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Tag Archives: engineering

‘Print’ almost anything

By Stephen Ornes / April 28, 2013

Caption: For Valentine’s Day this year, a Japanese company used a 3-D printer to produce chocolate copies of people’s faces. Credit: FabCafe/Think 3D/K’s Design Lab

3-D printers allow people to build almost anything they can imagine — from toys to food, buildings to body parts

Posted in Technology & Engineering | Tagged 3-D inks, 3-D printer, 3-D printing, additive manufacturing, artificial heart, August Rodin, Barack Obama, Cambridge, Cody R. Wilson, Cornell University, diabetes, engineering, ESA, European Space Agency, Fashion Week, feature, guns, Harvard University, Ibrahim Ozbolat, Industrial Revolution, insulin, Iris van Herpen, Ithaca, Jennifer Lewis, King Richard III, Loughborough University, makers, manufacturing, Mars base, moon base, NASA, pancreas, printed food, Richard Harris, sintering, space architecture, State of the Union, topstories, University of Iowa, University of Leicester

Quake, quake, go away

By Stephen Ornes / March 1, 2013

An earthquake caused widespread damage to San Francisco in 1989. Scientists are designing a new type of seismic shield that may help protect buildings from tremors. Credit: J.K. Nakata/USGS

French engineers report success in the first test of an underground seismic shield

Posted in Technology & Engineering | Tagged cloaking, Duke University, earthquake, electromagnetic radiation, engineering, getinvolved, Grenoble, Imperial College London, Institut Fresnel, Invisibility, John Pendry, light, light waves, Marseille, metamaterials, microwaves, Sébastien Guenneau, seismic waves, shields, topstories

Ahead of the wave

By Stephen Ornes / February 13, 2013

Water pours ashore as a tsunami strikes the east coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. Credit: Mainichi Shimbun/Reuters

Scientists are working to predict — and tame — the tsunamis that can threaten some coastal communities

Posted in Earth | Tagged Dailin Wang, David Mencin, earth science, earthquakes, engineering, feature, forces, France, Great Lakes, Hawaii, Indonesia, Institut Fresnel, Invisibility, Japan, Marseille, motion, oceanography, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Sébastien Guenneau, seiche, seismometers, strainmeters, tectonic plates, topstories, tsunami, waves and radiation, Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park

Genetic memory

By Stephen Ornes / February 8, 2013

A DNA molecule looks like a twisted ladder. Scientists have found a way to use the rungs of that ladder to store data efficiently. Credit: NHGRI

The stuff of genes can be used to store digital data, too

Posted in Computers & Electronics, Technology & Engineering | Tagged bioengineering, biology, computer science, data storage, deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, Drew Endy, engineering, England, European Bioinformatics Institute, genes, getinvolved, nature, Nick Goldman, nucleotides, Stanford, synthetic DNA

Engineering: The route to problem-solving

By Helen Fields / February 6, 2013

Teams of young researchers brainstormed ways to protect a raw egg — sometimes using bubble wrap — so that it could be dropped from various heights without breaking at a major competition in Washington, D.C., last fall. Students from around the country came together to work on engineering challenges. Credit: iStockphoto

Young researchers learn how math and science are used in the real world, from protecting eggs to delivering tap water

Posted in STEM Careers, Young Scientists | Tagged Anna Lou, automotive safety engineering, Benjamin Franklin Middle School, biomedical engineering, brain teasers, Broadcom, Broadcom MASTERS Competition, car crash, Carlisle Public Schools, Chase Lewis, chemical engineering, civil engineering, clean drinking water, computer chips, Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, Daniel Lu, drafting, Elizabeth Hubler, engineering, Engineers Without Borders, feature, George Washington University, IBM, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, integrated circuit design, Julio Vargas, Lego, Lewis School, Maria Elena Grimmett, Maryland Science Center, math, mechanical engineering, modem, momentum, Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches, Oxford Academy, problem solving, Samuel Coulson, science, Shane Lansing, software engineering, Springfield High School, STEM, structural engineering, technology, The Weiss School, Varun Iyer, velocity, vocal cords, West Platte High School

Hitting streaks spread success

By Stephen Ornes / January 11, 2013

These baseball all-stars played in 1937. Fourth from the left is Joe DiMaggio, who went on a 56-game hitting streak in 1941. That record has not been broken. Credit: Harris & Ewing

A baseball player’s hitting streak may boost teammates’ batting averages

Posted in Mathematics | Tagged baseball, batting average, computing, contagions, economics, engineering, getinvolved, hitting streak, Joel Bock, Naval Postgraduate School, Scalaton, software, statistics, success, topstories

Color-changing robot

By Stephen Ornes / October 14, 2012

Tiny tubes filled with colored dyes let these soft robots blend in with their environments. Credit: S. Morin, Harvard University

Tiny tunnels within the “skin” of a robot allow it to blend in with or stand out from its surroundings

Posted in Technology & Engineering | Tagged chameleons, color-changing, colors, DARPA, engineering, getinvolved, Harvard University, infrared, materials science, octopus, physics, robots, soft robots, topstories, University of Cincinnati

No more bubble trouble

By Stephen Ornes / August 6, 2012

Bottlenose dolphins can tell the difference between noisy echoes bounced off of bubbles and other echoes, including those bounced off of prey. Now scientists have figured out a way to tell apart the noises, too. Credit: Emma Jugovich, NOAA

Dolphin’s clicks help scientists sort through confusing underwater noises

Posted in Physics | Tagged acoustics, animals, birds, bubbles, communications, dolphins, echoes, echolocation, engineering, getinvolved, Grant Deane, mammals, mathematics, nonlinear, physics, reptiles, reptiles/birds/mammals, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sonar, sound, Timothy Leighton, University of Southampton

Skeeters ride the rain

By Stephen Ornes / June 25, 2012

To a mosquito, being struck by a raindrop is like a midair collision with a bus. But scientists recently discovered that skeeters fare well when they hitch a ride on the raindrop. Credit: Courtesy Tim Nowack, Andrew Dickerson and David Hu/Georgia Tech

Mosquitoes survive collisions with raindrops by going with the flow

Posted in Animals | Tagged biology, David Hu, engineering, flight, getinvolved, insects, mosquitoes, Nathan Burkett-Cadena, physics, topstories