A computer design tool originally created for animation may soon unlock the secrets of the structure of ancient cathedrals, according to MIT Assistant Professor John Ochsendorf of architecture.

A structural engineer specializing in architectural and construction history, Ochsendorf recently presented to colleagues a virtual design method that has been extended in novel ways by a team of architects, computer scientists and engineers at MIT.

“This is the kind of work – crossi

Liquid crystals, the same phase-shifting materials used to display information on cell phones, monitors and other electronic equipment, can also be used to report in real time on the differentiation of embryonic stem cells.

Differentiation is the process by which embryonic stem cells gradually turn into function-specific types of adult cells or so-called “cell lineages,” including skin, heart or brain cells.

The main challenge facing stem cell research is that of gui

Nobody completely understands superconductors. So fathom how James S. Schilling, Ph.D., led a team that makes the phenomenon work better.

Schilling, a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, collaborated with recent doctoral graduate Takahiro Tomita and scientists at Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory to determine whether one region in superconductors, called grain boundaries (GB), are oxygen deficient. Such oxygen deficiency impairs supercon

An innovative strategy of mixing lipids and nanoparticles to produce new drug and agricultural materials and delivery vehicles has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“This is a new way to make nano-size capsules of a biologically friendly material,” said Steve Granick, a professor of materials science and engineering, chemistry and physics. “The hollow, deformable and biofunctional capsules could be used in drug delivery, colloidal-based b

Highways of tomorrow might be filled with lighter, cleaner and more fuel-efficient automobiles made in part from recycled plastics, lignin from wood pulp and cellulose.

First, however, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working as part of a consortium with Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, must figure out how to lower the cost of carbon fiber composites. If they are successful in developing high-volume renewable sources of c

The hydrogen storage devices developed and patented by the scientists of the Academy of Advanced Technologies (Moscow) break all records. These are hydrogen accumulators based on microporous structures, first of all – microspheres and capillaries. Despite seeming elegance and fragility of its “filling”, the device strongly and safely retains a lot of hydrogen in a small volume. A lot of hydrogen means more than 45 grams per litre. By the way, this figure is planned by the US Department of Energ

Scientists at UCL (University College London) have discovered the area of the brain linked to dyscalculia, a maths learning disability. The finding shows that there is a separate part of the brain used for counting that is essential for diagnosis and an understanding of why many people struggle with maths.

The paper, published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), explains that an area of the brain widely thought to be involved in processing number

The technology used in space suits to protect astronauts carrying out space walks in direct sunlight is now being used to develop protective clothing to safeguard firefighters and steel workers who often work in extremely hot and dangerous conditions.

“The existing protective clothing used while performing physically demanding work in hot conditions can, in many cases, hinder workers’ ability to remain cool,” explains Stefano Carosio from the Italian company D’Appoloni

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has demonstrated that ventilated automotive seats not only can improve passenger comfort but also a vehicle’s fuel economy. That’s because ventilated seats keep drivers and passengers cooler, so they need less air conditioning to be comfortable.

NREL’s Vehicle Ancillary Loads Reduction team has been working with industry to try to reduce fuel consumption from air conditioning in cars and

A team of researchers has developed a new process to make flexible, conducting ’nano skins’ for a variety of applications, from electronic paper to sensors for detecting chemical and biological agents. The materials, which are described in the March issue of the journal Nano Letters, combine the strength and conductivity of carbon nanotubes with the flexibility of traditional polymers.

“Researchers have long been interested in making composites of nanotubes and polymers, but i

Electric power is needed in remote regions difficult of access, settlements, expeditions and at timber-felling. Where can it be obtained from? Specially for such occasions, researchers from the Moscow Institute of Heating Engineering have invented a wind turbine, which can be delivered by car in a container or by helicopter, for example, MI-26 at external load. The developers promise that the device would supply energy without interruption. “What about dead calm weather?” – you would ask. In this c

Newly published research by a Princeton engineer suggests that understanding how air travels across the sunroof of a car may one day make jet engines less noisy.

Clarence Rowley, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, did not actually conduct his experiments on a sunroof. Rather, he and collaborators used computer simulations and subsonic wind tunnels at Princeton and at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, to experiment with models that rese

‘China Seatbelt Intervention Project’

National and International members of the China seatbelt intervention Steering Committee will meet today in Beijing to discuss the progress of a leading project in the province of Guangzhou, which addresses the low usage of seatbelt wearing rates among drivers and front seat passengers in China.

The China Seatbelt Intervention Project is a co-operation between the Chinese government, international organizations and industry.

Sensors which are able to predict when mechanical parts in machinery and transport will breakdown before they actually do could be introduced by 2010, slashing maintenance costs across the manufacturing, automotive and plant machinery industries.

Scientists at The University of Manchester are to develop a new type of wireless sensor which will be able to remotely monitor mechanical parts and systems. The aim is to produce a sensor which can be seamlessly fitted inside gearboxes,

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have discovered that ceria (or cerium dioxide) is an excellent catalyst for fuel cell anodes. This discovery was made through careful electrochemical characterization using a.c. impedance spectroscopy, an important tool for studying the electrical transport behavior of ceramics. The study is published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society.

By applying an a.c. electrical voltage to the ceria (a white crystalline p

Rotary tools will need increasingly high speeds in the future, for example, for drills used in medical technology or spindles used in machine tools. To drive these tools directly and efficiently requires an ultra-high-speed electrical drive system. Today, industrial motors achieve maximum speeds of 250,000 revolutions per minute, but researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed a drive system which achieves speeds of over 500,000 revolutions per minute, generating 100 watts of drive power and is n