Feature Channels: Engineering

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Inspired by the natural water purification systems of the roots of the mangrove plant and the human kidney, a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Environmental Research Institute (NERI) has engineered a novel biomimetic membrane that can purify water at low pressure, thus reducing energy costs. This new technology can potentially reduce water purification costs by up to 30 per cent.

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Researchers fabricated high-performance quantum cascade lasers (and integrated them into a device to demonstrate new, high-power broadband terahertz frequency combs, which are powerful tools for high-precision measurements and spectroscopy.

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There's a big push on now for technical talent in the Internet of Things sector, including interns and new grads, but most of the job listings start out with "senior," "principal," or "lead" in the job titles.

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Production of military, commercial, and consumer drones is projected to triple over the next 10 years with the defense/aerospace sector currently hiring engineering "talent" aggressively--if you have years of experience, and a load of skill sets.

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Iowa State University engineers are developing materials with a variety of medical applications, including delivering suicide genes to cancer cells, providing sustained delivery of vaccines, reducing the wear of hip implants and helping nerves regenerate.

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A special “suitcase under ultrahigh vacuum conditions,” created by researchers in Japan, will enable researchers to securely transport air-sensitive scientific samples from one advanced laboratory facility to another. The researchers describe their findings in this week's Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A.

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An innovative technology developed by New Mexico State University professor Ou Ma aims to support a growing need to develop satellite servicing capabilities that can extend the lifespan of existing satellites, support the assembly of large structures on orbit, and mitigate orbital debris. These advances can make spaceflight more efficient, sustainable and cost effective.

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Building burglary-resistent doors with thermal insulation is a challenge for manufacturers. Their complex structure provides holes for the flow of air. With scientific simulation methods, Fraunhofer researchers have designed an insulating construction on the computer – without expensive prototypes having to be built.

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A dolphin’s echolocation beam was directed at a submerged man and the echo captured by a hydrophone system. The echo signal was sent to a sound imaging laboratory who created the first ever ‘what-the-dolphin-saw’ image of the submerged man, by using a cymatic-holographic imaging technique.

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A team of eight engineering students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have successfully built Singapore’s first personal flying machine, dubbed Snowstorm, which they envision as a clean and simple way to realise our dreams of flying.

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Researchers at Linköping University's Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Sweden, have developed power paper -- a new material with an outstanding ability to store energy. The material consists of nanocellulose and a conductive polymer. The results have been published in Advanced Science.

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A reusable microfluidic device for sorting and manipulating cells and other micro/nano meter scale objects will make biomedical diagnosis of diseases cheaper and more convenient.

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A camera so advanced that it can photograph and film methane in the air around us is now presented by a team of researchers from Linköping and Stockholm Universities. It can be an important part of the efforts to measure and monitor greenhouse gases.

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While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Paris hammering out the details of the global fight against climate change, a new study out of the University of Montreal and the Trottier Energy Institute shows that Canadian attitudes are somewhat ambivalent.

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In a study published in Science today, PNNL scientists and their colleagues show that nations’ pledges to reduce greenhouse gases have the potential to reduce the probability of the highest levels of warming, and increase the probability of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

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To limit climate change, experts say that we need to reach carbon neutrality by the end of this century at the latest. To achieve that goal, our dependence on fossil fuels must be reversed. But what energy source will take its place? Researchers from Concordia University in Montreal just might have the answer: algae.

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A team of researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) have devised a groundbreaking “Water-in-Salt” aqueous Lithium ion battery technology that could provide power, efficiency and longevity comparable to today's Lithium-ion batteries, but without the fire risk, poisonous chemicals and environmental hazards of current Lithium batteries.

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When Mark Hain decided to leave his job to pursue a degree in environmental engineering at the University of Georgia, he assumed he would get his hands dirty designing and building projects. Instead, he found himself in a design course analyzing and discussing in detail how his work as an engineer might impact others.

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At the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the spirit of tinkering lives. This past summer a team of engineers invented a mechanical device designed to be installed on ITER, the multinational fusion machine being built in the south of France, using 3D printing and parts bought at Walmart.

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Stacking two solar cells one over the other has advantages: Because the energy is “harvested” in two stages, and overall the sunlight can be converted to electricity more efficiently. Empa researchers have come up with a procedure that makes it possible to produce thin film tandem solar cells in which a thin perovskite layer is used. The processing of perovskite takes place at just 50 degrees Celsius and such a process is potentially applicable for low cost roll-to-roll production in future.

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Due to the environmental effects of natural sand mining, the regulations discourage the use of natural sand for concrete manufacture. Research shows using crushed sand in self-consolidating concrete is a viable alternative.

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A resin developed at UAB's Materials Processing and Applications Development center is replacing the metal ring typically used to prevent cracks from furthering down an elephant’s tusk.

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Assistant Professor of Physics Hanwei Gao and Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Biwu Ma are using a class of materials called organometal halide perovskites to build a highly functioning LED. They lay out their findings in the journal Advanced Materials.

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Since the first laser was invented in 1960, they’ve always given off heat — either as a useful tool, a byproduct or a fictional way to vanquish intergalactic enemies. University of Washington researchers are the first to solve a decades-old puzzle — figuring out how to make a laser refrigerate water and other liquids under real-world conditions.

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A Missouri University of Science and Technology aerospace engineering professor is developing a microsatellite imager that could be used to check satellites, do small repairs or refuel spacecraft — and keep astronauts from making risky exploratory missions when something goes wrong.

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A new Kansas State University study finds that the over-tapping of the High Plains Aquifer's groundwater beyond the aquifer's recharge rate peaked in 2006. Its use is projected to decrease by roughly 50 percent in the next 100 years.

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Cornell biomedical engineers have developed specialized white blood cells – dubbed “super natural killer cells” – that seek out cancer cells in lymph nodes with only one purpose: destroy them.

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A piezoelectric load-sensing washer being developed by a professor and a recent graduate at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) provides a more accurate way to measure the clamping force exerted by the bolt it is on.

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Annual IT event brings together higher education and the technology world for a host of activities and interaction.

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Just as building work on a second WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull enters an exciting new phase; a £1.1m grant has been confirmed from Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) towards state of the art, industry standard engineering and IT equipment.

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The blood-brain barrier has been non-invasively opened in a patient for the first time. A team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto used focused ultrasound to enable temporary and targeted opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), allowing the more effective delivery of chemotherapy into a patient’s malignant brain tumor.

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Sparking interest in engineering among Native American youngsters—that’s the goal of a the National Science Foundations’ Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative, but as those involved will tell you, it’s a tough task. Two South Dakota State University researchers decided to find out why college-age Native American students opted for careers in social sciences and nursing rather than engineering.

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When bridges, dam walls and other structures made of concrete are streaked with dark cracks after a few decades, the culprit is AAR: the alkali-aggregate reaction. Also called the “concrete disease” or even “concrete cancer”, it is a chemical reaction between substances contained in the material and moisture seeping in from outside. AAR damages concrete structures all over the world and makes complex renovations or reconstructions necessary. Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and Empa have now solved the structure of the material produced in the course of AAR at atomic Level.

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Drawing inspiration from an insect's multi-faceted eye, University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have created miniature lenses with vast range of vision. Their new approach created the first-ever flexible Fresnel zone plate microlenses with a wide field of view — a development that could allow everything from surgical scopes to security cameras to capture a broader perspective at a fraction of the size required by conventional lenses.

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The first-ever images of the protein complex that unwinds, splits, and copies double-stranded DNA reveal something rather different from the standard textbook view. The electron microscope images, created by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory with partners from Stony Brook University and Rockefeller University, offer new insight into how this molecular machinery functions.

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Inspired by mammals’ eyes, University of Wisconsin–Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made.

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Photographs from Google Street View before and after a major natural disaster could help researchers and civil engineers to assess the damage to buildings and improve resistance against future events, according to new research from the University of Southampton.

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Catalysts that power chemical reactions to produce the nylon used in clothing, cookware, machinery and electronics could get a lift with a new formulation that saves time, energy and natural resources.

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Anyone who’s taken a picture of birthday candles being blown out or a selfie during a romantic candlelit dinner knows how disappointing it is when the photo comes out dark and grainy. But University of Utah Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Rajesh Menon has developed a new camera color filter that lets in three times more light than conventional filters, resulting in much cleaner, more accurate pictures taken in lowlight.

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Researchers have discovered a new welding technique that welds alloys once thought un-weldable—alloys that automakers would like to use in the next generation of cars. Compared to a typical welding technique of today, the new technique uses 80 percent less energy, and creates bonds that are 50 percent stronger.

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In creating what looks to be a simple children’s musical instrument—a xylophone with keys in the shape of zoo animals—computer scientists at Columbia Engineering, Harvard, and MIT have demonstrated that sound can be controlled by 3D-printing shapes. They designed an optimization algorithm and used computational methods and digital fabrication to control acoustic properties—both sound and vibration—by altering the shape of 2D and 3D objects. (To be presented at SIGGRAPH Asia 11/4)

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The first major trial of self-healing concrete in the UK, led by a team of researchers from Cardiff University, is being undertaken at a site in the South Wales Valleys.

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Engineers in Bristol have developed a system that manipulate small objects without touching them, using "holograms" made of sound waves. The technology could be used to one day deliver medicine.

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To prolong the lifespan of Hall thrusters, a team of researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research have experimentally optimized the operation of a novel, wall-less thruster prototype developed a year ago by the same team. The preliminary performance results were satisfactory, the team said, and pave the way toward developing a high-efficiency wall-less Hall thruster suitable for long-duration, deep space missions. The researchers present their work this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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University of Wisconsin–Madison engineer’s solution for streamlining the construction of skyscrapers is having a skyscraper moment in one of the most seismically active regions of the country. All coupling beams in the 1.5 million-square-foot Lincoln Square Expansion —which includes luxury condos, a hotel, dining, retail and office space in two 450-foot towers in the heart of Seattle suburb Bellevue, Washington — are made of fiber-reinforced concrete using a unique design co-developed by Gustavo Parra-Montesinos.

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A better understanding of how light reflects off different surfaces has improved action movies, videogames and now solar panels. A team from Michigan Technological University and Queen's University have found a way to get more sun to shine on the panels and crank up the output by 30 percent or more.

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High-speed video breaks down the incredible leaping ability of basement-dwelling spider crickets and points the way toward development of robotic long jumpers.

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The International Space Station (ISS) is in some ways like most homes -- over time, it occasionally requires repairs. When the ammonia cooling system on the exterior of the ISS springs a leak, however, tracking down its location is by no means an easy task. So researchers and engineers from SRS, a manufacturer of test instruments, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Goddard Space Flight Center teamed up to create an “Ammonia Leak Locator.” Researchers will describe the new tool and its capabilities at the AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition.

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Cornell University researchers have developed a new lightweight and stretchable material with the consistency of memory foam that has potential for use in prosthetic body parts, artificial organs and soft robotics. The foam is unique because it can be formed and has connected pores that allow fluids to be pumped through it.

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Cornell University engineers have developed a method to re-create the arrangement of muscles of an octopus tentacle, using an elastomer and 3D printer.