The worst thing about working with handheld power tools is the constant and intense vibrations from oscillating parts that leave your hands and arms shaking, and make it harder to do detailed precision work. So researchers developed a handheld oscillator with 70 percent less vibration and half the noise.

It's no surprise that the diamond industry is willing to spend whatever it takes to make the process of mining precious gems even more profitable. And while it already relies on X-ray technology for spotting diamonds on the surface of mined ore, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute's Development Center for X-ray…

Wires, pipes, and metal rails are produced at incredibly high speeds in factories. Often as fast as 33 feet per second, which makes doing detailed inspections as the materials are produced almost impossible. But researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg, Germany, have…

Not only is styrofoam great for all your packing needs, it also makes for an incredibly effective and lightweight insulator. It's just too bad the chemicals and processes needed to make it aren't as earth-friendly as they could be. So researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have successfully created an alternative…

CT, or computed tomography, scans are to x-rays what 3D movies are to classic 2D flicks. But instead of being just some gimmick to lure patrons into a theater, CT scans result in 3D models that let doctors study internal medical conditions in amazing detail. But why stop there? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute…

In the same way the Lytro camera allows photographers to tweak the focus of their shots in post-production, this multi-camera array, developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer institute, allows directors to adjust the depth of field, the aperture, and even the camera angle of a given shot after it's been captured. The…

There's usually a talented director calling the shots at televised live events like sports or a concert, but researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute want to put some of the control in the hands of the viewer at home. They've developed the OmniCam360, an ultra-compact 360 degree camera weighing in at just over 30…

Have you ever noticed that near the end of a long meeting in a sealed conference room everyone's a little sleepy? It obviously has nothing to do with your clipart-filled PowerPoint slides—it's actually related to a build-up of CO2 making it hard for everyone to think and concentrate. It's an unfortunate by-product of…

The trickiest part of avoiding exposure to toxic substances is that they're often invisible, odorless, and undetectable to our five senses. And as an alternative to expensive detectors and other electronic sensors, researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT in…

A signature-based security approach is only effective if a cashier actually double checks what's scrawled across the back of a credit card. And even then, there's still plenty of opportunity for fraud since minimum wage clerks usually aren't capable of spotting a forged signature—but one day your credit card might be.

Window sensors have long been a part of security systems, but since they all rely on wires so they can be constantly monitored, there's the potential for them to be compromised. That's not the case with these new wireless sensors which are invisible when installed, and don't even require an outside power source.

It's not the first technique for measuring blood sugar levels that avoids the finger prick blood sample route, but this tiny unobtrusive chip could be the least invasive yet. It's able to make incredibly accurate blood glucose readings from a diabetic's tears or sweat, and then wirelessly transmit the results for easy…

If you're low on the corporate ladder at work you're probably stuck under a bank of fluorescent lights without a window in sight. But with Fraunhofer's new LED enhanced ceilings, a beautiful sky view doesn't require a corner office.

Based on innovations from the last year, everything in the future will detect cancer. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. The latest to promise this ability is a microscope developed by the ever-innovative Fraunhofer Institute, capable of imaging a suspcious area of skin for melanomas.

This is the new invention by the Fraunhofer-Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen—those guys who created the MP3 music compression algorithm: An inexpensive technology for fluid HD videoconferencing with almost no delay. Previously, this required very expensive dedicated hardware.

The creators of iPoint 3D claim their technology lets you walk up to a 3D display, and without having to wear any special eyewear, interact with the screen just by gesturing in the air.

In the hotel room of the future, your windows will transform into television screens, your bed will rock you to sleep, and robots will deliver cocktails straight from your minibar. At least, that is the future imagined by one branch of Germany’s Fraunhofer Society, where scientists and engineers gather to create…

The Fraunhofer scientists who developed the transparent OLED technology I told you about on Friday are not the only ones with see-through powers. An outfit called Universal Display Corporate also has the technology, which they have dubbed TOLED. Universal also claims a patent on transparency, but the two…

It's hard to wrap your head around at first, but there are a zillion innovations that will be possible now that German scientists have figured out how to make organic LEDs that are transparent. The most obvious application is to incorporate them into conventional LCDs and "transform laminated glass into a display…