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 ...

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 ...

Awareness of the interplay between friction, flow and flourishing matters as the intense quest for AI optimization leads to ...