Engineering & Technology
Pioneering materials informatics: Clean technologies from molecular design
Tackling global challenges in sustainable energy production calls for the rational design of new generations of clean materials, coupling efficiency with low environmental impact. Materials discovery offers a powerful means to predict structure-property relationships in novel materials, but often lacks the ability to account for the complex interplay of length- and timescales that ultimately determine the potential of a material […]
SUSSOL – Using AI for the selection and substitution of greener solvent
Solvents can be toxic, volatile, highly flammable, non-biodegradable and non-renewable. Searching for a suitable green alternative for a nonbenign solvent can be an onerous task. Hannes Sels, Herwig De Smet and Dr Jeroen Geuens from Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts, in close collaboration with their industrial partners, have developed a user-friendly software tool based on an […]
Nanoparticle coating in heat pipe design for miniaturised cooling
Size reduction and increasing processing power are driving forces in the development of modern electronic devices, from portable computers to smartphones and wearable devices. In all these applications, efficient cooling of the electronic components of a device is paramount. By exploiting novel design approaches based on the use of nanoparticle layers, Prof Tomio Okawa and Ms Menglei Wang (The University […]
A new computational approach to Digital Holographic Microscopy
Digital Holographic Microscopy offers a unique way for researchers to precisely examine the 3D topography of microscopic objects. However, until now the capabilities of this technique have been limited by complications involving the complex computational method used. The Optical Imaging Research Laboratory at the University of Memphis, led by Dr Ana Doblas, and collaborators have constructed algorithms which can automatically […]
What media arts can teach us about technology and its use
What if? That’s the question behind the Synthesis Center, a unique institutional experiment at Arizona State University in the United States. Created by Professor Sha Xin Wei, the transdisciplinary ‘atelier’ or workshop brings like minds together to explore the interface between media arts, the environment, engineering and technology. With the potential for global social impact, the results generate significant insights […]
Bringing space closer with 3D printing
To fulfil the promise of the “NewSpace” revolution and open the door to commercial space exploration that is accessible to everyone, low-cost space technologies are necessary. In order to lower the cost of spacecraft propulsion, Dulce Melo-Máximo from the Tecnológico de Monterrey in México and Luis Fernando Velásquez-García from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report on the first additively manufactured […]
ILLMO: A new platform for interactive statistics
Jean-Bernard Martens, a Full Professor on Visual Interaction with the Department of Industrial Design of the Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, has developed ILLMO (Interactive Log Likelihood MOdeling), a statistical modelling tool that provides an interactive environment offering an intuitive and interactive approach to statistics. Scientists and researchers, including those who are not specialists in statistics, can access modern statistical […]
High entropy to power a high energy world
Scientists are continuously searching for new materials whose properties may solve the toughest challenges of our heavily technological society. To tackle the need for longer-lasting energy storage, for example, Dr Ben Breitung, Dr Torsten Brezesinski and their teams at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are developing high-entropy materials by diversifying the composition of crystal structures. The properties of these […]
How did the data propagate? Automated Optical Path Monitoring
With the development of 5G, our world might seem more wireless than ever. However, lurking behind this and facilitating all high-speed data transfer are kilometres and kilometres of optical fibres. The backbone network for all communication, wireless or otherwise, is this sprawling network of fibres. For reliable communications and internet access, the world’s expanse of fibre optic cables must work […]
ThreatSCOPE: Addressing software vulnerability in embedded systems
The team at cyber-security firm BlueRISC Inc., is led by Dr Csaba Andras Moritz, Founder and Chairman of BlueRISC Inc. and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. They have developed ThreatSCOPE, a system assurance tool that analyses and mitigates software vulnerabilities and cyber threats in embedded systems. ThreatSCOPE uses BlueRISC’s patented ImmuneSoft technology to […]