Engineering
press releases.

Engineering1 Dec 2023

New understanding of oobleck-like fluids contributes to smart material design

If you mix cornstarch and water in the right proportions, you get something that seems not-quite-liquid but also not-quite-solid. Oobleck flows and settles like a liquid when untouched, but stiffens when you try to pick it up or stir it with a spoon. The properties of oobleck and other non-Newtonian fluids — including Silly Putty, quicksand, paint, and yogurt — change under stress or pressure and scientists have long struggled to prove exactly why. Now, researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have used piezoelectric nanoparticles, which themselves change in response to pressure, to investigate the fundamental physics of non-Newtonian ...

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Engineering30 Nov 2023

Unsafe lead levels in school drinking water: new UMass Amherst study IDs building risk factors

AMHERST, Mass. – University of Massachusetts Amherst civil and environmental engineers have determined the factors that may help identify the schools and daycare centers at greatest risk for elevated levels of lead in drinking water. The most telling characteristic for schools in Massachusetts is building age, with facilities built in the 1960s and 1970s—nearly a third of the facilities tested—at the greatest risk for having dangerously high water lead levels. There is no safe exposure ...

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Engineering29 Nov 2023

Google DeepMind adds nearly 400,000 new compounds to Berkeley Lab’s Materials Project

New technology often calls for new materials – and with supercomputers and simulations, researchers don’t have to wade through inefficient guesswork to invent them from scratch. The Materials Project, an open-access database founded at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in 2011, computes the properties of both known and predicted materials. Researchers can focus on promising materials for future technologies – think lighter alloys that improve fuel economy in cars, more ...

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Engineering29 Nov 2023

Contactless Coupler, the innovation and advancement in the connection of precast concrete member

The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim, Byung-Suk) has developed a new Contactless Coupler that can efficiently improve the constructability of precast concrete (hereinafter referred to as PC). Recently, Off-site Construction (OSC) has been actively used worldwide to solve the problems at complex construction sites. The OSC method minimizes on-site work by prefabricating parts of the structure and then simply assembling and constructing them on-site. In particular, Korean construction sites are promoting OSC to solve the problem of aging skilled workers and labor shortages. The PC method, one of the representative OSC methods, is a method ...

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Engineering28 Nov 2023

Researchers engineer a material that can perform different tasks depending on temperature

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report that they have developed a new composite material designed to change behaviors depending on temperature in order to perform specific tasks. These materials are poised to be part of the next generation of autonomous robotics that will interact with the environment. The new study conducted by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign civil and environmental engineering professor Shelly Zhang and graduate student Weichen Li, in collaboration with professor Tian Chen and graduate student Yue Wang from the University ...

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Engineering28 Nov 2023

NYU Abu Dhabi researchers develop first-of-its-kind woven material made entirely from flexible organic crystals

Fast facts: Weaving is one of the oldest crafts known to humankind, with the earliest textiles dating back to about 5,000 years ago. Organic crystals, long thought to be stiff and brittle, are now known to have extraordinary elastic properties, revealing an unexplored new direction in materials science. Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 28, 2023: Applying simple, ancient weaving techniques to newly recognized properties of organic crystals, researchers with the Smart Materials Lab (SML) and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM) at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have, for the first time, developed a unique form of woven “textile.” These new fabric ...

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Engineering28 Nov 2023

Living in a +50°C world: Cooling must be considered critical infrastructure, says new report

University of Birmingham Press Release STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 Tuesday 28th November UK TIME/ 19.01 Monday 27th November EASTERN TIME Experts from the University of Birmingham are calling for global cooling and cold chain to be considered as critical infrastructure as the planet continues to heat. The report, The Hot Reality: Living in a +50°C World, comes as world leaders, businesses, scientists, and environmental agencies gather in Dubai for the start of COP 28. The Hot Reality: Living in a +50°C World project is led by the Centre for Sustainable Cooling and the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling ...

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Engineering23 Nov 2023

Drones enabled the use of defibrillators before ambulance arrival

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have evaluated the possibility of alerting drones equipped with automated external defibrillators (AED) to patients with suspected cardiac arrest. In more than half of the cases, the drones were ahead of the ambulance by an average of three minutes. In cases where the patient was in cardiac arrest, the drone-delivered defibrillator was used in a majority of cases. The results have been published in the journal The Lancet Digital Health. "The use of an AED is the single most important factor in saving lives. We have been deploying drones equipped with AED since the summer ...

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Engineering22 Nov 2023

Autonomous excavator constructs a 6-meter-high dry-stone wall

ETH Zurich researchers deployed an autonomous excavator, called HEAP, to build a six metre-high and sixty-five-metre-long dry-stone wall. The wall is embedded in a digitally planned and autonomously excavated landscape and park. The team of researchers included: Gramazio Kohler Research, the Robotics Systems Lab, Vision for Robotics Lab, and the Chair of Landscape Architecture. They developed this innovative design application as part of the National Centre of Competence in Research for Digital Fabrication ...

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Engineering21 Nov 2023

An effective approach for preparing supramolecular polymers at high concentration

Supramolecular polymers (SPs) are molecular assemblies composed of non-covalently bonded small molecules. They show high recyclability originating from their dynamic nature of monomer binding, which is different from covalent polymers with non-biodegradable nature. The small repeating units that form SPs, called monomers, are specifically designed to construct multiple non-covalent bonds to enhance the stability of the resulting SPs. Such monomers can be organized into structurally distinct assemblies by forming various ...

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Engineering20 Nov 2023

State-of-the-art nanomaterial enabling ecofriendly removal of fine dust precursors

Over the past decade, fine dust conditions in Korea have worsened, as perceived by the general public, with an increase in the number of days per year featuring high-concentration fine dust. Additionally, the previous maximum fine-dust concentration level has been surpassed. In response, the Korean government has expanded its financial investment in efforts aimed at addressing fine-dust issues. Fine dust consists of particles that are too small to be seen with the naked eye. When these particles enter the human body through the skin and respiratory system, they can cause various diseases. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Environment Institute, three in ten people ...

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Engineering20 Nov 2023

Proof of concept of new material for long lasting relief from dry mouth conditions

Proof of concept of new material for long lasting relief from dry mouth conditions A novel aqueous lubricant technology designed to help people who suffer from a dry mouth is between four and five times more effective than existing commercially available products, according to laboratory tests. Developed by scientists at the University of Leeds, the saliva substitute is described as comparable to natural saliva in the way it hydrates the mouth and acts as a lubricant when food is chewed. Under a powerful microscope, the molecules in the substance - known as a microgel - appear as a lattice-like ...

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Engineering17 Nov 2023

Porous platinum matrix shows promise as a new actuator material

Actuators are common machine components that convert energy into movement, like the muscles in the human body, vibrators in mobile phones or electric motors. Ideal actuator materials need good electrochemical properties to repeatedly conduct electrical currents made of flowing electrons. In addition, actuator materials require excellent mechanical properties to withstand the physical stress associated with continual movement. Nanoporous platinum (np-Pt), a platinum matrix containing tiny pores to increase energy conduction, was recently created in large quantities and in a cost-efficient manner, making np-Pt an ideal and more practical actuator material. A ...

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Engineering16 Nov 2023

Department of Chemical Engineering receives $3.5 million award to study impact of adolescent exposure to opioids

Opioid addiction is a pressing public health crisis with far-reaching implications. More than 100,000 deaths a year have been linked to drug overdoses since 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more people died from drug overdoses in 2021 than from firearm and motor vehicle deaths combined. Three-quarters of these overdose deaths were attributable to opioids. A five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse will fund the Virginia Tech Department of Chemical Engineering’s pioneering research to understand how adolescent ...

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Engineering15 Nov 2023

This 3D printer can watch itself fabricate objects

With 3D inkjet printing systems, engineers can fabricate hybrid structures that have soft and rigid components, like robotic grippers that are strong enough to grasp heavy objects but soft enough to interact safely with humans. These multimaterial 3D printing systems utilize thousands of nozzles to deposit tiny droplets of resin, which are smoothed with a scraper or roller and cured with UV light. But the smoothing process could squish or smear resins that cure slowly, limiting the types of materials that can be used. Researchers from MIT, the MIT spinout Inkbit, and ETH Zurich have developed a new 3D inkjet printing system that works ...

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Engineering14 Nov 2023

ASCE establishes Dan M. Frangopol Medal for Life-Cycle Civil Engineering of Civil Structures

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently instituted the Dan M. Frangopol Medal for Life-Cycle Engineering of Civil Structures in recognition of the Lehigh Engineering professor’s contributions as a pioneering researcher and educator and leading authority in the fields of life-cycle civil engineering and life-cycle cost optimization. The award pays tribute to Frangopol, the inaugural Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering ...

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Engineering14 Nov 2023

IOP Publishing unveils industry-leading feedback system for reviewers

IOP Publishing (IOPP) is now offering peer reviewers feedback on their reviewer reports to enhance the quality of peer review and to strengthen best practice in the physical sciences. IOPP have rolled out the new programme on an opt-in basis across all its proprietary journals. Where reviewers opt-in for feedback on their report, IOPP will share a numerical evaluation of how useful the report was to the in-house editors on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being outstanding and 1 indicating that ...

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Engineering13 Nov 2023

University of Oklahoma engineer elected as fellow member of Optica

Optica, an international association in optics and photonics, recently announced the election of University of Oklahoma engineering professor Javier Jo, Ph.D., as a Fellow member. Jo, a faculty member in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was honored for his contributions to integrating optical imaging and artificial intelligence for biomedical applications. His research focuses on developing optical sensing and imaging technologies to understand pathophysiological mechanisms in human diseases and improve their clinical management. “Dr. Jo’s ...

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Engineering9 Nov 2023

Cornell chemists image basic blocks of synthetic polymers

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Synthetic polymers are everywhere in our society – from nylon and polyester clothing to Teflon cookware and epoxy glue. At the molecular level, these polymers’ molecules are made of long chains of monomer building blocks, the complexity of which increases functionality in many such materials. In particular, copolymers, which consist of different types of monomers in the same chain, allow for fine-tuning of the material’s properties, said Peng Chen, the Peter J.W. Debye Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S). The monomer sequence plays a critical role in a material’s properties, but scientists until ...

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Engineering9 Nov 2023

Understanding the dynamic behavior of rubber materials

Rubber-like materials, commonly used in dampeners, possess a unique property known as dynamic viscoelasticity, enabling them to convert mechanical energy from vibrations into heat while exhibiting spring-like and flow-like behaviors simultaneously. Customization of these materials is possible by blending them with compounds of specific molecular structures, depending on the dynamic viscosity requirements. However, the underlying mechanisms behind the distinct mechanical properties of these materials remain unclear. A primary reason for this knowledge gap has been the absence of a comprehensive system capable of simultaneously ...

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Engineering6 Nov 2023

Social media giants send mixed signals on muscle-building supplements content

Toronto, ON – A new study published in the journal Substance Use and Misuse finds that while user-generated content and advertising content related to illegal muscle-building drugs is prohibited across all social media platforms, legal muscle-building dietary supplements faced few restrictions. “These findings are concerning given that the use of muscle-building dietary supplements can have negative social and behavioral effects, which adolescents and young adults may be particularly susceptible to,” says lead author Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, MSW, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “There ...

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Engineering3 Nov 2023

County-level structural racism may affect mortality rates in people with kidney failure

Highlights In a recent analysis of US data, Black patients with kidney failure experienced survival advantages compared with White patients when county-level structural racism was low, but they experienced survival disadvantages compared with White patients at higher levels of structural racism. Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2023 November 1–November 5. Philadelphia, PA (November 3, 2023) — A new analysis indicates that county-level structural racism is a significant determinant of death among individuals ...

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Engineering3 Nov 2023

Aston University 3D printing engineer wins Female Innovator of 2023 award

Renia Gkountiou won the title of Female Innovator for 2023 She was nominated for her role in helping SMEs use and develop 3D printing She is based at the Advanced Prototyping Facility which increases businesses’ awareness of 3D printing opportunities. An Aston University engineer has been recognised at the 2023 Innovation Awards. Renia Gkountiou who is as an engineer and technician within the University’s Advanced Prototyping Facility project won the title of Female Innovator for 2023. She was nominated by professionals in her field for her role helping small to medium size businesses use ...

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Engineering1 Nov 2023

Harold Hwang awarded 2024 McGroddy Prize for discovering exotic new materials

The marvels of modern technology – computers that fit in your hand, internet-connected refrigerators, and self-driving cars – are only possible thanks to the magic of materials like silicon. Likewise, the sci-fi gadgets of tomorrow will spring from the exotic new materials scientists are discovering today. Harold Hwang, a physicist at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, has brought this future closer by sandwiching carefully crafted materials together and seeing what happens where they touch. His experimentation has uncovered a host of compounds with surprising ...

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Engineering1 Nov 2023

NRL ISS Mission seeks new bioinspired materials

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Melanized Microbes for Multiple Uses in Space Project, or MELSP, will use the International Space Station (ISS) to search for production of melanin variants and other useful biomaterials that can have applications both on Earth and in space. The mission is scheduled to launch in early November 2023. Melanin is described as a group of biopolymers responsible for various biological functions, including pigmentation of skin, hair, and iris of the eyes, which helps protect body ...

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