Feature Channels: Engineering

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The word "tsunami" brings immediately to mind the havoc that can be wrought by these uniquely powerful waves.

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Think about how many different pieces of technology the average household has purchased in the last decade.

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According to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rice University in Houston, silicone breast implants with a smoother surface design have less risk of producing inflammation and other immune system reactions than those with more roughly textured coatings. Results of the experiments using mice, rabbits and samples of human breast tissue advance knowledge of how the body responds to such implants, providing new information to physicians and affirming the benefits of certain smoother surfaces, the researchers say.

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Engineers developed inexpensive methods to make “impossible materials” that interact in unusual ways with microwave energy. Thin film polymers inkjet printed with tiny component patterns collect or transmit energy with much greater selectivity, sensitivity, and power than conventional materials.

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In the future, health care delivery systems and personnel will rely more on automation and artificial intelligence. It is likely that there will be a paradigm shift in the nursing field towards a more targeted, technologically advanced and data-oriented health care delivery system.

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a world leader in ocean exploration, discovery, and education, has named a new Chief Scientist for Deep Submergence (CSDS) for its National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF). Dr. Anna Michel, an associate scientist in the Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, will be the first woman to serve in this high-profile role effective July 1, 2021.

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Just how do spiders walk straight up -- and even upside-down across -- so many different types of surfaces? Answering this question could open up new opportunities for creating powerful, yet reversible, bioinspired adhesives.

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Scientists have developed a new technique that could revolutionise medical imaging procedures using light.

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This study investigates how the nucleocapsid protein, or N protein, of the SARS-CoV-2 virus packages the viral genome.

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Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have successfully used graphene — one of the strongest, thinnest known materials — to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in laboratory experiments.

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It is possible to re-create a bird’s song by reading only its brain activity, shows a first proof-of-concept study from UC San Diego. Reproducing the songbird’s complex vocalizations – down to the pitch, volume and timbre of the original – lays the foundation for building vocal prostheses for humans who have lost their ability to speak.

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A new technology for autonomous systems that is responsive to human emotions based on machine-learned human moods has earned a very competitive utility patent from the U.S.P.T.O. for FAU. This unique invention uses non-intrusive sensors to perceive the mood of drivers and passengers in semi or fully autonomous vehicles, which is essential to properly navigate autonomous vehicles on the roads and to build trust between humans and AI/autonomous technologies.

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Light--and all waves--can bend around the corners of obstacles found along its path. Because of this phenomenon, called diffraction, it is impossible to focus light onto a spot that is smaller than half its wavelength.

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New energy-efficient dehumidifier technology holds promise to reduce energy consumption in residential A/C systems and increase the range of electric vehicles.

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An Argonne engineer applied a specific type of artificial intelligence to the problem of how to predict material structures by only knowing some of their properties. This first-of-its-kind discovery led to further insights into the long-term durability of nuclear materials.

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Combustion engines can develop high frequency oscillations, leading to structural damage to and unsafe operating conditions. In Physics of Fluids, research clarifies the feedback processes that give rise to these oscillations. The investigators studied simulated combustion events in a computational model of a rocket combustor and their analysis involved sophisticated techniques, including symbolic dynamics and the use of complex networks to understand the transition into oscillatory behavior.

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Optical cloaking allows objects to be hidden in plain sight by guiding light around anything placed inside the cloak. While cloaking has been popularized in fiction, researchers in recent years have started realizing cloaks that shield objects from view by controlling the flow of electromagnetic radiation around them. In Journal of Applied Physics, researchers examined recent progress of developing invisibility cloaks that function in natural incoherent light and can be realized using standard optical components.

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The 2021 Blavatnik National Awards today named 31 finalists for the world’s largest unrestricted prize honoring early-career scientists. The finalists were culled from 298 nominations by 157 U.S. research institutions across 38 states. They have made trailblazing discoveries in wide-ranging fields, from the neuroscience of addiction to the development of gene-editing technologies, from designing next-generation battery storage to understanding the origins of photosynthesis, from making improvements in computer vision to pioneering new frontiers in polymer chemistry.

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UW researchers have developed a deep learning method that can produce a seamlessly looping, realistic looking video from a single photo.

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By combining wind speed data with the measured accelerations of a golden eagle outfitted with GPS tracking instruments, researchers suggest that, rather than hindering flight, turbulence is a source of energy that birds may use to their advantage.

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plans to locate a Field Line of sight Automated Radiance Exposure, or FLARE, testing site at Arizona State University's (ASU) Polytechnic campus as part of the ASU Polytechnic Innovation District. FLARE is a system of high-tech mirrors that can be used to improve the performance of satellite, airborne and drone-based imaging systems.

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Comprehensive evaluation of source sector, fuel contributions to the PM2.5 disease burden analyzed across over 200 countries

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Inspired by kirigami, the Japanese art of folding and cutting paper to create three-dimensional structures, MIT engineers and their collaborators have designed a new type of stent that could be used to deliver drugs to the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, or other tubular organs in the body.

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In research published today in Nature Communications, engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrated how, when the TMDC materials they make are stacked in a particular geometry, the interaction that occurs between particles gives researchers more control over the devices’ properties. Specifically, the interaction between electrons becomes so strong that they form a new structure known as a correlated insulating state. This is an important step, researchers said, toward developing quantum emitters needed for future quantum simulation and computing.

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Acoustics researchers at Aalto University, in collaboration with professional monitoring loudspeaker manufacturer Genelec, have investigated just how small of a variation in sound delay the human ear can detect in the most sensitive frequency range for hearing. People normally hear sound in the range of 20 and 20,000 hertz.

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While the Biden administration negotiates an infrastructure package, ASU experts offer insight about the protective role cybersecurity must play

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Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and NEC Corporation jointly develop a 28-GHz phased-array transceiver that supports efficient and reliable 5G communications.

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The Cornell SC Johnson College of Business is pleased to announce that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. will join Moody’s and Fiserv as inaugural sponsors of the Fintech at Cornell Initiative.

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The Engineering Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research announces the 2021 recipients of its Mentoring Awards and winners of its Student Video Competition.

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The big holes in Swiss cheese help make it a tasty treat. Now, scientists at PPPL are adding tiny, Swiss-cheese-type holes to components to improve the process of bringing to Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars.

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A study led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers uncovered a property of magnetic materials that will allow engineers to develop more efficient spintronic devices in the future. Spintronics focuses on using the magnetic “spin” property of electrons instead of their charge, which improves the speed and efficiency of devices used for computing and data storage.

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Researchers from NUS have come up with a way to use one single device – such as a mobile phone or smart watch – to wirelessly power up to 10 wearables on a user. This novel method uses the human body as a medium for transmitting power. Their system can also harvest unused energy from electronics in a typical home or office environment to power the wearables.

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The Electrochemical Society (ECS) announces the awarding of the 2021 ECS Summer Fellowships. Krishnakanth Sada received the Edward G. Weston Fellowship; Derrick Butler received the Joseph W. Richards Fellowship; Wesley Chang received the F. M. Becket Fellowship; and Sathish Rajendran received the H. H. Uhlig Fellowship. These fellowship awards assist students in the months of June through August pursue work of interest to the Society. The recipients must be enrolled in a college or university and be a member of ECS. At the end of the award period, the recipients are required to submit a brief resume or abstract suitable for publication in The Electrochemical Society Interface concerning the work performed during the fellowship period.

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Researchers from Cornell University’s School of Applied and Engineering Physics and Samsung’s Advanced Institute of Technology have created a first-of-its-kind metalens – a metamaterial lens – that can be focused using voltage instead of mechanically moving its components.

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The Uttarakhand region of India experienced a humanitarian tragedy on Feb. 7, 2021, when a wall of debris and water barreled down the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga and Dhauliganga river valleys. This debris flow destroyed two hydropower facilities and left more than 200 people dead or missing. A self-organized coalition of 53 scientists, including researchers from the University of Washington, came together in the days following the disaster to investigate the cause, scope and impacts.

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With the help of the radio telescope located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, operated by the National Research Council of Canada, in British Columbia, Canada, the telescope has nearly quadrupled the number of FRB discovered to date.

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A major upgrade to the world’s largest outdoor earthquake simulator reached a milestone mid-April when the facility’s floor--all 300,000 lbs of it--was put back into place. When completed this fall, the simulator will have the ability to reproduce multi-dimensional earthquake motions with unprecedented accuracy to make structures and their residents safer during strong shakes. Researchers lay out the details of the upgrade in a paper published recently in Frontiers in Built Environment.

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OpenCGRA expedites the design-prototype cycle of computer architecture development.

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Tulane University will share in a U.S. Department of Energy award designed to advance new technologies to decarbonize the biorefining processes used to convert organic material, such as plant matter, into fuel.

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Researchers have developed a novel continuous-flow microfluidic device that may help scientists and pharmaceutical companies more effectively study drug compounds and their crystalline shapes and structures.

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Scientists from the University of Bristol have pioneered a new approach to help biological engineers both harness and design the evolutionary potential of new biosystems. Their concept of the ‘evotype’ lays a foundation for the next generation of stable, safe and self-improving biotechnologies.

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A new 3D bioprinter developed by UC San Diego nanoengineers operates at record speed—it can print a 96-well array of living human tissue samples within 30 minutes. The technology could help accelerate high-throughput preclinical drug screening and make it less costly.

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A new technology could dramatically improve the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries that operate with gas electrolytes at ultra-low temperatures. By keeping electrolytes from vaporizing, the technology can prevent pressure buildup inside the battery that leads to swelling and explosions.

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A research team from the University of Copenhagen and University of Helsinki demonstrates it is possible to predict individual preferences based on how a person's brain responses match up to others.

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Lauren Dreier was paging through a 19th century book by the German architect Gottfried Semper when she spotted some intriguing patterns inspired by lace.

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The cost of offsetting corporate carbon emissions needs to increase ten-fold to drive meaningful climate action, says a landmark report by Trove Research and UCL.

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The study, led by Tengfei Luo, a professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, will be initiated by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

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MIT researchers have created the first fiber with digital capabilities, able to sense, store, analyze, and infer activity after being sewn into a shirt.

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A breakthrough technology uses nanoscale sensors and fiber optics to measure water status just inside a leaf’s surface, providing a tool to greatly advance our understanding of basic plant biology, and opening the door for breeding more drought-resistant crops.

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Scientists replicate the molecular properties of the natural cement used by barnacles and mussels to create a powerful adhesive using silk protein. The new adhesive can work well in both dry and underwater conditions.