A new eel-inspired swimming robot made of soft electroactive polymer can minimize harm to wildlife and fragile structures while exploring underwater environments

Optical three-dimensional (3D) measurement plays a vital role in various fields such as intelligent manufacturing and biomedical engineering, particularly in high-precision inspection and the reconstruction of complex structures. Current 3D measurement techniques are broadly categorized into interferometric and non-interferometric approaches. Interferometric methods, such as shear interferometry and white-light interferometry, are widely applied in nanometer-scale metrology and precision manufacturing due to their superior depth resolution. However, these techniques often rely on complex optical setups composed of numerous bulk optical components, resulting in bulky systems with high environmental stability requirements, thereby limiting their suitability for real-time, in-line measurement applications.

Penn professors Masoud Akbarzadeh of the Weitzman School and Shu Yang of the School of Engineering and Applied Science have created a 3D concrete printing system that boosts both carbon capture and structural performance. “It wasn’t just about aesthetics or reducing mass,” Akbarzadeh says. “It was about unlocking a new structural logic. We could reduce material by almost 70% and still carry the load, showing it’s possible to do so much more with so much less.”

Dr. Nate Veldt has been selected to receive an award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research his work in modeling complex networks using hypergraphs. 

In a new book, MIT literature professor Benjamin Mangrum explores how we deal with our doubts and fears about computing through humor, whether reconciling ourselves to machines or critiquing them.

Rising toxins found in bowhead whales, harvested for subsistence purposes by Alaska Native communities, reveal that ocean warming is causing higher concentrations of algal toxins in Arctic food webs, according to new research published today in the journal Nature.