Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current through the cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.

A few years ago, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched its Very High Efficiency Solar Cell (VHESC) program. DARPA challenged the industry and the research community to make solar cells more efficient -- as measured by how well a solar cell converts the light it absorbs into electrical energy.

Crackling embers and glowing firebrands might make for a romantic evening in front of the fireplace, but for homeowners in high fire-risk areas, windborne fire material is the stuff of nightmares. To learn how to mitigate such threats, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have built a firebrand generator that can be used to study the way firebrands ignite structures.

Toshiba Corporation announced that it has won a major contract, to supply five large supercritical steam turbines and generators to the TATA Power Company Limited, India's largest private power sector utility.

A team of chemists at Brown University have devised a simple way to synthesize iron-platinum nanorods and nanowires while controlling both size and composition. Nanorods with uniform shape and magnetic alignment are one key to the next generation of high-density information storage, but have been difficult to make in bulk.