A five-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) undergoing testing in Fairbanks has reached the 5,000-hour milestone since its start-up eight months ago. During each hour of operation the fuel cell produces approximately four kilowatts of electricity totaling 20,000 kilowatt hours for the duration, enough to power two average houses for a full year.

“Since the biggest questions surrounding fuel cells have been longevity and reliability, this is an exciting achievement in fuel cell technology

Over the last decade, microfluidics has enabled the rapid growth and commercialisation of the life sciences, and IST-project FLOWMAP aims to further these advances by elaborating a roadmap that identifies technological gaps and streamlines RTD activities in the field.

One of the most dynamically emerging disciplines of microtechnology, microfluidic devices can accurately control minute volumes of fluid – mostly liquids – well below the microlitre range.

Modern inkjet technology wi

Millions of land mines are buried worldwide, and these weapons were responsible for an estimated 16,000 injuries and deaths in 2002.

Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are making progress with a landmine detection system that could ultimately help prevent such losses. The system uses high-frequency seismic waves to displace soil and objects in it slightly (less than one ten-thousandth of an inch). A non-contacting radar sensor then measures the results, creating a visual

Microwaves could provide a safe new way of finding hidden weapons and buried mines, thanks to UK research.

Scientists are developing a microwave-based technique that can generate high-quality images of hidden objects. The research may lead to the use of microwaves as a safer alternative to X-rays in airport security checks, building searches, landmine detection and other applications.

This leading-edge work is being carried out by a team of engineers and physicists at Northu

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have devised a new method for aligning isolated single wall carbon nanotubes and, in the process, have created a new kind of material with liquid crystal-like properties, which they call nematic nanotube gels. The gels could potentially serve as sensors in complex fluids, where changes in local chemical environment, such as acidity or solvent quality, can lead to visible changes in the gel shape. The researchers describe their findings in the current i

Thanks in part to highly accurate measurements made by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers, semiconductor manufacturers will be able to pursue a new production method that will enable them to produce new generations of computer chips using existing equipment—saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

Creating ever more powerful computer chips relies on being able to increasingly miniaturize the features on those chips. Industry had thought it might

High-quality nanopowders made of refractory ceramics are a rare and very expensive material. All known methods of their manufacturing face the same problems – scanty quantities, extensive variety of particle sizes and expensive production. Researchers from the town of Tomsk have invented and manufactured a device to produce a choice selection of particles – all particles are equal to the required size and inexpensive. The project has been funded by two foundations – the Russian Foundation for Basic R

Assuaging concerns about guaranteeing current and future tunnel safety is IST project SIRTAKI, which is developing a system to provide enhanced security for any road, rail or metro network.

Last year the first prototype of the SIRTAKI advanced tunnel management and decision support system (DSS) was completed, and trials are now beginning in the Paris metro network and in three road tunnels in Italy and Spain. These are expected to validate its potential to drastically improve the safety of

For nanoelectronics, biotechnology

An article to be published in the February 27 issue of the journal Science introduces “nanorings” as the newest member of a growing family of nanometer-scale structures based on single crystals of zinc oxide, a semiconducting and piezoelectric material that has important technological applications.

The rings, complete circles formed by a spontaneous self-coiling process, could serve as nanometer-scale sensors, resonators and transducers – a

“Nature was nano before nano was cool,” stated Henry Fountain in a recent New York Times article on the proliferation of nanotechnology research projects. No one is more aware of this fact of nature than Dan Morse of the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research groups have been studying the ways that nature builds ocean organisms at the nanoscale for over ten years.

For example, they have studied the abalone shell for its high-performance, super-resistant, composite mineral str

Taking up the work of the SPARTACUS project, PROPOLIS aims to investigate and develop integrated policies for land use and transport with tools and methods of evaluation in order to define strategies for long-term urban sustainability from a triple perspective: environmental, social and economic. For each of these dimensions a series of indicators are drawn up which enables the measurement of the level of sustainability of the different policy options involving these perspectives.

To analy

NSF ’sugar’ grant supports single-chamber prototype fed by wastewater

Something big may be brewing on the sewage treatment circuit thanks to a new design that puts bacteria on double-duty-treating wastewater and generating electricity at the same time.

The key is an innovative, single-chambered microbial fuel cell. The prototype is described in the online version of the journal Environmental Science & Technology (http://pubs.acs.org/journals/esthag/); the article w

OGI School of Science & Technology Research is one of a kind in Northwest

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have discovered a new way to accurately grow silicon nanowires on an electrode for use in fabricating transistors. A portion of these findings will be published in the Feb. 23 issue of Applied Physics Letter. The discovery has important implications for semiconductor research and may one day help engineers build faster computer chips.

A research group led

It looks like a cross between a Hummer and a tank.

But the squat, pug-nosed car with brown body panels in place of its windshield and windows is radically different from any vehicle on today’s roads or battlefields. Designed, built and outfitted by the University of Florida and a Utah company called Autonomous Solutions, it is a robot car built for one purpose: to compete against other “autonomous” vehicles in a U.S. defense agency-sponsored race this spring from Los Angeles to L

Late arriving passengers are an never-ending headache for airports, but IST-project ADAMANT will trial a wireless network at this year’s Summer Olympic Games in Athens that uses smart antenna technology to get passengers to their gates on time.

The airport network under development – a hybrid 2.5G system that incorporates a blend of GSM and 3G standards – is comprised of two components: the technology for the wireless networks, and the passenger and staff support system. Project manager La

JEMA, the company based in Lasarte in the Basque Country, has recently put into operation the two energy supply plants designed and manufactured for the European EFDA (the European Fusion Development Agreement)-JET nuclear fusion experimental reactor at Culham in the United Kingdom. This reactor is one of the plants on which ITER, the largest research project in the world, has been based.

With this achievement JEMA has carried out more than 2 years of intense work in research, design and con