Feature Channels: Engineering

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Researchers at Korea University and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology have now developed a new type of thin film transistor that's significantly faster than its predecessors -- an important step toward speeding up image display on devices like TVs and smartphone screens. The scientists made the transistor from zinc oxynitride, or ZnON, which they then plasma treated with argon gas. They present their work this week in Applied Physics Letters.

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Invention of the first integrated circularly polarized light detector on a silicon chip opens the door for development of small, portable sensors could expand the use of polarized light for drug screening, surveillance, etc.

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Science and Technology Highlights from the DOE National Laboratories

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Using components made from smart shape-memory materials with slightly different responses to heat, researchers have demonstrated a four-dimensional printing technology that allowed creation of complex self-folding structures.

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Long-term durability is a major issue for today’s infrastructure. In order to create concrete bridges with longer service lives and better performance, we must better understand the long-term behavior of these members.

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A national team of researchers has developed a first-of-its-kind, 3D-printed guide that helps regrow both the sensory and motor functions of complex nerves after injury.

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A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers recently released a new computer-aided engineering software program, and its users are already calling it a “gift from heaven.” Mechanical engineering Professor Krishnan Suresh led a team that spent four years developing the software, which assists in optimizing the design of parts for just about anything — from bicycles and airplanes to bridges and furniture.

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Virginia Tech chemical engineers have developed a new approach that will have a huge impact in future materials design. Their findings are reported in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

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A catalyst being developed by researchers could overcome one of the key obstacles still preventing automobile engines from running more cleanly and efficiently.

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A Virginia Tech engineer is traveling to Flint, Michigan, this week as part of a National Science Foundation-funded $50,000 one-year study into a “perfect storm” of water distribution system corrosion problems.

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The list of potential mechanisms that underlie an unusual metal-insulator transition has been narrowed by a team of scientists using a combination of X-ray techniques. This transition has ramifications for material design for electronics and sensors.

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From shipping and construction to outer space, origami could put a folded twist on structural engineering. Researchers have developed a new “zippered tube” configuration that makes paper structures stiff enough to hold weight yet can fold flat for easy shipping and storage.

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New technology that transforms a cell phone into a powerful, mobile microscope could significantly improve malaria diagnoses and treatment in developing countries lacking the resources to address the life-threatening disease, says a Texas A&M University biomedical engineer who has created the tool.

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ORNL lamp simulates sun in tests for NASA; ORNL model examines diabetes progression; Hybrid lubricant holds great promise for engine efficiency; ORNL, partners score success with wireless charging demo; New software helps in design of quantum computers, batteries

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Click to see today's top stories.

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Researchers at the University of Warwick’s School of Engineering are using imaging technologies, that are normally applied to automotive engines and sprays, to image thousands of mosquitoes to help develop better netting and physical protection against the malaria spreading insect.

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Farmington Hills, MI - Every day we are impacted by recycled materials. We dry our hands with recycled paper towels, drink our coffee from recycled paper cups, and even drink our water from recycled plastic bottles. But what about building materials?

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A bacterium engineered to produce different pigments in response to varying levels of a micronutrient in blood samples could give health officials an inexpensive way to detect nutritional deficiencies in resource-limited areas of the world.

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Columbia engineers have developed a new approach, opposite to climate models, to correct inaccuracies using a high-resolution atmospheric model that more precisely resolves clouds and convection and parameterizes the feedback between convection and atmospheric circulation. The new simulation strategy paves the way for better understanding of the water and carbon cycles in the Amazon, enabling researchers to learn more about the role of deforestation and climate change on the forest.” (PNAS Online Early Edition 8/31)

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Scott Shim, associate professor of design at Ohio State, is working to make everyday objects easier to maintain so they last longer and don’t end up in a landfill. His first such creation is an easy-to-clean hairbrush.

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Turning carbon dioxide from certain power plants into a more valuable chemical would reduce emissions while creating a revenue return. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh derived a metal-free catalyst that does the trick without the need for expensive, extreme conditions.

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Researchers at Penn State have developed the first nano/micro-textured highly slippery surfaces able to outperform lotus leaf-inspired liquid repellent coatings, particularly in situations where the water is in the form of vapor or tiny droplets.

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In mere seconds, a system can identify and characterize a solid or liquid sample.

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With the ongoing extreme drought in California posing a threat to the state’s levee systems, there is an urgent need to invest in research regarding the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure under extreme climatic events. Mississippi State University Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Farshid Vahedifard and his coauthors warn that current drought conditions pose “a great risk to an already endangered levee system” in a letter published Aug. 21 in Science magazine.

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A decade after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, experts say the flooding that caused over 1,800 deaths and billions of dollars in property damage could have been prevented had the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers retained an external review board to double-check its flood-wall designs.

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Engineers and physicians at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a hand-held, battery-powered device that quickly picks up vital signs from a patient’s lips and fingertip.

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This summer, DOE’s Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program paired Brandon Bozeat with Christopher Eng, an engineer at the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Eng enlisted the student’s help in designing the magnet assemblies that comprise NSLS-II’s undulators—devices that wiggle the electron beam to emit brighter x-rays.

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Michigan Tech researchers have streamlined a method to improve the splitting water into hydrogen molecules using visible light. Their work paves the way for more sustainable hydrogen fuels.

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Using physical chemistry methods to look at biology at the nanoscale, a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researcher has invented a new technology to image single molecules with unprecedented spectral and spatial resolution, thus leading to the first “true-color” super-resolution microscope.

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Another barrier to commercially viable biofuels from sources other than corn has fallen with the engineering of a microbe that improves isobutanol yields by a factor of 10.

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The use of solar energy in the U.S. is growing, but panels on rooftops are still a rare sight. They cost thousands of dollars, and homeowners don’t recoup costs for years. But scientists may have a solution. At the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, they report the development of a unique, “green” antenna that could potentially double efficiencies of certain solar cells and make them more affordable.

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Highly efficient, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) could slash the world’s electricity consumption. They are already sold in stores, but are expensive, and many of them give off “harsh” light. But researchers will report today that they have developed a less expensive, more sustainable white LED with a warm glow. The scientists will discuss their research at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Sunlight can be brutal. It wears down even the strongest structures, including rooftops and naval ships, and it heats up metal slides and bleachers until they’re too hot to use. To fend off damage and heat, scientists have developed an environmentally friendly paint out of glass that bounces sunlight off metal surfaces — keeping them cool and durable. The researchers present their work at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Cross contamination in commercial processing facilities that prepare spinach and other leafy greens for the market can make people sick. But researchers are reporting a new, easy-to-implement method that could eliminate or reduce such incidences. The scientists will present their work at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

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A new scientific instrument at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory promises to capture some of nature’s speediest processes. It uses a method known as ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) and can reveal motions of electrons and atomic nuclei within molecules that take place in less than a tenth of a trillionth of a second – information that will benefit groundbreaking research in materials science, chemistry and biology.

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Intelligent agent-based software to be showcased at Smithsonian; Supercomputer speeding design, deployment of lightweight powertrain materials; ORNL process produces hydrogen from switchgrass; Sampling probe system identifies bioactive compounds in fungi; ORNL technique could accelerate advances in materials science

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After debuting the world’s first solar air battery last fall, researchers at The Ohio State University have now reached a new milestone. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report that their patent-pending design—which combines a solar cell and a battery into a single device—now achieves a 20 percent energy savings over traditional lithium-iodine batteries.

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In an unprecedented effort to understand the connections between mountain water supply and urban demand, more than 50 researchers from 22 different lab groups and seven universities, including the University of Utah, gathered to study the Red Butte Creek watershed in a collaborative, three-day venture.

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There are plenty of engineering jobs in the Asia-Pacific, with a big push to diversification into design, manufacturing and developing a cybersecurity workforce in India.

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Researchers from Berkeley Lab and Columbia University have created the world’s highest-performance single-molecule diode. Development of a functional single-molecule diode is a major pursuit of the electronics industry.

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Carbon nanotube speakers play music using heat and two Michigan Tech graduate students received an award recently for their work improving the technology.

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NASA has awarded grants to a University of Arkansas-affiliated technology firm to design complex integrated circuits that can operate on the surface of Venus, where the temperature can reach 500 degrees Celsius.

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A team led by Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used the OLCF’s Titan to achieve a milestone in the field of biomolecular simulation, modeling a complete photosynthetic organelle of the bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides in atomic detail. The project, a 100-million atom spherical chromatophore, is the first of its kind, giving scientists a system-level understanding of a fundamental biological process based on all-atom precision.

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The Faculty of Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS Engineering), in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), has launched the Centre for Next Generation Logistics today. The virtual Centre will work closely with government agencies and the industry to perform cutting-edge research in logistics and supply chain systems for translation into innovations and commercialisation to achieve transformative economic and societal impact.

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A Vanderbilt research team has successfully created a mechanical wrist less than 1/16th of an inch thick -- small enough to use in needlescopic surgery, the least invasive form of minimally invasive surgery.

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A new fabrication technique that produces platinum hollow nanocages with ultra-thin walls could dramatically reduce the amount of the costly metal needed to provide catalytic activity in such applications as fuel cells.

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A 3D printed aircraft has successfully launched off the front of a Royal Navy warship and landed safely on a Dorset beach.

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For the first time, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have produced arrays of semiconductor junctions in arbitrary patterns within a single, nanometer-thick semiconductor crystal.

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Graphene has been studied intensively for its unique properties, and now researchers have developed a microelectronics-compatible method to grow it and have synthesized wafer-scale, high-quality graphene on silicon substrates. The method is based on an ion implantation technique, a process in which ions are accelerated under an electrical field and smashed into a semiconductor. In Applied Physics Letters, the researchers describe their work, which takes graphene a step closer to commercial applications in silicon microelectronics.

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Other topics include genetics to predict prostate cancer, Facebook and body image, bioengineered immune cell response, and more...