Nanorods of many materials are proving very successful, and their properties often exceed that of nanotubes, making them excellent candidates for industrial applications. Theoretical calculations predicted that diamond nanorods too would have properties superior to that of carbon nanotubes. But, so far, nobody had been able to actually synthesize diamond nanorods. This is no longer true. A team from the Bayerisches Geoinstitut (Universität Bayreuth) has just reported the synthesis of these aggregat

Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say restraints, other passengers in rear seat reduce risk

Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will present today a series of findings aimed at enhancing protection for children in side-impact car crashes at the Scientific Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). The findings demonstrate that children fare better in side-impact crashes if they are restraine

Wind generator vanes can suffer degradation by erosion, particularly at their outer edge, produced by particles (dust, sand, etc.) which are present suspended in the air. Because of this, the ever increasing presence of wind parks in zones of extreme climate make it puts an onus on optimising the protection coating material, with the aim of guaranteeing good yields, even in the most extreme conditions.

The main parameters that affect this phenomenon are, on the one hand, gel-coat character

The newest promising material for advanced technology applications is diamond nanotubes, and research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is giving new insight into the nature of nanodiamond.

Argonne researcher Amanda Barnard, theorist in the Center for Nanoscale Materials, is working with colleagues at two Italian universities who produced innovative diamond-coated nanotubes.

The diamond-coated tubes resemble a stick of rock candy, hol

Improving survivability and mobility

A concept vehicle designed to illustrate potential technology options for improving survivability and mobility in future military combat vehicles will be shown publicly for the first time Sept. 13-15 at a military technology meeting in Virginia.

The event, “Modern Day Marine Expo,” will be held at the Marine Corps Air Facility in Quantico, Va.

The concept vehicle, known as the ULTRA AP (Armored Patrol), was built to help

If you already have a little spring in your step, a team of biologists at the University of Pennsylvania would like to them to good use by adding a few more springs in the form of a power-generating backpack. Details of their prototype “Suspended-load Backpack” were announced today in the journal Science. The device converts mechanical energy from walking into electricity – up to 7.4 Watts – more than enough energy to power a number of portable electronic devices at once.

“As efficient

Based on superlattice nanobelts

A previously-unknown zinc oxide nanostructure that resembles the helical configuration of DNA could provide engineers with a new building block for creating nanometer-scale sensors, transducers, resonators and other devices that rely on electromechanical coupling.

Based on a superlattice composed of alternating single-crystal “stripes” just a few nanometers wide, the “nanohelix” structure is part of a family of nanobelts – tiny ribbon-l

A novel material that may demonstrate a highly unusual “liquid” magnetic state at extremely low temperatures has been discovered by a team of Japanese and U.S. researchers, according to tomorrow’s issue of Science.*

The material, nickel gallium sulfide (NiGa2S4), was synthesized by scientists at Kyoto University. Its properties were studied by both the Japanese team and by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the University of Maryland (UM) at the Commerce

Researchers at the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló and at the University of California have devised a system to reduce the damage caused by earthquakes in bridges. Installed between the piers of a bridge and their respective foundations, it is a flexible device that helps to mitigate the effects produced by the movement of the Earth’s surface, working in a similar way to the shock absorbers in cars. The study has been published in the journal Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.

Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have invented a technology which may be an important step towards the hydrogen economy: a hydrogen tablet that effectively stores hydrogen in an inexpensive and safe material.

With the new hydrogen tablet, it becomes much simpler to use the environmentally-friendly energy of hydrogen. Hydrogen is a non-polluting fuel, but since it is a light gas it occupies too much volume, and it is flammable. Consequently, effective and safe stor

A simple but clever idea by a Bath engineer could revolutionise the way that safety devices across the world are constructed.

Dr Fayek Osman’s new concept could mean that devices such as train buffers, safety barriers and aircraft undercarriages will be much more efficient and cheaper.

Dr Osman, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Bath, UK, has developed a concept for devices that can absorb enormous impact and yet still remain intact so th

A ‘living’ artificial hand that learns through imitation has been developed, enhancing human-machine communication and paving the way for novel prosthetic aides.

“The last decade has seen enormous advances in the design and implementation of all kinds of robot platforms,” says Alois Knoll of Technische Universität München and coordinator of the ArteSImit project. “However, their abilities to ‘learn’ how to solve even simple tasks are still very restricted.”

According to

A new solar-powered underwater robot technology developed for undersea observation and water monitoring will be showcased at a Sept. 16 workshop on leading-edge robotics to be held at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, Va.

Arthur C. Sanderson, professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will display the robotic technology being developed by a team of research groups, including Rensselaer, and led by the Autonomou

The University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Intellectual Property Limited (UMIP) in partnership with Mowlem plc and Royal Haskoning, are developing an innovative and patented new wave energy device known as the ‘Manchester Bobber’.

The device will be showcased at the New & Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) in Blyth, Northumberland, on September 19th (Press Invitation below).

The Manchester Bobber’s inventive features utilise the rise and fall (or ‘bobbi

As of October 1 this year the EU requires that emissions of nitrogen oxides be reduced by 30 percent in trucks and 50 percent in diesel-powered cars. In 2008 these regulations will be become more stringent in Europe, and even more so in the US. The technical solution chosen by nearly all automakers to meet the requirements was originally developed by the Lund University in Sweden. Now these researchers are working on methods to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions even more.

Emissions of nitrog

A recently completed EU project developed better tools for integrated microcircuit design; achieved some world firsts in performance analysis and now may even spin off a new company to commercialise some of its new technologies.

The DEMAND project wanted to develop a reliable and cost-effective design process for ‘smart power’ integrated circuits. This type of microchip can integrate a wide variety of functions into one piece of silicon. The advantage is lower-cost and increased r