New type of carbon-capturing wood discovered in nature

Tulip trees have been around for millions of years, but a new analysis of their structure has revealed a previously unknown type of wood. The finding could explain why the trees are great at sequestering carbon and help our efforts to do the same.

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Watch: Walls, furniture and stairs prove no match for wheeled robodog

Around this time last year, Chinese robotics company Unitree caught our attention with the impressive circus tricks and GPT chat capabilities of its $1,600 second-generation robot dog. Now the company has wheeled out an all-terrain upgrade.

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Innovative ‘solid knitting’ machine builds 100% reconfigurable objects

A new materials technique that takes cues from Grandma's yarn bag and cutting-edge tech has the potential to automatically build whole furniture sets – and the fabric that covers them. Then, they can be unraveled to use again in a totally different way.

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Cylinder sails promise up to 90% fuel consumption cut for cargo ships

Looking like a set of bridge supports that were accidentally installed on a cargo ship, a new wind-driven system by startup CoFlow Jet promises to reduce ship fuel costs by up to 90% using stationary cylinders with no moving parts.

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A familiar culprit thought to be why depression affects motivation

Exercise’s positive effect on depression is well-known, but not how it produces its anti-depressant effects. After reviewing a broad range of studies into how depression and physical activity affect motivation, researchers have now come up with a hypothesis.

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Fully-automatic robot dentist performs world’s first human procedure

Nightmare fuel? Maybe – but in a historic moment for the dental profession, an AI-controlled autonomous robot has performed an entire procedure on a human patient for the first time, about eight times faster than a human dentist could do it.

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Nanoscale ‘Russian doll’ tech delivers two drugs at different times

Researchers have developed technology that creates nanoscale sacs containing a compartment within a compartment, like a Russian matryoshka doll. The novel tech is capable of delivering two drugs simultaneously or at different times.

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Bulge-bellied hybrid-electric airliner to debut in 2028

Travellers could be making all-electric airline flights as soon as 2028. That's when Heart Aerospace's well-funded hybrid-drive ES-30 is planned to enter service, with a projected battery range of 200 km (124 miles) – or much farther in hybrid mode.

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Origami bike rack snaps into cargo basket in milliseconds

Sometimes a cyclist needs a big, old basket. Sometimes a big, old basket is the last thing they need. The new Allpacka One ensures they're happy in both cases, riding as a flat rack on regular commutes and fast-folding into a 30-L basket on demand.

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Truck camping kit gives Toyota Tacoma a modular camper van floor plan

Catapult has a more comprehensive solution for the common pickup camping topper. Its camping system pairs a wedge pop-top with a custom-fit panel designed to support a full camper van floor plan worth of furniture and equipment inside the truck bed.

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