Engineering seniors test their invention on high-tech crash dummy

When a car crash occurs, people with osteoporosis and other brittle bone disorders often suffer more serious injuries. To better protect these “fragile” motorists, three Johns Hopkins undergraduate engineering students have devised a harness and vest system that significantly reduced impact forces when tested on a high-tech crash dummy.

The students were responding to a challenge from the Center for Injury Res

A breakthrough in polymer development means that soon there may be a radical new treatment for people with broken bones – a special kind of material that can ’glue’ the bone back together and support it while it heals.

The material is designed to break down as the bone regrows leaving only natural tissue.

Scientists at CSIRO Molecular Science have developed a biodegradable polymer that can be used in the human body. Not only is it biodegradable and biocompatible, it can be

As if getting to Mars wasn’t hard enough, astronauts also have to worry about what to wear when they arrive. Their concerns are not fashion pundits but exposure to micrometeor sandstorms, radiation, and a hyper-cold climate.

However, three undergraduate students at the University of Alberta – Jennifer Marcy, Ann Shalanski, and Matthew Yarmuch – addressed the problem in Dr. Barry Patchett’s Materials Design 443 class and have published their findings in the Journal of Materials Eng

More durable helmets, vests, ski-sticks and various other fibre-glass plastic products are close to becoming a reality. Provided, of course, the manufacturers apply new technology – the one developed by the Chernogolovka scientists supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE).

When fibre-glass plastic products were first introduced to the market, the applicability of the material seemed truly unlimited. Late

University of Michigan engineering students have discovered a redeeming quality in junk food: waste grease produced in campus cafeterias that can be used to make biodiesel fuel for U-M buses.

During a term project for a course in environmental sustainability, a four-student team led by Lisa Colosi and Andres Clarens concluded and demonstrated that it is economically and technically feasible to harvest the 10,700 gallons of waste grease produced in the 10 campus dining halls to make an effec

A new international project to reduce aircraft noise is building on pioneering research by UK engineers.

The Cambridge-MIT Institute’s Silent Aircraft Initiative (SAI) aims to design an aircraft that will make much less noise than conventional aeroplanes. To help meet its objectives, the project will use noise-modelling techniques devised by engineers at Cambridge University with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). As well as Cambridge Univers

By threading a magnetic field through a carbon nanotube, scientists have switched the molecule between metallic and semiconducting states, a phenomenon predicted by physicists some years ago, but never before clearly seen in individual molecules. In the May 21 issue of the journal Science, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign present experimental evidence that a nanotube’s electronic structure can be altered in response to a magnetic field. The research team c

Research documents first instance of band-gap shrinkage in a semiconductor

A new study, published in today’s issue of the journal Science, finds that the basic electrical properties of semiconducting carbon nanotubes change when they are placed inside a magnetic field. The phenomenon is unique among known materials, and it could cause semiconducting nanotubes to transform into metals in even stronger magnetic fields.

Scientists found that the “band gap” of semiconductin

Converting waste heat into electricity

“Waste heat” might not be such a waste after all. The excess heat produced in everything from microelectronics to large ship engines is generally thought of as a problem for engineers to solve. But a new leap in semiconductor technology funded by the Office of Naval Research could put that troublesome heat to good use.

Dr. Mihal Gross of ONR’s physical sciences division explains, “With this class of semiconductors, when you have a

CIDETEC is working on a project the aim of which is to carry out a direct assessment of the technology of fuel cells for “mini” applications which have between 1 and 10 watt power requirements – such as for mobile phone or PDA chargers or for remote signalling, etc. to this end, a series of technologies are being developed in order to obtain a house technology mini fuel cells, including the design and enhancement of EMAs (electrode-membrane assemblies), of structural elements (current collectors, sh

With increased traffic pollution plaguing Europe’s cities, a near real-time vehicle pollution monitoring system that correlates traffic conditions and the resulting levels of pollution has been developed and road-tested and should help to create healthier urban environments.

Maurizio Tomassini, coordinator of the HEAVEN project, describes it as “a system for connecting real-time traffic data to emissions and concentrations due to vehicle pollutants. End products are near-real-time maps

“We can drive from Amsterdam to Rotterdam in the rush hour, and we can do it without touching either the accelerator or the brakes!” says Peter Hendrickx, coordinator of the DenseTraffic project, speaking about the new RoadEye radar sensor the project has developed.

Second-generation adaptive cruise control

The RoadEye radar sensor is a vital component in the new second generation of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems for vehicles. Unlike the ACC fitted to several upmark

A revolutionary steering mechanism for the public transport systems of the future that is safer and cheaper to install than current methods will be developed thanks to an investment of £70,000 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), the organisation that supports UK innovation and creativity.

Warwickshire-based Transport Design International Ltd (TDI) will develop Safeguide, an automatic, electronic steering system for use on rubber-tyred trams or people carri

The Department of Homeland Security is backing research on lab-on-a-chip sensors that might guard the nation’s food supply better than the current system of tamper-resistant lids and freshness dates.

Whitaker investigator David Beebe, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a process to make on-demand, miniature sensors for a wide variety of poisons, including naturally occurring contaminants and intentionally introduced toxins.

The sensors can be constructe

Untersuchungen zur Herstellung von Kohlenstoff-Nanomaterialien, um einen massentauglichen Herstellprozess für diese neuartigen Materialien zu entwickeln, sind Ziel einer neuen Bayreuther Forschungskooperation.

Untersuchungen zur Herstellung von Kohlenstoff-Nanomaterialien, um einen massentauglichen Herstellprozess für diese neuartigen Materialien zu entwickeln, werden jetzt im Rahmen eines Forschungskooperation zwischen dem Lehrstuhl für Chemische Verfahrenstechnik der Fakultät für Angewan

Devin Balkcom, a student in Carnegie Mellon University’s doctoral program in robotics, was looking for a challenge when he decided to develop the world’s first origami-folding robot as the subject of his thesis. Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper sculpture, looks deceptively simple at first glance.

“It’s something we humans can do well, but we don’t understand the mechanical details,” said Balkcom. “Because a five-year-old child can learn to fold origami, we assu