Construction News

October 25, 2025

Top Headlines

New Rocket Fuel Compound Packs 150% More Energy

Sep. 30, 2025 — A new boron-rich compound, manganese diboride, delivers much higher energy density than current solid-rocket materials while remaining stable until intentionally ignited. Its power comes from an unusual, strained atomic structure formed during ...

New Cooling Breakthrough Nearly Doubles Efficiency

Sep. 20, 2025 — CHESS thin-film materials nearly double refrigeration efficiency compared to traditional methods. Scalable and versatile, they promise applications from household cooling to space ...

This Tiny Iron Catalyst Could Transform the Future of Clean Energy

Aug. 27, 2025 — Hydrogen fuel cells could power cars, devices, and homes with nothing but water as a byproduct—but platinum’s cost holds them back. Chinese researchers have now unveiled a breakthrough iron-based catalyst that could rival platinum while boosting ...

Building Electronics That Don’t Die: Columbia's Breakthrough at CERN

July 29, 2025 — Deep beneath the Swiss-French border, the Large Hadron Collider unleashes staggering amounts of energy and radiation—enough to fry most electronics. Enter a team of Columbia engineers, who built ultra-rugged, radiation-resistant chips that now ...

Digital Twins Are Reinventing Clean Energy — But There’s a Catch

July 29, 2025 — Researchers are exploring AI-powered digital twins as a game-changing tool to accelerate the clean energy transition. These digital models simulate and optimize real-world energy systems like wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass. But while ...

Scientists Discover Salt That Makes Batteries Last 10x Longer

July 27, 2025 — A team at KAUST has revealed that the short lifespan of aqueous batteries is primarily due to "free water" molecules triggering harmful chemical reactions at the anode. By adding affordable sulfate salts like zinc sulfate, they significantly reduced ...

Concrete That Lasts Centuries and Captures Carbon? AI Just Made It Possible

July 23, 2025 — Imagine concrete that not only survives wildfires and extreme weather, but heals itself and absorbs carbon from the air. Scientists at USC have created an AI model called Allegro-FM that simulates billions of atoms at once, helping design futuristic ...

Forget 3D Printing—DNA and Water Now Build Tiny Machines That Assemble Themselves

July 10, 2025 — Imagine if you could "print" a tiny skyscraper using DNA instead of steel. That’s what researchers at Columbia and Brookhaven are doing—constructing intricate 3D nanostructures by harnessing the ...

Lasers Capture the Invisible Dance of Wind and Waves

July 10, 2025 — A laser-equipped research platform has, for the first time, photographed airflow just millimeters above ocean waves, revealing two simultaneous wind–wave energy-transfer tricks—slow short waves steal power from the breeze, while long giants ...

Synthetic Compound Shows Promise Against Multidrug Resistance

June 3, 2025 — Researchers have synthesized a new compound called infuzide that shows activity against resistant strains of ...

Insect Protein Blocks Bacterial Infection

June 2, 2025 — Scientists in Australia have developed a smart, bacteria-repelling coating based on resilin the ultra-elastic protein that gives fleas their legendary jumping power. When applied to surfaces like medical implants or surgical tools, the engineered ...

Researchers Develop Recyclable, Healable Electronics

June 2, 2025 — Electronics often get thrown away after use because recycling them requires extensive work for little payoff. Researchers have now found a way to change the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:49pm EDT

JWST May Have Found the Universe’s First Stars Powered by Dark Matter

Oct. 14, 2025 — New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope hint that the universe’s first stars might not have been ordinary fusion-powered suns, but enormous “supermassive dark stars” powered by ...

Room-Temperature Quantum Breakthrough Freezes Motion Without Cooling

Aug. 18, 2025 — ETH Zurich scientists have levitated a tower of three nano glass spheres using optical tweezers, suppressing almost all classical motion to observe quantum zero-point fluctuations with unprecedented ...

Quantum Tunneling Mystery Solved After 100 Years—and It Involves a Surprise Collision

July 28, 2025 — For the first time ever, scientists have watched electrons perform a bizarre quantum feat: tunneling through atomic barriers by not just slipping ...

Ghost Particles May Secretly Decide the Fate of Collapsing Stars

July 28, 2025 — Neutrinos, ghostly particles barely interacting with matter, may secretly be reshaping the fates of massive stars. New research suggests that as stars collapse, they form natural "neutrino ...

Decades of Chemistry Rewritten: A Textbook Reaction Just Flipped

July 28, 2025 — Penn State researchers have uncovered a surprising twist in a foundational chemical reaction known as oxidative addition. Typically believed to involve transition metals donating electrons to organic ...

Why Broken Crystals Are Stronger

July 17, 2025 — Crystals may seem flawless, but deep inside they contain tiny structural imperfections that dramatically influence their strength and behavior. Researchers from The University of Osaka have used the ...

Scientists Freeze Quantum Motion Using Ultrafast Laser Trick

June 5, 2025 — Harvard and PSI scientists have managed to freeze normally fleeting quantum states in time, creating a pathway to control them using pure electronic tricks and laser ...

Predicting Underwater Landslides Before They Strike

May 30, 2025 — A new method for predicting underwater landslides may improve the resilience of offshore ...

Waste to Foundation: Transforming Construction Waste Into High-Performance Material

May 30, 2025 — In a major advancement for sustainable construction, scientists have created a cement-free soil solidifier from industrial waste. By combining Siding ...

Laser Technique Revolutionizes Ultra-High Temperature Ceramic Manufacturing for Space, Defense Applications

May 30, 2025 — Researchers have demonstrated a new technique that uses lasers to create ceramics that can withstand ultra-high temperatures, with applications ...

Earlier Headlines

Thousands of Sensors Reveal 3D Structure of Earthquake-Triggered Sound Waves

May 29, 2025 — Earthquakes create ripple effects in Earth's upper atmosphere that can disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems we rely on. Scientists have now used Japan's extensive network ...

Cryogenic Hydrogen Storage and Delivery System for Next-Generation Aircraft

May 27, 2025 — Researchers have designed a liquid hydrogen storage and delivery system that could help make zero-emission aviation a reality. Their work outlines a scalable, integrated system that addresses several ...

A Faster, More Reliable Method for Simulating the Plasmas Used to Make Computer Chips

May 22, 2025 — Researchers developed a faster, more stable way to simulate the swirling electric fields inside industrial plasmas -- the kind used to make microchips and coat materials. The improved method could ...

How Property Owners Can Work to Prevent Flooding

May 22, 2025 — The risk of heavy rainfall and severe flooding increases with climate change. But property owners -- regardless of size -- often underestimate their own responsibility and are unaware of what ...

Personal Space Chemistry Suppressed by Perfume and Body Lotion Indoors

May 21, 2025 — In 2022 a team discovered that high levels of OH radicals can be generated indoors, simply due to the presence of people and ozone. This means: People generate their own oxidation field and change ...

Nano-Engineered Thermoelectrics Enable Scalable, Compressor-Free Cooling

May 21, 2025 — Researchers have unveiled a breakthrough in solid-state cooling technology, doubling the efficiency of today's commercial systems. Driven by the Lab's patented nano-engineered thin-film ...

Mind the Band Gap! -- Researchers Create New Nanoscale Forms of Elementary Semiconductor With Tunable Electronic Properties

May 21, 2025 — Researchers have demonstrated that by using a semiconductor with flexible bonds, the material can be moulded into various structures using nano containers, without altering its composition, the ...

Investment Risk for Energy Infrastructure Construction Is Highest for Nuclear Power Plants, Lowest for Solar

May 19, 2025 — The average energy project costs 40% more than expected for construction and takes almost two years longer than planned, finds a new global study. One key insight: The investment risk is highest for ...

Using Sound to 'See' Unexploded Munitions on the Seafloor

May 19, 2025 — More than 400 underwater sites in the United States are potentially contaminated with unexploded ordnance -- weapons that did not explode upon ...

Nimble Dimples: Agile Underwater Vehicles Inspired by Golf Balls

May 19, 2025 — Underwater or aerial vehicles with dimples like golf balls could be more efficient and maneuverable, a new prototype has ...

UCF's 'Bridge Doctor' Combines Imaging, Neural Network to Efficiently Evaluate Concrete Bridges' Safety

May 16, 2025 — New research details how infrared thermography, high-definition imaging and neural network analysis can combine to make concrete bridge inspections more efficient. Researchers are hopeful that their ...

Satellite Data from Ship Captures Landslide-Generated Tsunami

May 14, 2025 — New research demonstrates shipborne navigation systems have potential to improve tsunami detection and ...

Enzymes from Scratch

May 13, 2025 — Researchers have developed a new workflow for designing enzymes from scratch, paving the way toward more efficient, powerful and environmentally benign chemistry. The new method allows designers to ...

Tapping a New Toolbox, Engineers Buck Tradition in New High-Performing Heat Exchanger

May 12, 2025 — A team engineers created a twisty high-temperature heat exchanger that outperformed a traditional straight channel design in heat transfer, power density and effectiveness and used an innovative ...

Bringing Superconducting Nanostructures to 3D

May 9, 2025 — An international team has pioneered a nano-3D printing method to create superconducting nanostructures, leading to groundbreaking technological ...

Ping Pong Bot Returns Shots With High-Speed Precision

May 8, 2025 — Engineers developed a ping-pong-playing robot that quickly estimates the speed and trajectory of an incoming ball and precisely hits it to a desired location on the ...

Cracking the Code: Deciphering How Concrete Can Heal Itself

May 7, 2025 — Lichen is an understated presence in our everyday world, often found clinging to trees and rocks. Its true beauty lies in its unique symbiotic system of fungi and algae, or cyanobacteria, that form a ...

Robotic Touch Sensors Are Not Just Skin Deep

May 5, 2025 — Researchers argue that the problem that has been lurking in the margins of many papers about touch sensors lies in the robotic skin ...

Big Problem for Fusion Energy Solved

May 5, 2025 — A new shortcut can help engineers design leak-proof magnetic confinement systems for fusion reactors 10 times as fast as the gold standard method, without sacrificing accuracy. While several other ...

'Wood You Believe It?' Engineers Fortify Wood With Eco-Friendly Nano-Iron

Apr. 28, 2025 — With more than 181.5 billion tons of wood produced globally each year, a new method could revolutionize how we build sustainably. By infusing red oak with ferrihydrite using a simple, low-cost ...