Not only can an electronic tongue monitor the prevalence and growth of microorganisms, it can also sense the difference between various forms of fungi and bacteria. This is shown in a dissertation by Charlotte Söderström submitted at Linköping University. An objective of the project as a whole is to be able to make use of an electronic tongue in the future to monitor whether foodstuffs are fit for human consumption.

Today’s monitoring methods involve taking samples from production and analyz

Low-tech ‘Main Squeeze’ compresses for snug fit inside vehicle

Three Johns Hopkins University undergraduates have invented a low-tech tool that makes it much easier to properly install child safety seats in automobiles, ensuring a snug fit and maximum protection for the child.

The device, dubbed “Main Squeeze,” is intended to simplify the difficult task of compressing a child safety seat against a car’s permanent seat during installation. Incorrectly installed, a loose

The feasibility of using microwaves to extract minerals from rocks has been demonstrated by UK researchers.

This revolutionary technique could cut mining and mineral processing industry costs, and make it viable to process previously uneconomic mineral reserves. It could also help the environment by saving energy as 3 – 5% of the world’s entire electrical energy output is used for the size reduction of rocks and minerals.

The technique has been developed by engineers at the

Mine-infested land can now be rendered safe by a new tractor that crushes unexploded bombs.

Unexploded anti-personnel landmines litter the border between Croatia and what was once Yugoslavia. The mine-infested area spans more or less half of the country and roughly 1,700 km2 of minefields are left to clear.

EUREKA’s first foray into anti-personnel landmine technology, the ORACLE project has developed a rugged tractor for clearing mines and unexploded shells from agricu

A new scanning microscope developed at Brown University can uncover defects in the smallest and most complex integrated circuits at a resolution 1,000 times greater than current technology. The scanner removes a barrier to further shrinking of integrated circuits: As circuits get smaller, non-visual defects become harder to find.

“This microscope will allow manufacturers to find defects in each embedded wire in ever-tinier circuits,” said Brown University professor Gang Xiao. He developed th

Today there are evermore intelligent objects, i.e., more devices that adapt to our needs. For example, there is intelligent clothing, intelligent computers, and intelligent household devices such as washing machines, music centres, lamps, and so on.

In fact, it is currently possible for a sensor at the entrance to a dwelling to recognise the voice or the odour of the owner and simultaneously open the door. It is also possible, on entering the house and depending on the mood or physical state

Thermography provides the easy checking of points throughout an electric system where faults may arise, and with sufficient warning in order to correct the fault before things get worse.

Infrared thermography provides the visualisation of temperature differences arising at the surfaces of objects. The tool used is a portable and autonomous camera (similar to a home video camera) which is equipped with a detector which permits the measurement and visualisation of thermal images.

Th

Pioneering research carried out by Kingston University is helping to pave the way for a manned mission to Mars. A project team based at the University’s School of Engineering has developed a robotic micro-rover to travel the Martian surface to find out whether humans could live in the Red Planet’s hostile environment.

Named Endurance, the small self-propelled vehicle will be powered by the sun’s rays and equipped to drill beneath the surface to find out if life exists on Mars in the form of

University of Toronto researchers have developed a hybrid plastic that can produce light at wavelengths used for fibre-optic communication, paving the way for an optical computer chip.

The material, developed by a joint team of engineers and chemists, is a plastic embedded with quantum dots – crystals just five billionths of a metre in size – that convert electrons into photons. The findings hold promise for directly linking high-speed computers with networks that transmit information using

A novel method for the design and manufacture of sensors to measure the temperature and relative humidity of the air, the pH of solutions or the refractive index of liquids based on optic fibre has been devised at the Public University of Navarre.

The sensors are small devices capable of capturing both physical and chemical signals from the surrounding environment and converting them into electrical signals for their subsequent processing. The information thus transformed can be easi

Laying water mains has always been a time-consuming job. Each section must be laid, joints welded, the interior checked for heat damage, and any damage repaired. Then the whole thing has to be encased in concrete if the ground is uneven. Now EUREKA project DRIVE-LOCK is about to make the process quicker and cheaper.

The French and Swiss partners in the DRIVE-LOCK project have developed a new conical interlocking system that joins steel water pipes together quickly and combines the strength o

Technology has moved beyond wireless and pocketable to wearable. Clothes and accessories can serve a wider range of purposes than we’re currently accustomed to. Wearable technology produced by a Finnish smart clothing R&D center and its partners is selling well.

The smart clothing and wearable technology concepts are based on a permanent integration of clothing and technology. Clothes can be made ‘smart’ by adding intelligent features such as information technology and by using special fibre

Photonics and ultrasound engineering researchers from Duke University and The George Washington University have collaborated to design an optical scanner miniaturized enough to be inserted into the body, where its light beams could someday detect abnormalities hidden in the walls of the colon, bladder or esophagus.

The experimental device, called an “electrostatic micromachine scanning mirror for optical coherence tomography,” is described in an article published in the April 15, 2003, issu

Finland Leads Europe In The Development Of Biodegradable Plastics

VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, has made degradable bioplastic more durable due to reinforcement with natural fibres. This biocomposite, which is totally biodegradable, supports sustainable development. The waste costs for products made from this will be small, and in the future consumers will have an enhanced appreciation of biodegradability of materials.

VTT achieved this biocomposite using flax fi

Plastics are everywhere these days, but current recycling techniques allow only a very limited portion to be reclaimed after initial use. Researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University, working to change that, have developed a unique recycling process for some of the most common kinds of polymers.

The familiar soda bottle is made of a plastic called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). These bottles are ubiquitous, yet recycling them poses challenges, p

EUREKA project LOGCHAIN E-W-LAND-BRIDGE is an ambitious multi-national project to establish an inter-modal inland link as an alternative transport route between the Adriatic Sea and southern Germany to the existing 5,000 km sea journey.

It is envisaged that this link, the “land bridge”, will be an integrated system utilising rail, road and inland waterways such as the Main-Danube canal. This connection will provide essential extensions to the northern European rail and road transport corrido