Every manufacturing process, from casting and forging, to machining and finishing, induces residual stresses in components. For critical components, such as aircraft wings and turbine blades, these stresses affect the durability and lifetime of the structures and assemblies. Current methods are either destructive (e.g. hole drilling), limited to the surface (laboratory X-ray), or rely on large facilities (synchrotron and neutron sources). The new method uses a laboratory source of high energy polychr

Using rigorous statistical analysis, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers identified a potential source of error in the surface roughness data used in the automotive industry to predict how friction affects production of metal parts during forming.

With this improved analysis, automakers should be able to more easily incorporate lighter weight materials in their products and improve fuel efficiency.

The NIST scientists presented their findings at the Soc

Choosing the best chops, steaks or other fresh meat products is a tough job. It’s a delicate balancing of leanness, juiciness, taste, marbling and more. Increasingly, meat processors use electronic devices and equipment—such as optical probes, ultrasonic sensors and digital cameras—to evaluate critical fat to meat ratios. In 2003, for instance, electronic devices determined pricing for more than 80 percent of the almost $7.5 billion worth of swine processed in the United States. Multiple dev

Researchers Tune the Electronic Properties of Individual C60 Molecules

A team led by Michael Crommie, a staff scientist in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Materials Sciences Division and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, has used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to attach individual potassium atoms to isolated carbon-60 molecules.

By adding potassium atoms to familiar soccer-ball-shaped “buckyballs,” Crommie and his cowork

Yes, we can, according to this dissertation from Göteborg University, which deals with the impact of road tolls on car use, factors that influence attitudes to road tolls, and road tolls in comparison with other types of steering mechanisms targeting automobile use. But you have to have a positive attitude toward cutting down on car use (which people rarely have) and you have to plan how to go about it and regularly monitor your progress in relation to a realistic goal. Otherwise routines and impuls

SC researchers present new electric pulse technology

A new technology that uses electric fields to alter the “guts” of a cell may lead to improved methods of treating diseases such as cancer and leukemia, according to researchers in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

The technology, called electroperturbation, exposes cells to electric pulses just tens of nanoseconds (tens of billionths of a second) long, said electrical engineer Thomas Vernier, an investigator on a coll

New technology patented by researchers at the University of Wales, Bangor could lead to the development of ultra-sensitive sensors able to detect the presence of explosive materials. The sensors will have many security and military applications including being developed for use in the war against terrorism.

It is the innovative collaboration of molecular biology and chemistry that has enabled the team to develop the novel sensor technology ‘nano-dog’ to be developed to commercial prototype.

A novel process for fabricating tuneable lasers using micro-machined mirrors was developed by IST project TUNVIC. Part of a special two-part device, it allows variable wavelengths of emitted light that will ultimately allow increased volumes of data to be sent through a single optical fibre cable.

High-capacity data links between networked routers are part of the Internet’s backbone. These links use optical fibre cables through which information is sent using semiconductor lasers. By d

The buildup of ice on airplanes in flight is a major winter hazard for small and commuter planes. But scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., are testing a new system this month that may pinpoint water droplets in clouds that cause icing, potentially enabling pilots to avoid dangerous areas.

The system, known as S-Polka, combines two existing radars that use different wavelengths. By studying the differences between the images that are reflected

Colas, the leading road construction and maintenance group, and its subsidiary, Somaro, a specialist in safety equipment and road signs and signals, in partnership with the Ecole Polytechnique, have developed a new type of noise barrier for roads with an unequalled level of sound absorption. Depending on the configuration, the barrier’s performance is 30% to 50% greater than that of the most effective sound panels currently available on the market.

This innovative product, for which a paten

Auto congestion and pollution is an ongoing dilemma for Europe’s cities, but small electric automated CyberCars that run on the existing urban infrastructure promise to make Europe’s crowded capitals cleaner, safer, and easier to manoeuvre.

The development and adoption of vehicles running autonomously without a driver on city streets at low speed (up to 30 km/h at the moment), while avoiding fixed and mobile obstacles, is the goal of IST-project CYBERCAR. This concept of using aut

While textile flax produced in France is exported all over the world for the production of high-quality linen clothes and sheets, these natural fibres are now being re-discovered by French manufacturers and put to unexpected and exciting uses.

Increasingly, flax is being used by automotive equipment manufacturers as a source of raw material that is environmentally friendly and less dangerous — in the event of a vehicle crashing — when used for interior panels in cars. Hemp fibres are also e

A team of physicists and engineers from the University of California, San Diego, the University of California, Los Angeles and Imperial College, London have developed a class of materials that respond magnetically to terahertz radiation, a fundamental finding relevant to many exciting applications in areas including guidance in zero visibility weather conditions, security and biomedical imaging and quality control.

The materials described in the study to be published in the March 5th issue o

A balloon-shaped robot explorer that one day could search for water on other planets has survived some of the most trying conditions on planet Earth during a 70-kilometer (40-mile), wind-driven trek across Antarctica.

The Tumbleweed Rover, which is being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., left the National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Jan. 24, completing its roll across Antarctica’s polar plateau roughly eight

High technology is now at our fingertips – literally. A new type of disposable glove emits chlorine dioxide when exposed to light or moisture, killing potentially harmful microbes and making it ideal for use among health care and food workers, according to a study in the March 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

The vinyl or polyethylene gloves contain microspheres that release chlorine dioxide, a water-soluble gas used to disinfect drinking water and processed f

A team of American and British scientists has demonstrated an artificially made material that can provide a magnetic response to Terahertz frequency radiation, bringing the realisation and development of novel ‘T-ray’ devices a step closer.

The advance, reported in the journal Science (5 March), suggests many applications in biological and security imaging, biomolecular fingerprinting, remote sensing and guidance in zero visibility weather conditions, say the authors.

Theorist John