TED Talks, the most popular conference and events website in the world with over 1 billion informational videos viewed, provides academics with increased popular exposure but does nothing to boost citations of their work by peers, new research has found.

Three-dimensional printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.

For less than $100, researchers have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that helps scientists see inside the brains of children with learning disabilities while they read and write.

Taking a page from computer-aided drug designers, researchers have developed a computational method that chemists can use to tailor the properties of zeolites, one of the world's most-used industrial minerals. The method allows chemists to work backward by first considering the type of zeolite they wish to make and then creating the organic template needed to produce it.

Researchers have proposed a new way to distinguish between quantum bits that are placed only a few nanometers apart in a silicon chip, taking them a step closer to the construction of a large-scale quantum computer. In a significant feat of atomic engineering, they were also able to read-out the spins of individual electrons on a cluster of phosphorus atoms that had been placed precisely in silicon.

An algorithm makes it possible to measure the dimensions of a room using just a few microphones and a snap of your fingers. There are many promising applications on the horizon.

NASA's communications experts have begun flight testing a prototype radio as part of the agency's contributions toward fully integrating civil and commercial Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). This particular radio is one of the first steps to provide the critical communications link for UAS pilots on the ground to safely and securely operate their remotely piloted vehicles in flight even though they are many miles -- if not continents or oceans -- apart.

Researchers report the first purely physical experimental evidence that an invisible and chaotic tug-of-war known as a chimera state can occur naturally within any process that relies on spontaneous synchronization, including clock pendulums, power grids and heart valves.

Researchers have developed a new method to design synthetic materials and quickly turn the design into reality using computer optimization and 3-D printing.

Thanks to its legs, whose design faithfully reproduces feline morphology, a four-legged "cheetah-cub robot" has the same advantages as its model: it is small, light and fast. Still in its experimental stage, the robot will serve as a platform for research in locomotion and biomechanics.

Scientists in Spain have developed a system based on augmented reality that, thanks to intelligent glasses, enables a professor to see notes or comments on the contents of a lesson and to see if the students understand explanations or if, on the contrary, they are having doubts or difficulties.

The harder you pull, the quicker it goes. At least, that used to be the rule in mechanochemistry, a method that researchers apply to set chemical reactions in motion by means of mechanical forces. However, as chemists report in a new study, more force cannot in fact be translated one to one into a faster reaction. With complex molecular dynamic simulations on a supercomputer, they unmasked the Janus-faced nature of mechanochemistry. Up to a certain force, the reaction rate increases in proportion to the force. If this threshold is exceeded, greater mechanical forces speed up the reaction to a much lesser extent.

A new software system could help people improve their conversational and interview skills.

Scientists are evaluating the impact of a website based on the interaction between its users with the entire Web.

Researchers want airports, border checkpoints and others to detect homemade explosives made with hydrogen peroxide without nabbing people whose toothpaste happens to contain peroxide.

Scientists have outlined how advanced mathematical modelling can be used in the fight against cancer. The technique predicts how different treatments and genetic modifications might allow cancer-killing, oncolytic viruses to overcome the natural defences that cancer cells use to stave off viral infection.

A new array measures vibrations across skin may help engineers design tactile displays.

With modern communication aids, users of electric powered wheelchairs can operate a PC and cellphone without human assistance. A new module is set to transform electric powered wheelchairs into communication hubs.

A new United Nations analysis shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, about 800 million more people than the previous projection issued in 2011.

Compressor and turbine blades are important components in aircraft engines and gas turbines. When they become damaged, it is often cheaper to repair them than to buy replacements. Now there is a new robotassisted technique that is boosting efficiency.