Feature Channels: Engineering

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Animal fat from chicken, pork, beef and even alligators could give an economical, ecofriendly boost to the biofuel industry, according to researchers who reported a new method for biofuel production here today. The report, following up on their earlier study on the potential use of gator fat as a source of biodiesel fuel, was part of the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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Advances in renewable and sustainable energy, including mimicking photosynthesis and optimizing lithium-ion batteries, are the topics of three plenary talks at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, taking place here through Thursday. The presentations will be held on Sunday, March 16, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Ballroom A of the Dallas Convention Center.

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For people whose hands shake uncontrollably due to a medical condition, just eating can be a frustrating and embarrassing ordeal – enough to keep them from sharing a meal with others. But a small new study suggests that a new handheld electronic device can help such patients overcome the hand shakes caused by essential tremor.

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Using an inexpensive 3-D printer, biomedical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis and around the world have developed a custom-fitted, implantable device with embedded sensors that could transform treatment and prediction of cardiac disorders.

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Engineered tissues like the ones used to create artificial skin need a scaffold for cells to grow on. Now a team led by Michigan Technological University’s Feng Zhao has coaxed cells called fibroblasts into creating a scaffold that mimics the body’s own internal matrix, and in early tests, cells seem happy to set up residence.

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Plant roots and certain human membrane systems resist chemical transport in much the same way, say researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology in a recent journal article. This similarity could make it easier to assess chemical risks for both people and plants, and may even lead to a new approach to testing medications.

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A multi-university team of engineers has developed what could be a promising solution for charging smartphone batteries on the go — without the need for an electrical cord.

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Using a new microscopy method, researchers can image and measure electrochemical processes in batteries in real time and at nanoscale resolution.

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Imagine holding music in your hands. That’s what you can do with the Aura, a new electronic musical instrument conceived by Cornell University engineering students.

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A research team has demonstrated the world's fastest silicon-based device to date. The investigators operated a silicon-germanium (SiGe) transistor at 798 gigahertz (GHz) fMAX, exceeding the previous speed record for silicon-germanium chips by about 200 GHz.

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OU researcher creates virtual sensors to detect unreliable heating, vent and air conditioning systems in buildings. The method is a low cost, reliable process to reduce a company's utilities bills and carbon footprint.

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A patented airflow control system enables large-bore, multi-cylinder engines used in trains, pipelines, backup diesel generators and other fields to run efficiently while producing lower levels of harmful emissions than they do currently.

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Iowa State engineers have refurbished an icing wind tunnel and are using it to study ice buildup on aircraft wings and wind turbine blades. A better understanding of the icing problems could lead to better solutions.

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Juggling may seem like mere entertainment, but a study led by Johns Hopkins engineers used this circus skill to gather critical clues about how vision and the sense of touch help control the way humans and animals move their limbs in a repetitive way, such as in running. The findings eventually may aid in the treatment of people with neurological diseases and could lead to prosthetic limbs and robots that move more efficiently.

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University of Washington scientists and engineers are developing a low-cost device that could help pathologists diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier and faster. The prototype can perform the basic steps for processing a biopsy, relying on fluid transport instead of human hands to process the tissue.

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Using electrons more like photons could provide the foundation for a new type of electronic device that would capitalize on the ability of graphene to carry electrons with almost no resistance even at room temperature – a property known as ballistic transport.

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Sunflower farmers have known for a long time that they are at increased risk for combine fires, but an answer to this nerve-wracking problem may be just around the corner. A team of agricultural engineers at South Dakota State University found that sunflower debris ignites at temperatures that are 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit lower than residue from corn or soybeans. When sunflower dust is drawn into the fan that pulls air through the radiator to cool the engine, some bits of debris can ignite. The patent-pending device encases the turbocharger and exhaust manifold and then a fan pulls in clean air to cool the chamber, while keeping the system exterior within a safe temperature range.

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Designing more efficient organic solar cells should be easier with an explanation of how charge separation works.

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Union College's Aerogel Team is studying the feasibility of commercializing their aerogel fabrication process

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Mount Sinai researchers generated their engineered cardiac tissue from human embryonic stem cells with the resulting muscle having remarkable similarities to native heart muscle, including the ability to beat and contract like the human heart. This research breakthrough study was highlighted as the cover story of the February 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal.

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Virginia Tech biomedical researchers took the lead in a large six-year study to see if helmets reduce concussion risk. Data were collected between 2005 and 2010 from eight collegiate teams: Virginia Tech, University of North Carolina, University of Oklahoma, Dartmouth College, Brown University, University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and University of Illinois. Overall, the study found a significant reduction in concussion risk when comparing a 1-star helmet to a 4 star helmet.

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Tissue engineering utilizing click chemistry provides increased mechanical strength and biofunctionalization.

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A small, secretive creature with unlikely qualifications for defying gravity may hold the answer to an entirely new way of getting off the ground. Analysis of high-speed film reveals how salamanders—or at least several species of the Plethodontidae family—achieve vertical lift.

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A Kansas State University engineer has made a breakthrough in rechargeable battery applications.

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Salaries for engineers rose in 2013 amid the growing global demand for technology services across industry sectors, according to a survey.

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PNNL scientists at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a partnership with the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., have created a unique model that projects how much energy can be saved with changes to China's building energy codes.

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Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, many questions remain, but an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team is providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.

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Researchers have produced an advanced web-based tool that lets physically separated participants collaborate on model-based systems engineering projects. The program utilizes open-source software components to allow users to visualize a system's potential expense alongside its performance, reliability and other factors.

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University of Utah bioengineers showed that tiny blood vessels grow better in the laboratory if the tissue surrounding them is less dense. Then the researchers created a computer simulation to predict such growth accurately – an early step toward treatments to provide blood supply to tissues damaged by diabetes and heart attacks and to skin grafts and implanted ligaments and tendons.

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A Virginia Tech research team has developed a battery that runs on sugar and has an unmatched energy density, a development that could replace conventional batteries with ones that are cheaper, refillable, and biodegradable.

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From the sleek hulls of racing yachts to Michael Phelps’ shaved legs, most objects that move through the water quickly are smooth. But researchers from UCLA have found that bumpiness can sometimes be better. They modeled the fluid flow between two surfaces covered with tiny ridges and found that even in turbulent conditions the rough surface reduced the drag created by the friction of flowing water. The researchers report their findings in Physics of Fluids.

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Sandia National Laboratories conducts a rocket-driven impact test of B61 nonnuclear components.

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Using arm sensors that can “read” a person’s muscle movements, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have created a control system that makes robots more intelligent. The sensors send information to the robot, allowing it to anticipate a human’s movements and correct its own. The system is intended to improve time, safety and efficiency in manufacturing plants.

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Electric cars could travel farther on a single charge and more renewable energy could be saved for a rainy day if lithium-sulfur batteries can last longer. PNNL has developed a novel anode that could quadruple the lifespan of these promising batteries.

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Lithium-ion batteries, such as those used in electric vehicles, are in high demand, with a global market value expected to reach $33.1 billion in 2019. But their high price and short life need to be addressed before they can be used in more consumer, energy and medical products. Venkat Subramanian, PhD, associate professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, and his team are working to solve this problem buy developing optimal charging profiles for the batteries.

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Kansas State University architects, designers and engineers are developing ideas from concept to prototype using some of the latest 3-D printers.

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A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully developed a method to chemically exfoliate molybdenum disulfide crystals into high quality monolayer flakes, with higher yield and larger flake size than current methods.

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Researchers have developed a way to microscopically view battery electrodes while they are bathed in wet electrolytes, mimicking realistic conditions inside actual batteries.

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Researcher is using the first ever high-altitude sampling device designed to collect microorganisms from the upper atmosphere, to examine the massive dust clouds that roll into Florida from Africa each year. He's looking to see if the latest plant, animal or human health threats will come from the sky.

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A special interdisciplinary issue of the journal Climatic Change includes the most detailed description yet of the proposed Oxford Principles to govern geoengineering research, and surveys the technical hurdles, ethics and regulatory issues related to deliberately manipulating the planet's climate.

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If scientists can control cellular functions such as movement and development, they can cripple cells and pathogens that are causing disease in the body.

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In a study published in the journal Chemical Communications, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and Syracuse University show that shrinking the core of a quantum dot can enhance the ability of a surrounding polymer to extract electric charges generated in the dot by the absorption of light.

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A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully developed an innovative one-step method to grow and transfer high-quality graphene on silicon and other stiff substrates, opening up opportunities for graphene to be used in high-value applications that are currently not technologically feasible.

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Penn State researchers have proved the feasibility of a new type of transistor that could make possible fast and low-power computing devices for energy constrained applications.

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Chenyang Lu, PhD, has received a three-year, $304,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research to extend RT-Xen into a new real-time virtualization platform for embedded systems and real-time cloud computing services.

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Mark Anastasio, PhD, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new imaging system that will help biomedical engineers see what happens when engineered tissue is implanted in the body.

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In a first-of-its-kind activity for an interplanetary spacecraft, thousands of amateur (ham) radio operators around the world were able to say “Hi” to NASA’s Juno spacecraft Oct. 9 as it swung past Earth on its way to Jupiter.

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What’s the best place to conduct a conversation about a confidential or even classified matter? Surprisingly, probably not a conference room designed in accordance with acoustical criteria approved by the Department of Defense. While such “secret” rooms might meet DOD standards, they offer less protection against snooping than is found in a luxury condo. So says Marlund Hale of Advanced Engineering Acoustics in Simi Valley, California, who evaluated the acoustic performance of several classified spaces.