Engineering Innovation, February 2010

A new contraption, inspired by a beetle, “uses the surface tension of water to make an adhesive bond.” Researchers believe the new adhesive could be used to make adhesive shoes or gloves, which could even allow humans to walk on walls.

Dr. Paul Steen (RI A ’75), professor at Cornell University says, “… if you make a lot of them and can control them, like the beetle does, you can get strong adhesion.” Read more from MSNBC’s TechNewsDaily

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Researchers that produced a small printer capable of printing electronic circuits from conductive ink on the nanoscale are now “modifying the technique to manipulate biological cells or biomolecules such as DNA.”

Read more about the process and the implications of the new cell-printing technique for artificial tissue manufacturing.

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There is a new spray known as “liquid glass” that when applied to “nearly any surface, an invisible non-toxic layer of silicon just one millionth of a millimeter thick can protect underlying matter from water, bacteria, dirt, and even UV radiation.”

Nanopool is the company producing the new liquid glass. According to reports from Popular Science, there is still some work to be done, but the liquid mixture is “made almost entirely of pure silicon dioxide and is harmless to the environment and could replace a variety of harsh cleaning chemicals.” Read article

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