Feature Channels: Engineering

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Scientists create a molybdenum-based material that could be a low-cost alternative to platinum for splitting water to make hydrogen fuel.

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A research team by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered that only half the atoms in some iron-based superconductors are magnetic, providing the first conclusive demonstration of the wave-like properties of metallic magnetism.

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Bioengineers determine textile manufacturing processes ideal for engineering tissues needed for organ and tissue repair.

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The addition of sound waves offers the potential to better manipulate qubit communications within a quantum system, researchers say.

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The world has more carbon dioxide than it needs, and a team of Brown University chemists has come up with a potential way to put some of it to good use.

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Engineers have created a new material with an unusual chemical structure that makes it incredibly hard and yet elastic.

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Using state-of-the-art theoretical methods, UCSB researchers have identified a specific type of defect in the atomic structure of a light-emitting diode (LED) that results in less efficient performance. The characterization of these point defects could result in the fabrication of even more efficient, longer lasting LED lighting.

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A Purdue University research team has developed a simulation technique as part of a project to help reduce the cost of carbon nanostructures for research and potential commercial technologies, including advanced sensors and batteries.

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Rice University engineers develop method to ID cause of sour hydrocarbons in wells.

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A revolutionary new type of laser developed by the University of Adelaide is promising major advances in remote sensing of greenhouse gases.

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Khanjan Mehta and then Penn State undergraduate student Rachel Dzombak and graduate student Sally Mouakkad studied the reasons men and women involved with HESE cited as their top motivations for participating in the program with a goal of better understanding why women are drawn to the program.

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New research has identified how liquid-like materials can change into a solid-like state without the addition of extra particles or changes in volume.

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Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes seizures of many different types. Recent research from Japan has found that epileptic seizures can be more easily predicted by using an electrocardiogram to measure fluctuations in the heart rate than by measuring brain activity, because the monitoring device is easier to wear. By making more accurate predictions, it is possible to prevent injury or accident that may result from an epileptic seizure. This is a significant contribution toward the realization of a society where epileptic patients can live without worrying about sustaining injury from an unexpected seizure.

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Rice University scientists predict 2-D material -- no longer theoretical -- has unique properties.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have demonstrated that the placement and type of a tiny measurement device called a reference electrode enhances the quantity and quality of information that can be extracted from lithium-ion battery cells during cycling.

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A Kansas State University mechanical engineer has developed a paperlike battery electrode that may improve tools for space exploration or unmanned aerial vehicles.

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A new 3-D modeling and data-extraction technique is about to transform the field of X-ray crystallography, with potential benefits for both the pharmaceutical industry and structural biology.

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Weihua Guan has created a device that will deliver a diagnosis to the patient in 30 minutes. The assistant professor of electrical engineering in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, with the help of his graduate student, Gihoon Choi, has created “AnyMDx: A Mobile Molecular Diagnostics Lab for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” for rapid diagnosis.

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Iowa State's ATHENA Lab is packed with sensors, tools and equipment -- all to help engineers find ways to augment human performance. That includes developing better ways to train welders, design body armor or place UPC codes on packages.

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Alkane fuel is a key ingredient in combustible material such as gasoline, airplane fuel, oil — even a homemade bomb. Yet it’s difficult to detect and there are no portable scanners available that can sniff out the odorless and colorless vapor. But University of Utah engineers have developed a new type of fiber material for a handheld scanner that can detect small traces of alkane fuel vapor, a valuable advancement that could be an early-warning signal for leaks in an oil pipeline, an airliner, or for locating a terrorist’s explosive.

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Researchers from Griffith University and the University of Queensland have overcome one of the key challenges to quantum computing by simplifying a complex quantum logic operation. They demonstrated this by experimentally realising a challenging circuit -- the quantum Fredkin gate -- for the first time.

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Novel liquid crystal formulations usable from minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit to 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Rice team's mobile container can sterilize surgical instruments in low-resource settings.

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A method to rotate single particles, cells or organisms using acoustic waves in a microfluidic device will allow researchers to take three dimensional images with only a cell phone. Acoustic waves can move and position biological specimens along the x, y and z axes, but for the first time researchers at Penn State have used them to gently and safely rotate samples, a crucial capability in single-cell analysis, drug discovery and organism studies.

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Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering conducted a survey on falls among the elderly and discovered that Americans are very worried about an elderly parent falling — and that this worry leads to action.

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Designing and building three massive hill slopes, known as LEO, was no ordinary undertaking for the UA's Biosphere 2.

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Imagine a world with little or no concrete. Would that even be possible? After all, concrete is everywhere — on our roads, our driveways, in our homes, bridges and buildings. For the past 200 years, it’s been the very foundation of much of our planet.

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Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory made a better thermoplastic by replacing styrene with lignin, a brittle, rigid polymer that, with cellulose, forms the woody cell walls of plants.

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Crumple a piece of paper and it's probably destined for the trash can, but new research shows that repeatedly crumpling sheets of the nanomaterial graphene can actually enhance some of its properties. In some cases, the more crumpled the better.

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Materials scientists and physicists at Lehigh University have demonstrated a new method of making single crystals that could enable a wider range of materials to be used in microelectronics, solar energy devices and other high-technology applications.

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Study points the way to new photonic devices with one-way traffic lanes.

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An engineering team at Washington University in St. Louis developed a cellular kill switch, a sensor that rewards hard working cells and eliminates their lazy counterparts. The high-tech engineering fix could help improve production of biofuels and pharmaceuticals.

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Cornell University engineering professor Rob Shepherd and his group have created a hybrid material featuring stiff metal and soft, porous rubber foam that combines the best properties of both – stiffness when it’s called for, and elasticity when a change of shape is required. The material also has the ability to self-heal following damage.

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A Washington University in St. Louis engineer has found a new way to control chemical oscillation that could help regulate biorhythms involving the heart, brain and circadian cycles.

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Researchers at APL have developed the Corrosion Resistant Aerial Covert Unmanned Nautical System (CRACUNS), an innovative unmanned aerial vehicle that can stay on station beneath the water, then launch into the air to perform a variety of missions.

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When Joseph Hyman ‘11, mechanical engineering, was a student at UMBC, he was sitting in the library craving a fresh, hot cup of coffee, when an idea struck him: Wouldn’t it be great if a travel mug could brew its own coffee?

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Johns Hopkins engineers have devised a computer model to unravel the wicked wind conditions that plague the world’s greatest golfers at the course that hosts one of the sport’s most storied tournaments, The Masters, in Augusta, Georgia.

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Nuclear power is an important energy source and is essential as a clean energy to reduce current carbon emissions from fossil fuels. However, many people feel the risk of nuclear accidents does not outweigh the benefits associated with nuclear energy.

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Virginia Tech researchers are working with academic and industry partners in a $1 million pilot project to recover rare earth elements from coal.

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Penn State researchers have released a roadmap that is designed to offer a strategy for building the fundamental knowledge necessary to accelerate the design and application of additive manufacturing materials over the next 10 years.

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A new sonar technology developed by University of Washington computer scientists and electrical engineers allows you to interact with mobile devices and smartwatch screens by writing or gesturing on any nearby surface — a tabletop, a sheet of paper or even in mid-air.

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Speeding Recovery From Cyber-Induced Blackouts, Teaching with 'Big Data', Security Breach in 3-D Printing Process, and more in the Newswise Cybersecurity News Source.

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The batteries that power the ubiquitous devices of modern life, from smartphones and computers to electric cars, are mostly made of toxic materials such as lithium that can be difficult to dispose of and have limited global supplies. Now, researchers at MIT have come up with an alternative system for generating electricity, which harnesses heat and uses no metals or toxic materials.

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Terahertz radiation is a relatively unexplored slice of the electromagnetic spectrum, but it holds the promise of countless new imaging applications as well as wireless communication networks with extremely high bandwidth. The problem is that there are few off-the-shelf components available for manipulating terahertz waves.

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For decades, researchers have tried to duplicate the function of beta cells, which don’t work properly in patients with diabetes. Now, researchers have devised another option: a synthetic patch filled with natural beta cells that can secrete doses of insulin to control blood sugar levels on demand.

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In a breakthrough for energy-efficient computing, engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown for the first time that magnetic chips can operate with the lowest fundamental level of energy dissipation possible under the laws of thermodynamics.

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Researchers at Princeton University have observed a bizarre behavior in a strange new crystal that could hold the key for future electronic technologies. Unlike most materials in which electrons travel on the surface, in these new materials the electrons sink into the depths of the crystal through special conductive channels.

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Here are five ways SLAC’s X-ray laser and the science it enables can impact our future.

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Florida State University researchers have discovered a way to safely activate red phosphorus, an element that will be critical in the creation of new electronics and the materials of the future.

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Stanford scientists have discovered a novel way to make plastic from carbon dioxide (CO2) and inedible plant material, such as agricultural waste and grasses. Researchers say the new technology could provide a low-carbon alternative to plastic bottles and other items currently made from petroleum.