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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Annual IT event brings together higher education and the technology world for a host of activities and interaction.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Inspired by mammals’ eyes, University of Wisconsin–Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High-speed video breaks down the incredible leaping ability of basement-dwelling spider crickets and points the way toward development of robotic long jumpers.
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.
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.
Cornell University engineers have developed a method to re-create the arrangement of muscles of an octopus tentacle, using an elastomer and 3D printer.
Boeing has invented microlattice, the lightest metal ever. The material that is 99% air, will be used for aerospace-engineering, such space as rockets.
Binghamton University researchers have demonstrated an eco-friendly process that enables unprecedented spatial control over the electrical properties of graphene oxide. This two-dimensional nanomaterial has the potential to revolutionize flexible electronics, solar cells and biomedical instruments. By using the probe of an atomic force microscope to trigger a local chemical reaction, Jeffrey Mativetsky, assistant professor of physics at Binghamton University, and PhD student Austin Faucett showed that electrically conductive features as small as four nanometers can be patterned into individual graphene oxide sheets. One nanometer is about one hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair.
A team of Australian scientists has produced a precision laser device that creates an accurate international standard for temperature.
Most Christmas lights, DVD players, televisions and flashlights have one thing in common: they’re made with light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are widely used for a variety of applications and have been a popular, more efficient alternative to fluorescent and incandescent bulbs for the past few decades. Two University of Utah researchers have now found a way to create LEDs from food and beverage waste. In addition to utilizing food and beverage waste that would otherwise decompose and be of no use, this development can also reduce potentially harmful waste from LEDs generally made from toxic elements.
Most robotic parts used today are rigid, have a limited range of motion and don’t really look lifelike. Inspired by both nature and biology, a scientist from FAU has designed a novel robotic finger that looks, feels and works like the real thing. Using shape memory alloy, a 3D CAD model of a human finger, a 3D printer and a unique thermal training technique, this robotic finger could ultimately be adapted for use as a prosthetic device, such as on a prosthetic hand.
A team from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and Stanford University took an important step toward safer and faster charging of lithium-ion batteries by advancing the capability for dynamic, noninvasive internal temperature measurement.
Bringing closer a mass market for environmentally friendly hydrogen-powered cars, Sandia researchers are upgrading $0.37/gram molybdenum disulfide, "molly" for short, to take the place of $1,500/gram catalyst platinum. Unlike gasoline, hydrogen as fuel releases water, not carbon, into the air.
A team of NIBIB-supported bioengineers are working to reduce blood clots caused by platelet activation in ventricular assist devices (VADs) implanted in advanced heart failure patients. Previously, the team re-engineered the VAD's high-speed rotors to eliminate more than 90% of platelet activation and clotting. The current study examines the role of platelet stiffness in activation with the goal of developing treatments that would increase platelet pliability and further reduce platelet activation and clotting.
Bioengineers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed a mathematical algorithm that can “see” your intention while performing an ordinary action like reaching for a cup or driving straight up a road -- even if the action is interrupted.
Researchers at The University of Alabama designed and made a material that manipulates the speed of light in a new, more effective way than previous methods, according to findings recently published in Scientific Reports by the Nature Publishing Group.
High octane rating makes ethanol attractive; ORNL has potential solution to congestion, collisions; ORNL using advanced methods to discover new materials; ORNL hosting molten salt reactor workshop; Virginia Tech using ORNL computing resources for energy exploration
A group of researchers in Japan is exploring the behavior of a certain type of SET (single-electron transistor) made from two quantum dots, which are bits of material so small they start to exhibit quantum properties. The group has produced a detailed analysis of the electrical characteristics of the so-called double-quantum-dot SETs, which could help researchers design better devices to manipulate single electrons. They report their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a “greener” way to control the assembly of photovoltaic polymers in water using a surfactant—a detergent-like molecule—as a template.
Using microfluidic passages cut directly into the backsides of production field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are putting liquid cooling right where it’s needed the most – a few hundred microns away from where the transistors are operating.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has developed a near ultra-violet and all-organic light emitting diode (OLED) that can be used as an on-chip photosensor.
The scandal surrounding VW has thrust nitric oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel vehicles into the limelight. Owing to the different engine technologies, these have always been higher than in gasoline-powered cars. On the other hand, diesel consumes less fuel. If a way can be found to “denitrify” diesel emissions efficiently, we would have an economical, clean engine. Empa researchers are thus working hard on optimizing the catalytic converter technology for diesel.
Using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current.
Researchers at Houston Methodist, along with collaborators at two major Singapore institutions, have developed a lab in a needle device that could provide instant results to routine lab tests, accelerating treatment and diagnosis by days.
A new study out of St. Mary’s College of Maryland puts us closer to do-it-yourself spray-on solar cell technology—promising third-generation solar cells utilizing a nanocrystal ink deposition that could make traditional expensive silicon-based solar panels a thing of the past.
A detailed nano-mechanical study of mechanical degradation processes in silicon structures containing varying levels of lithium ions offers good news for researchers attempting to develop reliable next-generation rechargeable batteries using silicon-based electrodes.
Southampton scientists will reveal the first research results from the new National Dark Fibre Infrastructure Service (NDFIS) at an international conference this Autumn.
Researchers at the University of Chicago’s Institute for Molecular Engineering are putting liquid crystals to work as detectors for the protein fibers implicated in the development of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Engineering has developed a wearable liquid-based microfluidic tactile sensor that is small, thin, highly flexible and durable. Simple and cost-effective to produce, this novel device is very suitable for applications such as soft robotics, wearable consumer electronics, smart medical prosthetic devices, as well as real-time healthcare monitoring.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right