As a boy growing up in Brazil 40 years ago, Marc A. Meyers marveled at the lightweight toughness of toucan beaks that he occasionally found on the forest floor. Now a materials scientist and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering, Meyers said makers of airplanes and automobiles may benefit from the first ever detailed engineering analysis of toucan beaks conducted in his lab.

“Our computer modeling shows that the beak is optimized to

Biomolecule and microwave assisted solvothermal syntheses of nanomaterials

Nanomaterials are increasingly gaining the attention of not only the scientific community, but also the public due to their unique properties which endear them to new and exciting applications. These special properties can vary markedly from those of the analogous bulk materials. The physical and chemical properties of the nanomaterials tend to be exceptionally closely dependent on their size and shape or mo

Modeling and simulation of magnetorheological damper behavior under triangular excitation

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids are smart materials whose flow/viscosity properties can be modified by applying an electric field. These changes in viscosity occur within a fraction of a millisecond – far faster than conventional mechanical means – and can be used to effectively control vibrations in applications dealing with actuation, damping, robotics and mechatronics.

In this stu

A team of Yale scientists have demonstrated a method to understand effective synthesis of semiconductor nanowires (NWs) for both their quality and quantity, according to a report published in the journal Nanotechnology.

Graduate student Eric Stern in the department of biomedical engineering along with his colleague Guosheng Cheng, associate research scientist in electrical engineering systematically varied and tested parameters for producing GaN NWs using an optical lithograp

Experts at Cardiff University have developed machinery so sophisticated that they can drill a hole narrower than a human hair.

Such precision has potentially major benefits in medical and electronic engineering.

The experts at the University’s multi-award-winning Manufacturing Engineering Centre, are drilling holes as small as 22 microns (0.022 mm) in stainless steel and other materials.

The human hair varies between 80 microns (0.08 mm) down to 50 microns

At the heart of the promises of nanotechnology – the emerging science of making molecular machines – are carbon nanotubes. These are tiny cylinders with remarkable properties that could improve products ranging from house paint to microchips.

Now, engineers at the University of Florida and two other universities have added another possibility: Foams used in everything from construction to cushions to packaging.

An article about the engineers’ discovery appears Friday

Professor Peter Hofmann and his team at the Competence Center Electrical and Electronic (EE) Architecture at the Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) have successfully developed the first self-organizing electronic components. These so called autonomous units form the basis for complex technical systems of the future. For this purpose, the scientists have adopted the knowledge of complex systems found in nature.

Organisms are structured according to the modular assembly concept –

Latex film formation through evaporation deposition: Monte Carlo Study

In the formation of high performance coatings, it is known that the process whereby a film forms from a colloidal dispersion is a key step. Conversely, how the solvent evaporation process affects the structure of the film during this stage is not well understood. The irreversible nature of the evaporation process necessitates the use of non-standard theoretical methods and even simple models can be important too

The Max Planck Society and the Technical University in Munich inaugurate a unique neutron spectrometer at the research neutron source (FRM-II)

N-REX+ (Neutron Reflectometry & X-Rays) is one of two neutron spectrometers that are unique worldwide; the other one is TRISP (Triple Axis Resonance Spin echo Spectrometer), already in service at the research neutron source. Both were designed and built at the high flux neutron source by Max Planck researchers over the past five years. The

As airline travel peaks for the Thanksgiving holiday, a newly completed wind tunnel at the University of Florida may help reduce the noise of commercial airplanes as they fly over homes and neighborhoods.

The tunnel is one of only a handful in the country and currently the largest at a university designed specifically to reduce noise from planes passing overhead and landing. Engineers will use the $400,000 tunnel to learn how to reduce the noise caused by the flow of air ove

Shuttle train provides alternative to congested European roads

The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) has been investigating a new freight transport corridor between the Nordic region and south eastern Europe. Information on the opportunities offered by the new corridor is of particular importance to companies that export their products to central and south eastern Europe through Poland. The corridor would provide an alternative to the traditional route of congested, hig

When ESA experts wanted to see what the ion engine designed for the SMART-1 mission to the Moon would finally look like, they contacted a French start-up company: News’UProduction. The new technique they came up with is now being further developed in ESA’s European Space Incubator.

Jean-Luc Atteleyn, photographer and CEO of News’UProduction says: “We managed to produce high quality and realistic images and animations of the engine based upon classical 3D design drawings. This was

The NANOEFFECT “Nanocomposites with High Colouration Efficiency for Electrochromic Smart Plastic Devices” project, led by the Fraunhofer-Institut Silicatforschung (ISC), is designing new electrochromic devices that are totally plastic and flexible, capable of changing colour on the simple application of an electric current. The main result of the project will be a new nanohybrid material with great electrochromic efficiency, to be integrated into plastic electrochromic devices with excellent char

Currently, the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at the Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) is developing an innovative sensor system for human respiratory investigations which can also be applied in the space. Professor Stefanos Fasoulas and his expert team have created a high-performance miniaturised sensor which enables a simultaneous in-situ measurement of oxygen, carbon dioxide and volume flow rates.

In this regard, scientists of the Professorship for Space Systems and

Using building blocks that make up ordinary plastics, but putting them together in a whole new way, University of Michigan researchers have created a class of lightweight, rigid polymers they predict will be useful for storing hydrogen fuel. The work is described in today’s (Nov. 17) issue of the journal Science.

The trick to making the new materials, called covalent organic frameworks (COFs), was coaxing them to assume predictable crystal structures—something that never had b

A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researcher has come up with a method designed to improve the energy efficiency of water chillers that cool the nation’s large commercial buildings. The NIST method, if confirmed through experiments with full-scale chiller systems, could save as much as 1 percent of the 320 billion kWh of electricity used annually by chillers or an equivalent 920,000 barrels of oil a day, according to Mark Kedzierski, the NIST mechanical engineer who dev