Spider-Man probably inspired more than a few comics fans to imagine walking on walls. Well, take note, superhero wannabes. Cornell University researchers say they've come up with a palm-size liquid-adhesion device that could enable just that sort of arachno-riffic move.

Similar research into adhesion technology has taken its cue from the gravity-defying gecko, but the Cornell team looked elsewhere--to a beetle native to Florida that can stick to a leaf's surface, through wet adhesion, with a force 100 times its own weight.

Observing the beetle's bonding method, which involves applying surface tension across many micron-size droplets, Cornell researchers Paul Steen and Michael Vogel posited that a similar principle could be applied to create load-bearing Post-it-like notes and shoes or gloves for people seeking Spidey-like traction.

The scientists detail their findings in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation.

To get a sense of how the device works, think of the way two wet glass slides stick together. Steen and Vogel's silicon wafer device works in much the same way (watch a video demonstration of it here). A flat metal plate with micron-size holes sits atop a plate holding a liquid reservoir. In between is another porous layer. An everyday 9-volt battery pumps tiny droplets of water through to the top layer and the surface tension of the exposed drops makes the device grip another surface.

But what happens when you want to come down from your wall perch? … Read more

IBM Research on Friday announced that it has demonstrated a radio-frequency graphene transistor with the highest frequency so far: 100GHz.

Graphene is a special form of graphite, consisting of a layer of carbon atoms packed in honeycomb lattice. In a nutshell, graphene is like "atomic scale chicken wire." Graphene's properties could lead to faster transistors.

IBM's paper, which is being published in Science, details how the latest graphene breakthrough could enable new communications devices and electronics. The paper was penned by Phaedon Avouris, IBM Fellow and manager of the company's nanometer-scale science and technology research … Read more

The Large Hadron Collider is about to enter its longest continuous operational period, in preparation for full-strength particle-smashing.

On Wednesday, Steve Myers, the LHC's director for accelerators and technology, blogged that CERN had decided last week to run the giant particle collider for 18 to 24 months at a collision energy of seven tera-electron-volts (TeV)--or 3.5 TeV per beam--with the powering-up phase starting later this month.

After that, the LHC will "go into a long shutdown in which we'll do all the necessary work to allow us to reach the LHC's design collision energy … Read more

MIT has demonstrated a laser that's built from germanium and that works at room temperature, a move the university said could be useful for high-speed optical data pathways within computers.

Lasers today are widely used to transmit large amounts of data over long distances, but the technology isn't economical for short-haul trips. However, many researchers are investigating ways to integrate lasers directly with conventional computer chips in an effort to reduce those costs and make high-speed communications more widespread.

Today's lasers typically are made from gallium arsenide and other expensive materials that have to be attached to computing chips after each component has been separately manufactured. In a paper to be published in Optics Letters, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers said Thursday they made the germanium lasers work using a technology called indirect-band-gap semiconductors that other researchers thought wouldn't work. And the germanium technology is more easily integrated during manufacturing with today's chips. … Read more

LensVector, a start-up in Mountain View, Calif., that hopes its optical components using solid-state electronics will replace moving parts in consumer camera technology, said Thursday that it's raised $30 million in a third round of funding.

Institutional Venture Partners led the funding round, joining existing investors Menlo Ventures, Samsung, Silicon Valley Bank, Mitsui, and Kodak. IVP general partner Norm Fogelsong has joined the LensVector board, the company said.

"This financing will allow us to scale our manufacturing capacity and better serve this growing demand from our customers," Chief Executive Derek Proudian said in a statement. LensVector now … Read more

A team of paleontologists at Yale University say they've been able to determine the actual colors of an extinct species of dinosaur.

While many of the illustrations of dinosaurs we see in movies and books are striking, the truth is that much of the way we depict our jurassic friends is based on educated guesswork. But a few teams of scientists now say they have been able to determine a dinosaur's coloring with more precision. And one dino, in particular, has been color-mapped from head plume to toe.

Anchiornis huxleyi was a four-winged, feathered dinosaur that lived during … Read more

It all started in 2006, when researchers were studying a young woman considered to be in a vegetative state. Using MRI to scan her brain, they asked her to imagine herself playing tennis and touring her own home, and found that her brain behaved in much the way a normally functioning brain does.

The neuroscientists were shocked into action as news of what may have only been an anomaly prompted families to ask that the researchers study their own loved ones, too.

One of the neuroscientists, Adrian Owen at the University of Cambridge, alongside colleagues at the University of Liege … Read more

This is the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Together with the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, it will capture the sun at Imax resolution every 10 seconds. The instruments will travel together inside NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft.

After its expected February 9 launch on top of an Atlas V rocket, the SDO will capture images at almost four times the resolution of an HD TV, transmitting the results back to Earth at 130 megabits per second. Basically, this thing will be transmitting the equivalent of 500,000 MP3s per day, seven days a week. According to Dean Pesnell at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the potential for new discoveries is giganormous.

"We'll be getting Imax-quality images every 10 seconds. We'll see every nuance of solar activity," Pesnell said.

Pesnell said that this speed opens an incredible potential for discovery, using 18th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge as an example:

To achieve all this, the three instruments in the SDO have been designed to cover three vital aspects of our home star.… Read more

This is not your average assembly line worker.

But Robonaut 2 is expected to be an exemplary co-worker. General Motors and NASA on Thursday introduced Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot being jointly developed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for use in both the automotive and aerospace industries.

Robonaut 2 is stronger, more dexterous, and more technologically advanced than the original Robonaut, according to NASA. Robonaut, which was developed 10 years ago by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, was intended--as its name implies--for use as a robot astronaut.

Robonaut 2, nicknamed R2, seems more destined for … Read more