Feature Channels: Engineering

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In-cell engineering can be a powerful tool for synthesizing functional protein crystals with promising catalytic properties.

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With the fierce debate broiling over the promise versus perceived dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and autonomous robots, Nicole Moore of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has had a study published in the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM) that is especially timely.Titled, Stakeholder Preferences for an Autonomous Robot Teammate, Moore’s research focuses on user-held preferences: specifically, which factors in autonomous robot design are the most preferable to their human counterparts, and whether these criteria vary according to the ways the technology is applied.

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Genetic engineers use synthetic biology to provide novel functions in microbes by introducing new genes. A new method called Serine recombinase-Assisted Genome Engineering (SAGE) borrows components from bacterial viruses to aid the stable insertion of genes into bacterial chromosomes. This new tool has the potential to work well in many species of bacteria, including newly discovered bacteria that must grow outside controlled laboratory conditions. These features will help accelerate synthetic biology research for bioenergy.

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Scientists have used of reinforcement learning — a system of mathematical rewards and punishments — to improve the efficiency of charging electric vehicles at a charging station.

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A better way to wirelessly charge over long distances has been developed at Aalto University.

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After its successful development of industrial electric motors (three-phase induction motors) with super-premium class efficiency (IE4) for the first time in Korea, the Electric Machine and Drive Research Center of Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has established an "open platform" that enables SMEs to utilize related technologies.

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Superconductors - found in MRI machines, nuclear fusion reactors and magnetic-levitation trains - work by conducting electricity with no resistance at temperatures near absolute zero, or -459.67F. The search for a conventional superconductor that can function at room temperature has been ongoing for roughly a century, but research has sped up dramatically in the last decade because of new advances in machine learning (ML) using supercomputers such as Expanse at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego.

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Scientists study the role of pumped storage hydropower in Alaska’s clean energy future.

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The cryogenic plant, to be installed a mile underground, will provide the cooling for two large liquid-argon neutrino detectors for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

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Ella James, who received a Bachelor of Science in physics from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in spring 2023, has been awarded a National Defense and Science and Engineering (NDSEG) Fellowship, which she will use for graduate studies at UAH, a part of the University of Alabama System. “It’s three years of tuition for graduate school,” James says.

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A study from Binghamton University, State University of New York researchers explores how ultraviolet radiation can alter the microstructure of human skin. Particularly affected is collagen, the fibrous protein that binds together tissue, tendon, cartilage and bone throughout our bodies.

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Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and Texas A&M University announce the first observation of a self-healing metal. If harnessed, the newly discovered phenomenon could someday lead to engines, bridges and airplanes that reverse damage caused by wear and tear, making them safer and longer-lasting.

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Drs. Jinwook Cha and Jinsoo Park of the Natural Product Informatics Research Center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that they have developed the first NMR method (Ultraselective Heteronuclear Polarization Transfer Method, or UHPT) that can selectively measure the information of carbon atom nuclei linked to specific hydrogen in a single measurement.

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The lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles are key to a clean energy economy. But their electrodes are usually made using a wet slurry with toxic solvents, an expensive manufacturing approach that poses health and environmental risks.Early experiments at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have revealed significant benefits to a dry battery manufacturing process.

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Argonne and Chicago State University deployed instruments at the Chicago State University Campus to measure Chicago’s changing climate. These sensors are among the first for the Argonne-led Urban Integrated Field Laboratory called Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS).

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Idaho National Laboratory intern Jake Guidry has developed a cybersecurity research tool that could improve the security of electric vehicle charging.

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Halide perovskites have applications in solar energy, radiation detection, and potentially in thermal harvesting. Cesium lead bromide is among the simplest of lead halide perovskite materials (LHPs). New research examined structural instabilities and large atomic fluctuations that may affect LHPs’ optical and thermal properties. It found that the atomic vibrations (phonons) of bromine octahedrons have large amplitudes but cannot oscillate for long amounts of time. Instead, the vibrations are strongly damped.

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Swarnalatha Kathalagiri Vasantha Kumar, who is pursuing her doctorate in aerospace engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has received an Amelia Earhart Fellowship from Zonta International, a leading global organization of professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy.The $10,000 fellowship is awarded annually to up to 30 women worldwide who are pursuing doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering and space sciences.

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In October 2022, two menstrual cups launched toward space. Contained in a small metal box designed by aerospace engineers, they hurtled to an altitude of 3 kilometers on the Portuguese rocket Baltasar, experienced a few minutes of microgravity, then came back down, returning to Earth unharmed.

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Argonne has contracted with J.D. Power to make use of new data sets to understand consumer interest in electric vehicles and charging behavior.

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Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that Dr. Jaewoo Kim of the Solutions to Electromagnetic Interference in Future-mobility(SEIF), together with Prof. Seonghoon Kim of Hanyang University and Prof. O-bong Yang of Jeonbuk National University has successfully developed a 100% SRC using only one type of polypropylene (PP) polymer.

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Scientists hoping to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry have developed a way to grow building materials using knitted molds and the root network of fungi.

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A research group led by Dr. Jialei He of Nagoya University's Graduate School of Engineering has developed a method for processing cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) into micrometer-sized spherical particles.

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The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has announced the signing of an Educational Partnership Agreement and a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the United States Army Engineer Research and Development Center, the premier research and development center for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

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Argonne engineers secure three GAIN funding awards, propelling advancements in nuclear energy for enhanced safety, efficiency and reliability.

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New research published in Science Advances, led by Yuan Yang, associate professor of materials science at Columbia Engineering, and collaborators at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, demonstrates a novel technique for isolating isotopes.

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Routing signals and isolating them against noise and back-reflections are essential in many practical situations in classical communication as well as in quantum processing.

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A University of Minnesota Twin Cities team has, for the first time, synthesized a thin film of a unique topological semimetal material that has the potential to generate more computing power and memory storage while using significantly less energy.

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Prosthetic limbs are the most common solution to replace a lost extremity. However, they are hard to control and often unreliable with only a couple of movements available. Remnant muscles in the residual limb are the preferred source of control for bionic hands.

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Greeshma Gadikota, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in Cornell Engineering, will lead an effort to decarbonize the concrete industry by harnessing carbon dioxide-capture and mineralization technologies to produce low-carbon construction materials. The $4 million project, part of President Joe Biden’s Clean Energy Plan, will be funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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In the coming decades, every region in the U.S. is expected to experience higher temperatures and more intense heat waves. Thousands of people around the country die from heat-related illnesses each year, and in Maricopa County alone in 2022 there were 425 heat-related fatalities, a 25% increase from the previous year. ASU researchers aim to better understand heat stress on the human body and what makes hot weather so deadly using ANDI the world's 1st outdoor sweating, breathing and walking manikin.

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Researchers at Arizona State University have earned five National Science Foundation early faculty career awards in the last year. The new awards total $2.8 million in funding for ASU researchers in grants that will be used over five years.The awards show the scope of research being undertaken at ASU and the level of creativity exhibited by each recipient.

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When an ill person schedules a doctor visit, blood work or other diagnostic testing is often required before a diagnosis is determined. Missouri University of Science and Technology electrical engineering researcher Dr. Jie Huang is developing technology that would allow patients to “just breathe” and avoid that testing.

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There is a “silent hazard” lurking underneath our major global cities, and our buildings were not designed to handle it.

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Beneath the water’s surface lays a hidden world: one that cannot be perceived by the human eye. When viewed through a special camera, however, rich polarization patterns are unveiled. These patterns can be used as an alternative approach to geolocation- the process of determining the geographic position of an object.

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Right now, your smartphone—part texting device, part camera, mostly digital oracle—is collecting data. Where you go. The number of steps it takes to get there. Elevation climbed. Your phone listens for you to speak to Siri, the angel of search. Data is gathered as we traipse around the Internet, browsing and clicking and googling, inadvertently dropping cookie crumbs behind. Big data adds up. But how can it all become individually useful?

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In Physics of Fluids, an interdisciplinary team presents a study of the dynamics of buoyant spheres at the air-water interface. Their work reveals complex hydrodynamics involved in forming horizontal air cavities and the transition between floating and skipping. One of the team’s key findings is that as the pulling force and speed of the spheres increase, their behavior becomes more irregular. They also discovered larger pulling angles result in different air-cavity lengths, larger skipping distances, and earlier water exit behavior.

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Dana Porter, PE, knew from an early age, living and working on her family’s farm in the Texas Panhandle, how agriculture production impacted the world around her.

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Researchers have been looking for ways to decompose sound into its basic ingredients for over 200 years. In the 1820s, French scientist Joseph Fourier proposed that any signal, including sounds, can be built using sufficiently many sine waves. These waves sound like whistles, each have their own frequency, level and start time, and are the basic building blocks of sound.

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Unused solar, wind, and hydroelectric power in the U.S. could support the exponential growth of transactions involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Cornell Engineering researchers have found.

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Researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory discovered that atomic-level structural changes occur when the compound tin selenide heats up — changes that help it to conduct electricity but not heat.

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A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed new bioplastics that degrade on the same timescale as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin.

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Materials science pioneer Shirley Meng has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Battery Division Research Award by The Electrochemical Society. The recognition honors Meng's innovative research on interfacial science, which has paved the way for improved battery technologies.

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Two engineering students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), Paige Berg and Michaela Hemming, are among nine nationwide who received scholarships in academic year 2023-2024 from Women In Defense (WID), a National Defense Industrial Association affiliate founded to engage, cultivate and advance women in all aspects of national security.

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Every day the brain makes and recalls new memories, but current brain imaging technology limits how much information can be gathered about this activity. To gather more high-resolution images across the brain, researchers at Michigan State University have built a state-of-the-art imaging system that will capture brain activity with a level of detail that has never before been possible.

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The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, announced that UAH chemical engineering students recently won a number of awards at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Southern Student Regional Conference.The ChemE Car Team won fifth place in the competition and advanced to the national round that will be held in fall 2023.

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Researchers from the National University of Singapore drew inspiration from the spider silk spinning process to fabricate strong, stretchable, and electrically conductive soft fibres. Their novel technique overcomes the challenges of conventional methods, which require complex conditions and systems. Such soft and recyclable fibres have a wide range of potential applications, such as a strain-sensing glove for gaming or a smart mask for monitoring breathing status for conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea.

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In chemistry, a molecule or ion is said to be chiral if it cannot be superposed on to its mirror image by any combination of rotations, translations, or conformational changes. A chiral molecule or ion exists in two forms, called enantiomers, that are mirror images of each other; they are often distinguished as either ‘right-handed’ or ‘left-handed’ by their absolute configuration. Enantiomers exhibit similar physical and chemical properties, except when interacting with polarized light and reacting with other chiral compounds, respectively.