Feature Channels: Engineering

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A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created a new hearing screening system that uses a smartphone and earbuds.

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RUDN University researchers have shown that technogenic toxicants in the ecosystem are distributed unevenly. The reason for this is that they come from the source in “portions”. Further, an active interaction of technogenic and natural factors begins: soils temporarily deposit pollution and create conditions for the transformation of toxicants. Further, the buffer role of the roots is switched on, which do not allow some pollutants to pass through. From a practical point of view, these data are important for optimizing the traffic load in urban ecosystems and developing technologies for cleaning soils in the city.

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RUDN University engineers found out that vegetable oil destroys concrete. In 90 days of contact with oil, concrete collapses. This must be taken into account in the construction and operation of industrial buildings where vegetable oils are used in technical processes.

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RUDN mathematicians proposed a model for calculating the probability of a 5G/6G disconnection with a drone. New model can increase the reliability of the connection for example, by placing the base stations at the right height.

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RUDN University engineers have created artificial intelligence to provide cheap and environmentally friendly power supply to the smart building.

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RUDN University mathematicians have improved the performance of the blockchain system. The researchers managed to increase the throughput of the system by almost 1.5 times and reduce the delay time.

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Building up the lunar settlement is the ultimate aim of lunar exploitation since human's first step on the moon. Yet, limited fuel and oxygen supplies restrict human survival on the moon.

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Students from the Little Village Lawndale High School Campus saw how Argonne scientists — many of Hispanic/Latino heritage — perform pivotal research during the 17th annual Hispanic/Latino Education Outreach Day.

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The Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets proposes pairing the newest and largest ground-based telescopes with a starshade orbiting Earth to obstruct the light from a host star to identify and characterize an exoplanet. AIP, with NASA and SPS, is organizing a competition for undergraduate students in the physical sciences to design such a starshade.

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Mentoring interns creates opportunities to inspire the future, diverse workforce with pathways into STEM careers.

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FAMU-FSU Associate Professor of mechanical engineering Wei Guo studies received a $1.25 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through its Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative for research into the properties of this superfluid helium.

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As you walk in a crowded shopping mall, it is easier to maintain social distancing when passing through a large atrium than when you are on an escalator.

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University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers are leading a comprehensive global clinical study that seeks to reveal the functional effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) across the human body.

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Shade, dirt, or aging considerably reduce the yield of large photovoltaic facilities. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and partners from science and industry have now launched the Solar Park 2.0 project to reduce these losses.

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The oddly satisfying small domes that you press on your soda’s to-go cup lid may one day save a winged drone from a nosedive.

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Pumping up thermal water, separating lithium, and using it to produce batteries for electric mobility – the idea of lithium as an environmentally compatible and regionally available by-product of geothermal energy plants appears highly promising. However, it has not been clear so far whether domestic lithium extraction is really worthwhile.

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Controlling gene activity is important for engineering plants for improved bioenergy crops and other applications. This research developed synthetic genes that use Boolean logic gates to achieve specific patterns of gene expression within a plant. The researchers used these gene circuits to redesign the root architecture by tuning the number of root branches.

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Ever shorter product life cycles and volatile markets force companies to produce high-quality products quickly with new, immature processes.

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New study published in Nature quantifies for the first time the historical and future cost savings to the solar industry from globalized supply chains

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A newly published study of orb-weaving spiders — has yielded some extraordinary results: The spiders are using their webs as extended auditory arrays to capture sounds, possibly giving spiders advanced warning of incoming prey or predators.

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Current prosthetic hands have five individually actuated digits, yet only one grasp function can be controlled at a time, which makes sophisticated tasks largely impossible.

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The goal of the GEM Consortium is to increase representation of underrepresented minorities in STEM graduate research. In 2021, Argonne hosted its first cohort of GEM students across the lab. This article provides a brief summary of their projects.

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Researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the Florida State University Department of Statistics are teaming up in a National Science Foundation-funded study that could help people perform better in manufacturing and other industries that rely on humans.

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KIMM announced that it has developed the world’s first gripper capable of all gripping movements, inspired by elephant trunks.

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A team at Sandia National Laboratories is reengineering a quantum inertial sensor into a compact, rugged device so the technology can safely guide vehicles where GPS signals are jammed or lost.

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Sandia National Laboratories and its partners at two other national labs have announced a project to investigate the application of Cerebras Systems‘ Wafer-Scale Engine technology.

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University of Oklahoma assistant professor OU engineer Jie Cai and a team of researchers were awarded funding to study thermal energy storage in commercial and residential buildings to promote renewable energy utilization.

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Chain Reaction Innovations, the entrepreneurship program at Argonne National Laboratory, is accepting applications for its next fellowship cohort.

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As an emerging multi-satellite cooperative flight mode, microsatellite swarm has become an important future research issue for distributed space systems due to their advantages of low cost, rapid response, and collaborative decision-making.

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Recent studies have shown that liquid-liquid phase separation – akin to how oil droplets form in water – leads to formation of diverse types of membraneless organelles, such as stress granules and nucleoli, in living cells.

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In the American Journal of Physics, researchers developed an online undergraduate physics lab course using small robotic bugs, called Hexbug Nanos (TM), to engage students in scientific research from their homes. The bugs look like bright-colored beetles with 12 flexible legs that move rapidly in a semi-random manner. This makes collections ideal models for exploring particle behavior that can be difficult to visualize, and students used them to complete experiments to investigate concepts in statistical mechanics and electrical conduction.

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One natural disaster can knock out electric service to millions. A new study suggests that back-to-back disasters could cause catastrophic damage, but the research also identifies new ways to monitor and maintain power grids.

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Scientists including an Oregon State University materials researcher have developed a better tool to measure light, contributing to a field known as optical spectrometry in a way that could improve everything from smartphone cameras to environmental monitoring.

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In 2023, the Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma will open an interdisciplinary workforce education and research center to serve the growing biopharmaceutical industry in Oklahoma.

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The 8th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound – a hybrid virtual and in-person four-day event held in Bethesda, MD –, includes an interactive virtual press briefing featuring the most recent clinical and preclinical advances and emerging applications of focused ultrasound.

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Experts at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego, San Diego State University and California State University, San Bernardino will apply NSF support to train and mentor a cohort of cyberinfrastructure professionals who will work closely with scientists to meet their computational needs.

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Since 2018, Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Quantum Testbed (AQT) has led several scientific breakthroughs in quantum computing across various areas. AQT also operates an open-access experimental testbed designed for deep collaboration with external users from academia, national Laboratories, and industry.

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Researchers have created a model that can calculate the energetics involved when one organism stabs another with its fangs, thorns, spines or other puncturing parts.

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Mechanical engineer Jennifer Wade is leading two federally funded projects that are addressing the critical question of how to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, thus slowing the devastating effects of global climate change. It's part of a national effort called the Carbon Negative Earthshot: Being able to remove carbon at $100 a ton at a scale of a million tons per year. That's a difficult task, Wade says, but it's not an insurmountable one.

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To recruit prospective employees for more than 500 open positions, LLNL is hosting its first-ever on-site Career Fair to share firsthand what the Laboratory has to offer. The open-house-style Career Fair will be held at the Livermore Valley Open Campus, 2590 Greenville Road, in Livermore on Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. See the flyer.

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New discovery of ferroelectric behavior at nearly the atomic limit could help enhance semiconductor technology.

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Sandia National Laboratories’ Robin Jones and Kimberly Pino recently were recognized by Profiles in Diversity Journal as Women Worth Watching in Leadership award winners for 2022, while Sondra Spence received a Women Worth Watching in STEM award.

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In celebration of Hispanic Heritage - Latin American Heritage Month, 5 QSA-affiliated scientists described how they pivoted to quantum information science (QIS) and technology, and why they're excited about the opportunities for scientific discovery. Featuring Ana Maria Rey, Pablo Poggi, Sergio Cantu, Elmer Guardado Sanchez, and Diego Barberena. QSA (Quantum Systems Accelerator) is a National QIS Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Berkeley Lab leads QSA with Sandia National Laboratories as the lead partner. QSA is composed of 15 member institutions in the United States and Canada.

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The University of Delaware has launched the new Center for Clean Hydrogen to accelerate the transition to clean energy by reducing the cost of hydrogen and hydrogen-related technologies. The center will be fueled by an initial $10 million in funding from the Department of Defense.

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The Society of Women Engineers has bestowed awards on three Sandia National Laboratories employees. Senior scientist Tina Nenoff received the society’s highest honor, the Achievement Award.

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KIST developed a photocatalyst that can completely decompose a trace amount of alcohol in water within a short duration by adding a very trace amount of copper to iron oxide, which is used as a catalyst during the advanced oxidation process.