Engineering articles

System blocks unwanted video & still photography
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have completed a prototype device that can block digital-camera function in a given area. Commercial versions of the technology could be used to stymie unwanted use of video or still cameras

Comfortable buildings - hold the air conditioning
Operating commercial buildings consumes a sixth of all the energy used in the Western world

Researchers develop new nanofabrication technique
Researchers have developed a new technique that could provide detailed information about the growth of carbon nanotubes and other nanometer-scale structures as they are being produced. The technique offers a way for researchers to rapidly and systematically map how changes in growth conditions affect the fabrication of nanometer-scale structures

Researchers create a broadband light amplifier on a chip
Cornell researchers have created a broadband light amplifier on a silicon chip, a major breakthrough in the quest to create photonic microchips. In such microchips, beams of light traveling through microscopic waveguides will replace electric currents traveling through microscopic wires

Tiny wireless geiger counter detects radiation
A postage stamp-sized Geiger counter placed unobtrusively in stadiums, subways, malls and other large public spaces could detect radiation and determine whether it's a harmful source, like a dirty bomb

Finding a short circuit before it finds you
A preemptive spark lasting for nanoseconds that helps find potentially dangerous short circuits hidden in the miles of wiring behind the panels of aging commercial airliners has been patented by Sandia National Laboratories

On the "home front", "earthquake engineering foes high-tech
For homeowners in California and other earthquake-prone regions, seismic safety has not exactly been rocket science

Sharply tuned nanostrings work at room temperature
Using a fast, low-cost fabrication technique that allows inexpensive testing of a wide variety of materials, Cornell researchers have come up with nanoscale resonators -- tiny vibrating strings -- with the highest quality factor so far obtainable at room temperature for devices so small

Sharply tuned nanostrings work at room temperature
Using a fast, low-cost fabrication technique that allows inexpensive testing of a wide variety of materials, Cornell researchers have come up with nanoscale resonators -- tiny vibrating strings -- with the highest quality factor so far obtainable at room temperature for devices so small

Satelite remote-sensing method hatches new cell-analysis system
Using the same "multispectral analysis" concept that enables satellites to study Earth's surface, Purdue University researchers have developed a new system that quickly determines the composition of cells and tissue for medical diagnostics and scientific applications

: Nanotube membranes offer possibility of cheaper desalination
A nanotube membrane on a silicon chip the size of a quarter may offer a cheaper way to remove salt from water

Pint-on semiconductor outperforms chips
Researchers at the University of Toronto have created a semiconductor device that outperforms today's conventional chips — and they made it simply by painting a liquid onto a piece of glass

'Mercury sponge' technology goes from lab to market
A material designed to capture and remove mercury and other toxic substances from industrial waste streams is now available for commercial use

Pint-on semiconductor outperforms chips
Researchers at the University of Toronto have created a semiconductor device that outperforms today's conventional chips — and they made it simply by painting a liquid onto a piece of glass

'Mercury sponge' technology goes from lab to market
A material designed to capture and remove mercury and other toxic substances from industrial waste streams is now available for commercial use

Mit poet develops 'seeing machine'
An MIT poet has developed a small, relatively inexpensive "seeing machine" that can allow people who are blind, or visually challenged like her, to access the Internet, view the face of a friend, "previsit" unfamiliar buildings and more

New material puts its own spin on electronics
Researchers at MIT's Francis Bitter Magnet Lab have developed a novel magnetic semiconductor that may greatly increase the computing power and flexibility of future electronic devices while dramatically reducing their power consumption

For the future hydrogen economy, a tiny, self-powered sensor
Hydrogen has been called "the fuel of the future." But the gas is invisible, odorless and explosive at high concentrations, posing a safety problem for hydrogen-powered cars, filling stations and other aspects of the so-called hydrogen economy

Earthquake lab conducts largest test ever of how shifting earth might impact buried pipes
Imagine if you firmly held a straw at each end, and you slowly moved one hand away from you. The straw would slowly curve, twist and become oval until it bent. That's what pipes do in earthquakes

Researchers build tiny batteries with viruses
MIT scientists have harnessed the construction talents of tiny viruses to build ultra-small "nanowire" structures for use in very thin lithium-ion batteries