart buildings: What happens to our free will when tech makes choices for us?
-
AppsScreenshots have generated new forms of storytelling, from Twitter fan fiction to desktop film
-
HighlightsDarknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data, supply chain study finds
-
SecurityPrivacy violations undermine the trustworthiness of the Tim Hortons brand
-
Featured HeadlinesWhy Tesla’s Autopilot crashes spurred the feds to investigate driver-assist technologies – and what that means for the future of self-driving cars
