Engineering articles

Teenager moves video icons just by imagination
Teenage boys and computer games go hand-in-hand. Now, a St. Louis-area teenage boy and a computer game have gone hands-off, thanks to a unique experiment conducted by a team of neurosurgeons, neurologists, and engineers at Washington University in St. Louis.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Alberta's award-winning STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society) won't take possession of two new state-of-the-art helicopters for at least another year, but medical crews are already getting a feel for what it will be like to work in them with the help of a University of Calgary professor who is pioneering practical uses of virtual reality technology.

Robotic whiskers can sense three-dimensional environment
Many mammals use their whiskers to explore their environment and to construct a three-dimensional image of their world. Rodents, for example, use their whiskers to determine the size, shape and texture of objects, and seals use their whiskers to track the fluid wakes of their prey. Two Northwestern University engineers have been studying the whisker system of rats to better understand how mechanical information from the whiskers gets transmitted to the brain and to develop artificial whisker arrays for engineering applications.

Nanocrystals are hot
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered that nanocrystals of germanium embedded in silica glass don't melt until the temperature rises almost 200 degrees Kelvin above the melting temperature of germanium in bulk. What's even more surprising, these melted nanocrystals have to be cooled more than 200 K below the bulk melting point before they resolidify. Such a large and nearly symmetrical "hysteresis" — the divergence of melting and freezing temperatures above and below the bulk melting point — has never before been observed for embedded nanoparticles.

Portable 'lab on a chip' could speed blood tests
Testing soldiers to see if they have been exposed to biological or chemical weapons could soon be much faster and easier, thanks to MIT researchers who are helping to develop a tiny diagnostic device that could be carried into battle.

Tiny electronic chip, interacting with the brain, modifies pathways for controlling movement
Researchers at the University of Washington are working on an implantable electronic chip that may help establish new nerve connections in the part of the brain that controls movement.

Engineers shed light on the crash of the uss macon, last of the 'flying aircraft carriers'
The 1935 crash of the Navy zeppelin USS Macon off the California coast marked an inglorious end to a unique experiment in aviation. Four times longer than a modern Goodyear blimp, the Macon could carry 100 crewmembers, including pilots specially trained to fly small reconnaissance airplanes stowed in the zeppelin's massive hull. The giant airship was one of only two "flying aircraft carriers" ever built, and both went down in the ocean without ever seeing combat.

Despite popular belief, the world is nor running out of oil
If you think the world is on the verge of running out of oil or other mineral resources, you've been taken in by the foremost of seven myths about resource geology, according to a University of Washington economic geologist.

Scientists create first working invisibility cloak
Scientists have demonstrated the first ever working 'invisibility cloak', reports Science Express. The team of researchers from Duke University, USA, worked with Professor Sir John Pendry of Imperial College London to create a prototype 'cloak' based on a new design theory proposed by the same team earlier this year.

Biodegradable nanospheres offer novel approach for treatment of toxin exposure and drug delibery
A new technology to clean the blood of victims of radiological, chemical and biological terrorist attacks is being developed jointly by Argonne National Laboratory, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and The University of Chicago Hospitals.

Researchers teach computers how to name images by 'thinking'
Penn State researchers have "taught" computers how to interpret images using a vocabulary of up to 330 English words, so that a computer can describe a photograph of two polo players, for instance, as "sport," "people," "horse," "polo."

Quantum coherence possible in incommensurate electronic systems
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that quantum coherence is possible in electronic systems that are incommensurate, thereby removing one obstacle in the development of quantum devices.

Engineers building first space supercomputer
HAL may soon be getting some company. But unlike the famous computer companion in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," the first space-based supercomputer — so described because it will be by far the most powerful computer in space — is already nearing reality.

'Air shower' set to cut water use by 30 per cent
As Australians become increasingly alert to the importance of using water wisely in the home, CSIRO researchers have found a way to use a third less water when you shower – by adding air.

Team moves toward silent, eco-friendly plane
MIT and Cambridge University researchers unveiled the conceptual design for a silent, environmentally friendly passenger plane at a press conference Monday, Nov. 6, at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.

Robot learns to grasp everyday chores
Stanford scientists plan to make a robot capable of performing everyday tasks, such as unloading the dishwasher. By programming the robot with "intelligent" software that enables it to pick up objects it has never seen before, the scientists are one step closer to creating a real life Rosie, the robot maid from The Jetsons cartoon show.

Mechanical 'artificial hearts' can be used to return severely failing hearts to their normal function
Mechanical 'artificial hearts' can be used to return severely failing hearts to their normal function, potentially removing the need for heart transplantation, according to new research.

Engineers develop revolutionary nanotech water desalination membrane
Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science announced they have developed a new reverse osmosis (RO) membrane that promises to reduce the cost of seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation.

Space sunshade might be feasible in global warming emergency
The possibility that global warming will trigger abrupt climate change is something people might not want to think about. But University of Arizona astronomer Roger Angel thinks about it.

Simcity for real
Social policy makers and town planners will soon be able to play 'SimCity' for real using grid computing and e-Science techniques to test the consequences of their policies on a real, but anonymous, model of the UK population. Dr Mark Birkin and colleagues, who are developing the model at the University of Leeds, demonstrated its potential at the UK e-Science stand at SC06, the world's largest supercomputing conference in Florida.