Dentists beware: Teeth soon may be smart enough to fix themselves.

“Smart materials” invented at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) soon may be available that stimulate repair of defective teeth. Laboratory studies show that these composites, made of amorphous (loosely structured) calcium phosphate embedded in polymers, can promote re-growth of natural tooth structures efficiently. In the presence of saliva-like solutions, the material releases calcium and pho

A unique group of oxide materials that readily gives up and accepts oxygen atoms with changes in temperature could be the basis for a small-scale hydrogen production system able to power fuel cells in homes — and potentially in automotive applications.

Scientists have long known that oxides of the rare earth elements cerium (Ce), terbium (Tb), and praseodymium (Pr) can produce hydrogen from water vapor and methane in continuous “inhale and exhale” cycles. By doping iron atoms into the oxid

A University of Ulster researcher has come up with a new method, using Artificial Intelligence techniques, to forecast wind energy more accurately than ever before.
Predicting how fast the wind will blow has always been a major problem for wind farm operators. It is essential that they have some idea of how much electricity they will be able to produce each day based on the strength of the wind.

Energy forecasting has become a critical factor in the efficient generation of power from w

Aircraft wheel and brake assemblies can become very hot during braking as the plane’s kinetic energy is transformed into heat by brake pads and dissipated into the surrounding components. The wheel, the tyres, the piston that clamps the pads into place and the metal housing of the brakes are all subject to sudden and intense heat. Now a new aluminium alloy eases manufacturers’’ fears of failure by handling the heat better.

The new alloy therefore forms a key component of a car

New glow-in the-dark plastic technology has enabled researchers to develop a torch that glows in the dark, so you can find it in the dark. Collaboration between DualGlo Ltd, a Hereford technology company and Innovation-Direct, a free consultancy service for SME companies delivered by the Universities of Warwick and Wolverhampton, has developed a unique product that is now entering markets all around the world.

After turning to the Innovation Direct advice centre DualGlo Ltd, a small techno

Car owners of the future could one day swap petrol for environmentally-friendly alternatives, thanks to a multi-million pound research project involving academics at The University of Nottingham.

Researchers from the University’s School of Chemistry and School of Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering and Management are developing new materials for hydrogen storage and for use in fuel cells that can use hydrogen as a clean alternative to oil and natural gas.

If new ma

To date, machines carrying out electroerosion-based machining processes have only had use of automated parameters for metallic materials such as steel. In his thesis, Navarre Public University researcher and lecturer, Iñaki Puertas, presents technologies for those applications using ceramic material, a highly interesting development from a technological viewpoint as it enables the use of ceramics in the fabrication of parts requiring great hardness and durability such as medical prothesis or those de

Explores abandoned mine

Carnegie Mellon University researchers, working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), will demonstrate a prototype, autonomous wheeled robot today as it explores and maps a 3,500-foot corridor of an abandoned coal mine near New Eagle in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Named Groundhog, the robot was developed by students in the Robotics Institut

Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a new type of adhesive, which mimics the mechanism employed by geckos (a type of lizard) to climb surfaces, including glass ceilings.

Researchers within the newly opened Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology at the University have been working on the new adhesive since 2001, after learning the mechanism of gecko’s climbing skills from biophysicists. Now they have been able to manufacture self-cleaning, re-attachab

Ohio University engineers are leading one of the first comprehensive efforts to examine how fuel cell technology could pave the way for cleaner coal-fired power plants. Supported by a $4 million U.S. Department of Energy grant secured by the Ohio Congressional delegation, the project aims to find ways to use coal – the environmentally dirtiest but most abundant fossil fuel in the world — to harness high-efficiency fuel cells.

Most government-sponsored energy research is focused on using nat

A new method to accurately measure quantities of a cheese-ripening enzyme in milk could reduce the time and cost of producing cheese, according to a report by Purdue University researchers.

Infrared spectroscopy was used in combination with statistical analysis to determine the concentration of plasminogen, a form of the enzyme integral to cheese manufacturing. The study, by co-authors Lisa Mauer and Kirby Hayes, both assistant professors in the Department of Food Science, is published in th

A new imaging technique that uses electron diffraction waves to improve both image resolution and sensitivity to small structures has been developed by scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The technique works on the same principle as X-ray diffraction, but can record structure from a single nanostructure or macromolecule.

Determining the structure of materials — such as protein crystals — is currently performed using X-ray diffraction. However, many small structur

There is more to mother-of-pearl than good looks. Also called nacre, the gleaming, white material is renowned in scientific circles for its strong, yet flexible, properties. Now researchers have developed a nanoscale, layered material that comes close to nacre’s properties, including its iridescence.

The ability to nanomanufacture artificial nacre may provide lightweight, rigid composites for aircraft parts, artificial bone and other applications.

Reporting online in Nature Mater

Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Teddington, Middlesex, UK have good news for manufacturers and users across the optical instrumentation industry. Based on existing processes developed in the US and Japan, a team of researchers at NPL has developed a new technique for commercial manufacturing of ultra-black coatings, which represent one of the blackest, lowest reflectance surfaces developed so far.

Performance of optical instrumentation depends on the quality of material

The world’s oceans hold the key to our future electricity needs. And their potential for producing power has yet to be fully exploited in terms of sustainable energy. The EUREKA WWEC project team hopes to bring exploitation of this renewable energy source a big step forward.

“We’ve developed a device that generates energy from the sea as easily as a wind turbine would do on land,” explains William Dick, managing director of the Irish company Wavebob that led the project. “There’s an awful lo

Within the remit of the CRAFT European projects, the Departments of Materials and Mecatronics at CIDEMCO, in conjunction with IKERLAN (E) y VTT (FI), have finalised a development project for an on-line system for the measurement and control of the thickness of varnishes. The aim was to develop equipment which would provide information about the quantity of the product applied in the various varnishing processes.

As a rule, the quantity of varnish applied is controlled only at the start of a