How can a horde of active robots be automatically brought to a standstill? By arresting their dynamics in a self-sustained way. This phenomenon was discovered by physicists at Heinrich Heine ...

Earthquake researchers believed for decades that rock friction within fault lines follows a simple relationship with temperature. However, a new study published by the Proceedings of the National ...

Experiments reveal the factors that determine the friction between the single-atom-thick layers in van der Waals materials, which may have uses in lubrication technology. In a twist. To measure the ...

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 ...

Experiments suggest that hydrogen bonding explains why a wet surface can have nearly twice as much friction as a dry surface. Record bonding. Experiments have probed the friction between a silicon ...

Moving parts in mechanical come into regular contact, leading to wear and tear. Now, researchers have developed a contact control system, driven by artificial intelligence, to greatly reduce contact ...

The machine doesn’t care what it’s making—only that it’s making it fast. Frictionless systems optimize output. But meaning, memory, and margin live in the mess it leaves behind. The great smoothing is ...

The best innovations remove friction by making everyday work simpler, faster and more intuitive. The most important innovation question is often not, “What can we add?” It is: “What can we make ...