Soft matter is often found in tight spots. A study shows that tangled chain-like molecules, squeezed between solid surfaces and stroked by sliding, might become exceptionally ordered. How does a pen ...

More durable metal parts in machines and improved surface quality of metal surfaces — just about a couple of benefits that have emerged out of a new study in which scientists studied the sliding of ...

When you step onto an icy sidewalk or push off on skis, the surface can seem to vanish beneath you. For more than a century, ...

Researchers have shown that sliding forces applied to cartilage surfaces prompt cells in that tissue to produce molecules that lubricate and protect joints, an important step toward their goal of ...

Scientists have made an insight into superlubricity, where surfaces experience extremely low levels of friction. This could benefit future technologies by reducing energy lost to friction by moving ...

A team of researchers from the University of Wyoming has uncovered an unusual process taking place on the Greenland ice sheet (GIS), which could have significant implications for how it responds to ...

How do you get a robot to inspect a tank with high vertical walls? If the walls are made of certain kinds of metal, you just stick a magnet on it. But many large tanks utilized in the food & beverage ...

The reason we can gracefully glide on an ice-skating rink or clumsily slip on an icy sidewalk is that the surface of ice is coated by a thin watery layer. Scientists generally agree that this ...

It’s a moonless night. The wind howls outside. A door opens slowly, as if pushed by an invisible hand. “Cre-e-e-a-k.” That sound — a horror movie cliché — is the result of friction. A stealthier ...

PID control is the gold standard for most moving machines, and quite adequate in most applications that require closed-loop control. However, it's vulnerable to disturbances, and tuning can be tedious ...