Feature Channels: Engineering

• share
• favorite_border

Berkeley Lab Science Snapshots July 2020

• share
• favorite_border

Prof. Dr. Shoji Hall, Prof. Dr. Piran Ravichandran Kidambi, and Dr. Haegyeom Kim have been awarded the 2020-2021 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowships. Through this, ECS and Toyota aim to promote innovative and unconventional technologies borne from electrochemical research. The fellowship encourages young professors and scholars to pursue innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology.

• share
• favorite_border

In the fight against COVID-19, researchers at Colorado State University have developed a new, non-invasive strategy to identify areas at greatest risk for spreading the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Using flow visualization of emulated coughs and sneezes, researchers assessed the efficacy of facemasks in obstructing droplets. Loosely folded facemasks and bandana-style coverings provide minimal stopping-capability for the smallest aerosolized respiratory droplets. Well-fitted homemade masks with multiple layers of quilting fabric, and off-the-shelf cone style masks, proved to be the most effective in reducing droplet dispersal. Importantly, uncovered coughs were able to travel noticeably farther than the currently recommended 6-foot distancing guideline. Without a mask, droplets traveled more than 8 feet.

• share
• favorite_border

Signals sent and received from cell phone microphones and speakers could help warn people when they have been near someone who has contracted COVID-19, researchers say. In a new paper, researchers described a system that would generate random, anonymous IDs for each phone, automatically send ultrasonic signals between microphones and speakers of phones within a certain radius, and use the information exchanged through this acoustic channel for contact tracing.

• share
• favorite_border

With the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation, chemical engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute aim to develop a new polymer that can replace polystyrene, a commonly used plastic that is inexpensive and easy to make — but is difficult to break down into its original components for reuse, a process called depolymerization.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Columbia Engineering and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified a library of molecules that shut down the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase reaction, a key step that establishes the potential of these molecules as lead compounds to be further modified for the development of COVID-19 therapeutics. Five of these molecules are already FDA-approved for use in the treatment of other viral infections including HIV/AIDS, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis B.

• share
• favorite_border

After being defunded by a company with rights to its intellectual property, development of a pediatric heart-assist device has been revived at Cornell with the help of a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

• share
• favorite_border

Research from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that understanding brain activity as a network instead of readings from an EEG allow for more accurate and efficient detection of seizures in real-time.

• share
• favorite_border

Sandia National Laboratories has successfully completed another milestone in the B61-12 gravity bomb refurbishment program, demonstrating the labs is meeting important nuclear safety and use-control requirements.

• share
• favorite_border

For more than 20 years, Virginia Tech biomedical engineering and mechanics professor Jake Socha has sought to measure and model the biomechanics of snake flight and answer questions about them, like that of aerial undulation's functional role.

• share
• favorite_border

A new fundamental understanding of the behavior of polymeric relaxor ferroelectrics could lead to advances in flexible electronics, actuators and transducers, energy storage, piezoelectric sensors and electrocaloric cooling, according to a team of researchers at Penn State and North Carolina State.

• share
• favorite_border

A Cornell team developed a new imaging technique that is fast and sensitive enough to observe these elusive critical fluctuations in two-dimensional magnets. This real-time imaging allows researchers to control the fluctuations and switch magnetism via a “passive” mechanism that could eventually lead to more energy-efficient magnetic storage devices.

• share
• favorite_border

Chemically engineered peptides, designed and developed by a team of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, could prove valuable in the battle against some of the most persistent human health challenges. The team’s findings, recently published in Nature Scientific Reports, demonstrate how researchers can engineer peptides capable of selectively and specifically binding to polysialic acid (PSA) — a unique carbohydrate that is present on critical human cells and plays a key role in various physiological and pathological processes, including neurological development and disease progression.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Doug Sawyer was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, 11 years ago.

• share
• favorite_border

Over the past year, Columbia Engineering researchers have been refining their unconventional desalination approach for hypersaline brines—temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE)—that shows great promise for widespread use. The team now reports that their method has enabled them to attain energy-efficient zero-liquid discharge of ultrahigh salinity brines—the first demonstration of TSSE for ZLD desalination of hypersaline brines.

• share
• favorite_border

Irvine, Calif., June 24, 2020 – The Lincoln Dynamic Foundation, created by University of California, Irvine alumnus John D. Lincoln, has made a $1 million gift to the university’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering to establish the World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials. The new institute will advance interdisciplinary research, education and knowledge translation in an effort to innovate, evaluate and adopt technologies that utilize safer, nontoxic chemicals and materials, with the goal of mitigating environmental impacts.

• share
• favorite_border

The Materials Research Society (MRS) is pleased to announce that Executive Director Todd M. Osman has been elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE).

• share
• favorite_border

A Cornell-led collaboration is turning DNA from organic matter – such as onions, fish and algae – into biodegradable gels and plastics. The resulting materials could be used to create everyday plastic objects, unusually strong adhesives, multifunctional composites and more effective methods for drug delivery, without harming the environment the way petrochemical-based materials do.

• share
• favorite_border

A team at Bristol has challenged the idea that touchscreens are limited to 2D and rectangular shapes by developing an interactive display that can be sprayed in any shape. Inspired by the way an artist creates graffiti on a wall and using a novel combination of sprayable electronics and 3D printing, the technique, called ProtoSpray, allows the creation of displays on surfaces that go beyond the usual rectangular and 2D shapes.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study from Binghamton University, State University of New York may help to peel back the layers of unhealthy skin — at least metaphorically speaking — and get closer to a cure.

• share
• favorite_border

A device to monitor health conditions in the body using a person’s sweat has been developed by researchers at Penn State and Xiangtan University.

• share
• favorite_border

Experts weigh in on recent online reports that warn of frightening health consequences from new fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. Within current exposure limits, there appears to be little or no risk of adverse health effects related to radiofrequency (RF) exposure from 5G systems, concludes an evidence-based expert review in the June issue of Health Physics, official journal of the Health Physics Society. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

• share
• favorite_border

Argonne scientists Michael Bishof, Maria Chan, Marco Govini, Alessandro Lovato, Bogdan Nicolae and Stefan Wild have received funding for their research as part of DOE’s Early Career Research Program.

• share
• favorite_border

A team from the University of Washington used an infrared laser to cool a solid semiconductor by at least 20 degrees C, or 36 F, below room temperature, as they report in a paper published June 23 in Nature Communications.

• share
• favorite_border

Sword fights are often the weak link in virtual reality (VR) fighting games, with digital avatars engaging in battle using imprecise, pre-recorded movements that barely reflect the player's actions or intentions.

• share
• favorite_border

Finding ways to manage the flow of heat in silicon could boost the performance of semiconductors, but, so far, discovering the right design has remained elusive. Now, a team of Penn State researchers report that a fabrication technique may offer a path toward mastering the often chaotic flow of heat carriers at the nanoscale in silicon and other semiconductors.

• share
• favorite_border

Recently, the Texas A&M University College of Engineering kicked off an online version of its Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. Taking place over the summer, this fully remote program gives 58 students from around the U.S. valuable research experience in computational modeling, theory and data-driven topics in science and engineering.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of engineers and physicians at the University of California San Diego has developed a low-cost, easy-to-use emergency ventilator for COVID-19 patients that is built around a ventilator bag usually found in ambulances. The team built an automated system around the bag and brought down the cost of an emergency ventilator to just $500 per unit--by comparison, state of the art ventilators currently cost at least $50,000. The device's components can be rapidly fabricated and the ventilator can be assembled in just 15 minutes.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are combining their expertise in electronics, computing and crops to develop a cyber-physical system that will monitor fields at almost single-plant resolution.

• share
• favorite_border

The $20 million Louisiana Material Design Alliance (LAMDA) aims to create a diverse and highly skilled STEM workforce for Louisiana.

• share
• favorite_border

A study identified which pairs of atoms in a catalyst nanoparticle are most active in a reaction that breaks down a harmful exhaust gas in catalytic converters. The results are a step toward engineering cheaper, more efficient catalysts.

• share
• favorite_border

Traveling restraints and shelter-in-place orders that grounded planes and emptied streets during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic brought greenhouse gas emissions down and air quality up.

• share
• favorite_border

Argonne’s ReCell Center has already made pivotal discoveries as scientists create and test new recycling processes and battery designs. These discoveries will help grow a globally competitive U.S. recycling industry.

• share
• favorite_border

Because of silicon’s relatively high cost, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have emerged as a lower-cost and highly efficient option for solar power, according to a recent study by Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

Instead of responding to each flight delay as if it were an isolated event, airlines should consider the likelihood of potential disruptions ahead, researchers report in the journal Transportation Science.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

A research team from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute at Toyohashi University of Technology has indicated that the relationship between attentional states in response to pictures and sounds and the emotions elicited by them may be different in visual perception and auditory perception.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of researchers led by Sufei Shi, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has uncovered new information about the mass of individual components that make up a promising quasiparticle, known as an exciton, that could play a critical role in future applications for quantum computing, improved memory storage, and more efficient energy conversion. The team's research was published today in Nature Communications.

• share
• favorite_border

While some STEM majors have a one-to-one male-to-female ratio, physics, engineering and computer science (PECS) majors consistently have some of the largest gender imbalances among U.S. college majors – with about four men to every woman in the major. In a new study published today in the peer-reviewed research journal, Science, NYU researchers find that this disparity is not caused by higher math or science achievement among men. On the contrary, the scholars found that men with very low high-school GPAs in math and science and very low SAT math scores were choosing these math-intensive majors just as often as women with much higher math and science achievement.

• share
• favorite_border

The study underscores the urgency of identifying alternatives to improve river management and confront the new normal of more frequent river floods.

• share
• favorite_border

Humans have drawn technological inspiration from fish scales going back to ancient times: Romans, Egyptians, and other civilizations would dress their warriors in scale armor, providing both protection and mobility. Now, using advanced X-ray imaging techniques, Berkeley Lab scientists have characterized carp scales down to the nanoscale, enabling them to understand how the material is resistant to penetration while retaining flexibility.

• share
• favorite_border

Engineers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed high-power, direct borohydride fuel cells that operate at double the voltage of conventional hydrogen fuel cells.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers from the University of Bath have developed motion capture technology that enables you to digitise your dog without a motion capture suit and using only one camera.

• share
• favorite_border

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute seeks a better understanding of the benefits and limitations involved in the potential use of ultraviolet lighting in battling the COVID-19 virus through a new survey aimed at decision makers who use, or are considering implementing, ultraviolet technologies for use in the disinfection of public spaces.

• share
• favorite_border

For the next several months, visitors to the Atlanta Botanical Garden will be able to observe the testing of a new high-tech tool in the battle to save some of the world’s most endangered species. SlothBot, a slow-moving and energy-efficient robot that can linger in the trees to monitor animals, plants, and the environment below, will be tested near the Garden’s popular Canopy Walk.

• share
• favorite_border

A three-year, $345,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund research at Binghamton University, State University of New York that seeks to modify paper’s mechanical properties while still retaining its advantages.

• share
• favorite_border

Iowa State engineers are doing wind-tunnel tests and computer simulations to understand and predict how the cables that carry power or support bridges will react to high winds.

• share
• favorite_border

Molten salt reactors could become a cornerstone of nuclear energy. Researchers at MIT are using neutron scattering at ORNL to better understand how salt solutions behave in nuclear environments. Modeling those behaviors could lead to significant gains in commercializing molten salt reactors for carbon-free power production.