That isn't a surprise to James Earthman, a UC Irvine chemical engineering and materials science professor who did a study in 2014. ... "With stainless steel we never saw any sparks," Earthman said. "When we tested a titanium club, every time we hit a rock with a titanium there were a lot of sparks."

Jack Brouwer started thinking about the potential of using hydrogen to store massive amounts of energy around 12 years ago. … Brouwer, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Irvine, took the idea to the U.S. Department of Energy … But the agency didn’t move forward with the idea so Brouwer and a group of his students began researching the issue.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have created a novel, high-tech sort of material that foreshadows a future in which clothing gadgets may “talk” to one other and purchases can be made with a high-five or a wave of the arm. … “You’ve used near-field signaling applied sciences if you’ve held your smartphone or credit card near a reader to pay for a purchase order,” says co-author Peter Tseng [assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science].

The words “robotic exoskeleton” probably bring to mind futuristic soldiers and sci-fi flicks like Aliens, Iron Man, or The Wrong Trousers.