In an industry filled with high-tech drilling gear, why are shale drillers excited about a sponge? Because this one -- called Smart Sponge -- looks to be a great new weapon in the fight to clean up ...

Researchers from Australia and China have designed a smart spongy device capable of capturing water from thin air and releasing it in a cup using the sun’s energy, with impressive performance even in ...

New research published in the journal Industrial Engineering and Chemical Research describes the development of a smart sponge capable of selectively absorbing oil in water. The research comes from ...

EVANSTON, Ill. -- A Northwestern University-led team has developed a highly porous smart sponge that selectively soaks up oil in water. With an ability to absorb more than 30 times its weight in oil, ...

At the recent World Shale Oil & Gas Summit, Abtech Holdings Glenn Rink was handed the award for the best technology innovator of 2012. Their amazing technology? A sponge. Fracking is massively water ...

Top: inspired by the Nepenthes pitcher plant, the smart sponge produces a slippery, non-wettable surface when squeezed, and a rough surface when relaxed. Middle and bottom: the graphene-TPI composite ...