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Category: futurism – Page 1,029

Is self-healing concrete technology the future of construction?

Building cracks and deterioration are common points of concern for asset owners and managers alike, but a new technology may soon alleviate these industry issues.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge are using micro-encapsulation technologies developed by Dolomite Microfluidics to develop self-healing construction materials.

The university’s Department of Engineering’s Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group said last month that it is developing microcapsules containing ‘healing’ agents such as minerals, epoxy, or polyurethane which can be added to building materials to allow the self-repair of small cracks that develop over time.

Arctic Weather Plunges into North America

Desperately cold weather is now gripping the Midwest and Northern Plains of the United States, as well as interior Canada. The culprit is a familiar one: the polar vortex.

A large area of low pressure and extremely cold air usually swirls over the Arctic, with strong counter-clockwise winds that trap the cold around the Pole. But disturbances in the jet stream and the intrusion of warmer mid-latitude air masses can disturb this polar vortex and make it unstable, sending Arctic air south into middle latitudes.

Physicists Have Built a Machine That Actually Breaks Two Rules of Light

When you beam intense pulses of light into a thin circle, strange things will happen, according to new research based on the optical equivalent of a whispering gallery.

Inside tiny loops of transparent fibre, waves of light can be forced to break step and change the orientation of their wiggle in odd ways, bending the rules and potentially giving future engineers new tools for emerging optical technology.

Researchers from the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have watched light break its usual symmetrical patterns inside devices called optical ring resonators.

Caterpillar unveils an all-electric 26-ton excavator with a giant 300 kWh battery pack

Caterpillar, along with Pon Equipment, has unveiled an all-electric 26-ton excavator with a giant 300 kWh battery pack in an effort to electrify construction equipment.

They built a prototype in Gjelleråsen, Norway for construction company Veidekke who plan to use 8 of them.

The company expects that the machine will result in a better experience for its employee by reducing air and noise pollution at construction sites.