Recreating the bi-axial deformation experienced by steel during stamp forming is allowing researchers to engineer the microstructure and yield lighter parts. As the low hanging lightweighting fruits are picked, automotive manufacturers have to now work that bit harder to shed the pounds. BMW is perhaps one of the more progressive examples of a manufacturer driving composite R&D in a major way. However, it is not simply abandoning metal, and l...

A tracking system called HYPERION based on eye-safe lasers could enable aircraft, UAVs and even orbiting satellites to transmit vital data to ground stations more securely, quickly and efficiently. The development of HYPERION has been pioneered by a joint team through Innovate UK's HITEA programme: the University of Oxford with funding from the EPSRC, and Airbus Group Innovations with Innovate UK support.

Storing sunlight as fuel that can be later used to drive fuel cells requires new materials. Scientists demonstrated such a material. They combined two oxides on the atomic scale. The interface between the oxide materials, one containing strontium and titanium (SrTiO3) and one containing lanthanum and chromium (LaCrO3), absorbs visible light, producing electrons and holes that might be useful for catalysing reactions, such as producing hydrogen fu...

Climate change could kill more than 500,000 adults in 2050 worldwide due to changes in diets and bodyweight from reduced crop productivity, according to new estimates published in The Lancet. The research is the strongest evidence yet that climate change could have damaging consequences for food production and health worldwide.

Progress has been announced in the quest to overcome one of the biggest obstacles to cheap solar power. A tandem solar cell exceeding 25 percent efficiency has been proven possible, but the long-run potential is much higher. Perovskite cells have shaken up solar research. They are potentially very cheap to make, and while their efficiency doesn't yet match the best silicon cells, records have been broken faster than for any previous cell-typ...

  Millimetre-sized crystals of high-quality graphene can be made in minutes instead of hours using a new scalable technique, Oxford University researchers have demonstrated.