David Ruth

Security Breach Podcast

Security Breach Podcast

January 10, 2023

Is540 1 Scenario 4

Cell Phones Add Safety Component

February 6, 2023

2023 Cadillac Lyriq 511

GM Convinces Netflix to Put More EVs on Its Streaming Service

February 2, 2023

Bioengineered Skin Grafts That Fit Like a Glove

February 1, 2023

Industrial Media Unboxing Video

Industrial Media Unboxing Video

IEN Unboxed is a new show in which our editors unbox new tools on the market and discuss their features.

January 31, 2023

A face made of a unique polymer at Rice University takes shape when cooled and flattens when heated. The material may be useful in the creation of soft robots and for biomedical applications.

Shape-Shifting Face

Some have even called this morphing material 'mighty'.

January 7, 2019

Rice University graduate student Gladys López-Silva holds a lithium metal anode with a film of carbon nanotubes. Once the film is attached, it becomes infiltrated by lithium ions and turns red.

Nanotubes Could Give World Better Batteries

Thin nanotube films effectively stop dendrites that grow naturally from unprotected lithium metal anodes in batteries.

October 26, 2018

Laser-induced graphene is a highly conductive addition to a piece of bread. A Rice University lab is using an industrial laser to write graphene patterns on everyday objects, including food, cloth, cardboard and wood.

Do You Take Graphene With Your Toast?

Researchers create patterned graphene onto food, paper, cloth, cardboard.

February 16, 2018

Rice University researchers led by graduate student Dylan Losey want to help humans and robots collaborate by enabling interactive tasks like rehabilitation, surgery and training programs in which environments are less predictable. In early studies, Losey and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, used gentle feedback to train a robot arm to manipulate a coffee cup in real time.

Engineers Refine Collaborative Robots

Like toddlers, robots can use a little help as they learn to function in the physical world.

December 5, 2017

Indented tobermorite, a natural analog to the calcium-silicate-hydrate mix in cement, responds differently than bulk tobermorite, depending on the size of the indentation and the force. Layers that bond through indentation remain that way after the force is removed, according to Rice University engineers.

Unique Properties Found in Indented Cement

How tiny indentations can benefit the crystals in concrete.

July 20, 2017

Rice University engineers have built a lab prototype of a flat microscope they are developing as part of DARPA's Neural Engineering System Design project. The microscope will sit on the surface of the brain, where it will detect optical signals from neurons in the cortex. The goal is to provide an alternate path for sight and sound to be delivered directly to the brain.

Team Develops Microscope for Your Brain

They want to design a new way for sight and sound to be delivered directly to the brain.

July 14, 2017

The internal components of a battery-less pacemaker introduced this week by Rice University and the Texas Heart Institute. The pacemaker can be inserted into the heart and powered by a battery pack outside the body, eliminating the need for wire leads and surgeries to occasionally replace the battery.

Team Debuts Battery-Less Pacemaker

It harvests energy wirelessly from radio frequency radiation transmitted by an external battery pack.

June 6, 2017

Lithium metal coats the hybrid graphene and carbon nanotube anode in a battery created at Rice University. The lithium metal coats the three-dimensional structure of the anode and avoids forming dendrites.

Graphene-Nanotube Hybrid Boots Batteries

These new prototypes store three times the energy of lithium-ion batteries.

May 19, 2017

Molecules that alight on a surface used to test nanocars look more like obstacles, according to researchers at Rice University and North Carolina State University testing the mobility of single-molecule cars in open air.

Nanocars Taken for a Rough Ride

If you're driving a nanocar on the open road, things are bound to get sticky.

June 2, 2016

Test samples show a graphene nanoribbon-based film developed at Rice University with both passive and active de-icing properties. When the film at left is heated without an application of lubricants, ice melts but water droplets remain on the surface. With lubricants, at right, ice begins to melt and slides off. The material may be suitable for de-icing and anti-icing applications in extreme environments.

Graphene De-icer for Aircraft

The new material still melts ice from wings and wires when conditions get too cold, but if it's +7°F, ice won't form at all.

May 23, 2016

A toothpaste-like composite with hexagonal boron nitride developed at Rice University is an effective electrolyte and separator in lithium-ion batteries intended for high-temperature applications.

Compound Helps Lithium Batteries

New ‘white graphene’ allows lithium-ion batteries to set one of the widest temperature ranges ever reported.

April 11, 2016

Rice University scientists embedded graphene nanoribbon-infused epoxy in a section of helicopter blade to test its ability to remove ice through Joule heating.

Graphene Could Keep Ice Off of Wings

Rice University develops conductive material to heat surfaces, simplify ice removal.

January 25, 2016

Rice University postdoctoral researcher Pei Dong holds a sample of SAC, a new form of self-adapting composite. The material has the ability to heal itself and to regain its original shape after extraordinary compression.

Rice Develops Self-Healing, Flexible Composite

An adaptive material invented at Rice University combines self-healing and reversible self-stiffening properties.

January 11, 2016