When light passes through material such as glass, a portion of its energy is lost as it reflects off the material’s surface. Researchers at Japan’s Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) have come up with a theoretical design for preventing this phenomenon from occurring.
The researchers have designed a prism of engineered material — metamaterial […]

On April 4, the East Japan Railway Company reported progress in the development of the world’s first fuel cell-powered train. With the prototype nearing completion, the company announced plans to begin trial runs in order to collect data before putting the train into commercial service.
According to officials, the test train consists of one car and […]

Robot developer Speecys Corporation has unveiled its ITR (”Internet Renaissance”) robot, a compact droid capable of downloading Internet content via wireless LAN. The company announced plans to begin selling developer evaluation kits (limited to 300 sets) to content developers at the end of May. The consumer version of ITR is scheduled to hit shelves at […]

An assortment of model “safe” homes shaped like soccer balls are on display at a home exhibition in suburban Gifu. The homes — named “Barier” by manufacturer Kimidori Kenchiku — are 32-sided polyhedrons encased in stainless steel. According to the company website, Barier’s bulletproof construction is resistant to earthquake, typhoon, fire, and terrorist attack, and […]