A new class of coatings that sheds ice effortlessly from even large surfaces has moved researchers closer to their decades-long goal of ice-proofing cargo ships, airplanes, power lines and other large structures. The spray-on coatings, developed at the University of Michigan, cause ice to fall away from structures—regardless of their size—with just the force of…
A Jetsons Future? Assessing the Role of Flying Cars in Sustainable Mobility
In the 1960s animated sitcom The Jetsons, George Jetson commutes to work in his family-size flying car, which miraculously transforms into a briefcase at the end of the trip. A new study of the environmental sustainability impacts of flying cars, formally known as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOLs, finds that they wouldn’t…
3D Printing 100 Times Faster with Light
Rather than building up plastic filaments layer by layer, a new approach to 3D printing lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid at up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing processes, University of Michigan researchers have shown. 3D printing could change the game for relatively small manufacturing jobs, producing fewer than 10,000…
Battery Prototype Incorporates Cartilage-Like Material
Your knees and your smartphone battery have some surprisingly similar needs, a University of Michigan professor has discovered, and that new insight has led to a “structural battery” prototype that incorporates a cartilage-like material to make the batteries highly durable and easy to shape. The idea behind structural batteries is to store energy in structural…
3-D Printing Gets A Turbo Boost From New Technology
A major drawback to 3-D printing — the slow pace of the work — could be alleviated through a software algorithm developed at the University of Michigan. The algorithm allows printers to deliver high-quality results at speeds up to two times faster than those in common use, with no added hardware costs. One of the…
3-D Printing Gets A Turbo Boost From U-M Technology
A major drawback to 3-D printing—the slow pace of the work—could be alleviated through a software algorithm developed at the University of Michigan. The algorithm allows printers to deliver high-quality results at speeds up to two times faster than those in common use, with no added hardware costs. One of the challenges for today’s 3-D…
Smartphones Uncover How the World Sleeps
A pioneering study of worldwide sleep patterns combines math modeling, mobile apps and big data to parse the roles society and biology each play in setting sleep schedules. The study, led by University of Michigan mathematicians, used a free smartphone app that reduces jetlag to gather robust sleep data from thousands of people in 100…
High-Tech Bird Watching for Shapeshifting Airplane Wings
An international team of engineers and biologists will gain unprecedented insights into how birds fly so efficiently and then turn that knowledge to building unmanned aircraft with shapeshifting wings. These planes should be lighter, faster and dramatically more maneuverable than today’s stiff-winged aircraft. Recently awarded a $6 million grant from the Air Force Office of…
Hall Thruster a Serious Contender to Get Humans to Mars
The spacecraft engine that will help take humans to Mars may be based on a University of Michigan prototype. NASA gave this dream new credibility by funding a spaceflight propulsion system to be built around a tabletop-sized thruster developed by Alec Gallimore, the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering and an Arthur F. Thurnau…
‘Supercool’ Material Glows When You Write on It
A new material developed at the University of Michigan stays liquid more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit below its expected freezing point, but a light touch can cause it to form yellow crystals that glow under ultraviolet light. Even living cells sitting on a film of the supercooled liquid produce crystal footprints, which means that it’s…
‘Bulletproof’ Battery Tech to Prevent Fires
New battery technology from the University of Michigan should be able to prevent the kind of fires that grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2013. The innovation is an advanced barrier between the electrodes in a lithium-ion battery. Made with nanofibers extracted from Kevlar, the tough material in bulletproof vests, the barrier stifles the growth of…
Photos of the Day: 3D Printed Splint Saves Baby’s Life
Garrett is just the second person whose life was saved with a new, bioresorbable device developed at the University of Michigan by Glenn Green, M.D., associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology and Scott Hollister, Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and associate professor of surgery at U-M. Read: Second Life Saved with Bioresorbable Splint Hollister…
How Do You Land a Probe on a Comet?
Two comets will be swinging around the sun in 2013, allowing for rare naked-eye appearances by the elusive balls of rock and ice. But 2014 and 2015 will be the real exciting years for space enthusiasts as the Rosetta spacecraft is set to land a probe on a comet for the first ever up-close inspection.…