Material with eagle-like grasp could lead to grippier robot hands

Most materials bulge out when you squeeze them, pushing the energy outside. But that's not always what you want -- wouldn't it sometimes be better for them to collapse and hold the energy inside? These exotic materials (known as auxetics) already e...

Invisibility ‘cloak’ hides objects by making them seem flat

Humanity is still some distance away from a real, honest-to-goodness invisibility cloak, but British scientists are that much closer to making it practical. They've developed a coating that uses graded refractive index nanocomposite materials (just r...