Gas sensors are essential for personal safety and environmental monitoring, but traditional sensors have limitations in sensitivity and energy efficiency. Now, researchers from Japan have developed an improved gas-sensing technology by treating graphene sheets with plasma under different conditions, creating structural and chemical defects that enhance ammonia detection. These functionalized graphene sheets exhibited superior sensing performance compared to pristine graphene, potentially paving the way for wearable gas detection devices for everyday use.

Modern aircraft require compact, low-profile antennas to minimize radar detection and maintain aerodynamic efficiency, but current designs often cover only narrow frequency ranges. Now, researchers from China have developed a new ultra-wideband, omnidirectional circular ring antenna with a height of just 0.047 times the low-frequency wavelength and a width of 0.19 times the wavelength, achieving an impedance bandwidth of 12:1, fulfilling the performance requirements for multifunctional airborne antennas.

By watching their own motions with a camera, robots can teach themselves about the structure of their own bodies and how they move, a new study from researchers at Columbia Engineering now reveals. Equipped with this knowledge, the robots could not only plan their own actions, but also overcome damage to their bodies.

"Like humans learning to dance by watching their mirror reflection, robots now use raw video to build kinematic self-awareness," says study lead author Yuhang Hu, a doctoral student at the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, directed by Hod Lipson, James and Sally Scapa Professor of Innovation and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Our goal is a robot that understands its own body, adapts to damage, and learns new skills without constant human programming."