Feature Channels: Engineering

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Understanding how bacteria interact is critical to solving growing problems such as antibiotic resistance, in which infectious bacteria form defenses to thwart the medicines used to fight them. Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that bacterial cells from different species can combine into unique hybrid cells by fusing their cell walls and membranes and sharing cellular contents, including proteins and ribonucleic acid (RNA), the molecules which regulate gene expression and control cell metabolism.

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Carol Burns, executive officer for the Deputy Director for Science, Technology & Engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory, was selected as the recipient of the 2021 American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Francis P. Garvan‒John M. Olin Medal.

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Registration is now open for Penn State’s Institute of Computational and Data Sciences’ (ICDS) 2020 Symposium. The two-day symposium will be held virtually Oct. 21-22 and will feature an interdisciplinary group of speakers and experts who will focus on both the challenges — and opportunities — of big data and data science.

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In a new study from Argonne, researchers have measured important beam properties that will help scientists develop more focused beams for high-impact science.

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Innovators from Purdue University hope their new technology can help transform paper sheets from a notebook into a music player interface and make food packaging interactive.

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If CDC guidelines aren’t enough to convince you that face shields alone shouldn’t be used to stop the spread of COVID-19, then maybe a new visualization study will. Researchers simulated coughing and sneezing from a mannequin’s mouth using a laser light to visualize droplets expelled. They tested a plastic face shield and found that they block the initial forward motion of the exhaled jet, however, aerosolized droplets are able to move around the visor with relative ease.

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ORNL Story Tips: Cool smart walls, magnetism twist, fuel cost savings and polymers’ impact

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A team led by University of Utah chemical engineering assistant professor Kerry E. Kelly has received a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to design and test the viability of a real-time air pollution monitoring system and display for idling parked cars. The display would work similarly to dynamic speed limit displays in neighborhoods that monitor motorists' speed. In this case, these new displays would give feedback to drivers if air pollution rises due to idling.

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Holographic movies, like the one R2D2 projected of Princess Leia in the Star Wars: A New Hope, have long been the province of science fiction, but for most of us, the extent of our experience with holograms may be the dime-sized stamps on our passports and credit cards.

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Theory suggests that quantum critical points may be analogous to black holes as places where all sorts of strange phenomena can exist in a quantum material. Now scientists say that they have found strong evidence that QCPs and their associated fluctuations exist in a cuprate superconductor.

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Electrifying research by Clemson University scientists could lead to the creation of lighter, faster-charging batteries suitable for powering a spacesuit, or even a Mars rover.

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New Mexico companies seeking to develop new technology products may qualify for technical assistance from the state’s two national laboratories.

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Extremely energy-efficient artificial intelligence is now closer to reality after a study by UCL researchers found a way to improve the accuracy of a brain-inspired computing system.

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Far below Hurricane Laura’s fury in the churning Gulf of Mexico, an array of underwater instruments have been taking the temperature of the ocean to measure the water’s heat content—a key factor that drives the intensity of hurricanes as they suck heat out of the ocean.

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Eligible New Mexico companies can submit statements of intent to work with scientists and engineers at Sandia or Los Alamos national laboratories through a new program to advance technologies derived from the labs into market-ready products and services.

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The COVID-19 crisis has increasingly highlighted shortcomings in Australia's National Broadband Network, Flinders University experts say.

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Researchers from the University of Minnesota, with support from Medtronic, have developed a groundbreaking process for multi-material 3D printing of lifelike models of the heart’s aortic valve and the surrounding structures that mimic the exact look and feel of a real patient. These patient-specific organ models, which include 3D-printed soft sensor arrays integrated into the structure, are fabricated using specialized inks and a customized 3D printing process. Such models can be used in preparation for minimally invasive procedures to improve outcomes in thousands of patients worldwide.

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In a study, a team of Penn State researchers report that an algorithm they developed may be able to spot illicit online pharmacies that could be providing customers with substandard medications without their knowledge, among other potential problems.

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An international team of scientists has succeeded in using the signature whistles of individual bottlenose dolphins to estimate the size of the population and track their movement.

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One of the biggest impediments to adoption of new technologies is trust in AI.