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Archive for the ‘engineering’ category: Page 27

Jan 9, 2024

PIONEER Project: Enhancing Sea Wall Resilience in the Face of Climate-Driven Coastal Flooding

Posted by in categories: climatology, engineering, sustainability

As climate change continues to ravage the planet, coastal cities are at the highest risk due to coastal flooding attributed to sea level rise. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 127 million people in the United States alone live in coastal counties, or almost 40 percent of the entire population. Therefore, steps to protect coastal communities are of the utmost importance to mitigate the long-term impacts of climate change.

Strengthening coastal defenses from rising seas levels is what a groundbreaking study known as the PIONEER project, which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, hopes to address as scientists estimate coastal sea levels in the United States will experience the same sea level rise by 2050 that was experienced between 1920 and 2020, between 0.82 to 0.98 inches (0.25 to 0.30 meters).

“This is an interesting study because it combines, probably for the first time, the interactions for the effect of the water flooding on soils and, subsequently, on shoreline protective structures,” said Dr. Sherif Abdelaziz, who is an associate professor in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and one of many collaborators on the PIONEER project. “We will be able to assess how all these factors interact together so we can better design our shoreline protective structures to sustain the increasing intensity of waves and floods.”

Jan 8, 2024

MIT’s Game-Changer: Ion Irradiation in Nanoparticle Engineering for Sustainable Energy

Posted by in categories: engineering, nanotechnology, particle physics, sustainability

The work demonstrates control over key properties leading to better performance.

MIT researchers and colleagues have demonstrated a way to precisely control the size, composition, and other properties of nanoparticles key to the reactions involved in a variety of clean energy and environmental technologies. They did so by leveraging ion irradiation, a technique in which beams of charged particles bombard a material.

They went on to show that nanoparticles created this way have superior performance over their conventionally made counterparts.

Jan 7, 2024

Reports: Origin Quantum Computing Unveils 72-Qubit Quantum Computer

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, quantum physics

The third-generation superconducting quantum computer, “Origin Wukong,” was launched on January 6 at Origin Quantum Computing Technology in Hefei, according to Chinese-based media outlet, The Global Times, as reported by the Pakistan Today.

According to the news outlets, the “Origin Wukong” is powered by a 72-qubit superconducting quantum chip, known as the “Wukong chip.” This development marks a new milestone in China’s quantum computing journey as it’s the most advanced programmable and deliverable superconducting quantum computer in China, as per a joint statement from the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Center and the Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Computing Chips, shared with the Global Times.

Superconducting quantum computers, such as the “Origin Wukong,” rely on a approach being investigated by several other quantum computer makers, including IBM and Google quantum devices.

Jan 7, 2024

Microtexturing soft materials to remove aqueous microfoulants

Posted by in categories: engineering, materials

The process of crystallization fouling is a phenomenon where scale forms on surfaces. It is widespread in nature and technology and affects the energy and water industries. Despite previous attempts, rationally designed surfaces with intrinsic resistance remain elusive due to a lack of understanding of how microfoulants adhere in dynamic aqueous environments.

In a study now published in Science Advances, Julian Schmid and a team of researchers in surface engineering in Switzerland and the U.S. studied the interfacial dynamics of microfoulants by using a micro-scanning fluid dynamic gauge system to demonstrate a rationally developed coating that removes 98% of deposits under shear flow conditions.

Jan 6, 2024

Understanding neural circuit function through synaptic engineering

Posted by in categories: engineering, neuroscience

Synaptic engineering involves the synthetic insertion of new synapses between neurons in vivo. In this Perspective, Rabinowitch, Colón-Ramos and Krieg explore this emerging approach for studying neural circuits, describing the different methods that have been used and how they have been implemented.

Jan 5, 2024

Quantum physicist photographs a single atom you can see with the naked eye

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, particle physics, quantum physics

Ever think you’d see a single atom without staring down the barrel of a powerful microscope? Oxford University physicist David Nadlinger has won the top prize in the fifth annual Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) national science photography competition for his image ‘Single Atom in an Ion Trap’, which does something incredible: makes a single atom visible to the human eye.

Click image to zoom. Photo: David Nadlinger/EPSRC

Captured on an ordinary digital camera, the image shows an atom of strontium suspended by electric fields emanating from the metal electrodes of an ion trap—those electrodes are about 2mm apart. Nadlinger shot the photo through the window of the ultra-high vacuum chamber that houses the ion trap, which is used to explore the potential of laser-cooled atomic ions in new applications such as highly accurate atomic clocks and sensors, and quantum computing.

Jan 5, 2024

A butterfly-inspired design to create crumple-recoverable electronics

Posted by in categories: engineering, mobile phones

Over the past decades, electronics engineers have created devices of various shapes and with increasingly sophisticated designs. This includes electronics that can be folded onto themselves, such as foldable phones, along with various other compressible devices.

Researchers at Ajou University and other institutes in South Korea recently introduced a new design for developing crumple-recoverable electronics, or in other words, electronics that can recover their original shape after being crumpled or compressed onto themselves to reduce their size. This design, outlined in a paper published in Nature Electronics, draws inspiration from the mechanism that allows butterflies to unfold their wings when leaving their cocoon.

“Nature is rich of different plants and animals, each of which survived by adapting and evolving in extreme environments,” Seungyong Han, co-author of the paper, told Tech Xplore. “Personally, I’ve always thought that by closely observing these phenomena, we can find clues to solve various problems in modern society. Also, by approaching this from an engineering perspective, I believed we could achieve results that may improve people’s daily lives.”

Jan 4, 2024

Researchers develop high-performance stretchable solar cells

Posted by in categories: chemistry, engineering, solar power, sustainability, wearables

With the market for wearable electric devices growing rapidly, stretchable solar cells that can function under strain have received considerable attention as an energy source. To build such solar cells, it is necessary that their photoactive layer, which converts light into electricity, shows high electrical performance while possessing mechanical elasticity. However, satisfying both of these two requirements is challenging, making stretchable solar cells difficult to develop.

A KAIST research team from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) led by Professor Bumjoon Kim announced the development of a new conductive polymer material that achieved both high electrical performance and elasticity while introducing the world’s highest-performing stretchable organic solar cell.

Figure 1. Chemical structure of the newly developed conductive polymer and performance of stretchable organic solar cells using the material. (Image: KAIST)

Jan 4, 2024

NH Bill Seeks to Ban Cloud Seeding and Other Forms of Atmospheric Geoengineering

Posted by in categories: engineering, geoengineering

Every legislative session is presented with too many bills and, in recent years, too slim of a majority to get the good ones to the Governor. But because we have so many new ideas, there are always some you might not expect, like legislation to ban weather modification.

To be clear, I’m not making fun of the bill or its sponsors. In a world where some folks can’t shut up about unnecessary “emissions” or pollutants in our atmosphere, this should play well on both sides of the aisle. New Hampshire House Bill 1,700 (HB1700).

Dec 29, 2023

World-first engineering brings full fiber to UK’s most remote island

Posted by in category: engineering

The UK carrier said they had to ‘get creative’ to reach the islanders.


London-based carrier Openreach has deployed “world-first engineering” as part of its efforts to connect residents on a remote Scottish island.

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