News
The Lead
Tests may lead to doubling of fuel cell life
May 23, 2013 | Comments
To improve fuel cell module durability and predict longevity, researchers are studying the degradation mechanisms of the fuel cells that occur under real-world transit bus conditions. While quantifying the effects of electrode degradation stressors in the operating cycle of the bus on the membrane lifetime, the team has discovered links between electrode degradation and membrane durability.
Airborne laser reveals hidden city in Cambodia
June 19, 2013 1:08 am | by Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press | Comments
Laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals, illustrating a...
Broad Institute an early adopter of Agilent’s new liquid-handling system
June 18, 2013 7:15 am | Comments
Agilent Technologies Inc. this week announced that the Broad Institute in Cambridge,...
Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener
June 13, 2013 8:07 am | Comments
Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are the most efficient and environmentally friendly light bulbs...
Multiview 3-D photography made simple
June 19, 2013 7:57 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | CommentsThe first commercial application of computational photography is the so-called light-field camera, which can measure not only the intensity of incoming light but also its angle. However these cameras trade a good deal of resolution for that extra angle information. That is, until now.
Solar plane to help ground energy use
June 19, 2013 1:01 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | CommentsWhen it's in flight, there's no roar of engines. It's strangely quiet. And as it crisscrosses the U.S., the spindly plane doesn't use a drop of fuel. Ernest Moniz, who heads the U.S. Department of Energy, praised the efficiency of the Solar Impulse plane at a news conference Monday in Washington, where the plane landed early Sunday morning. He said the solar-powered aircraft highlighted a cleaner energy future for the nation.
Scientists discuss new photo-taking satellite
June 19, 2013 12:52 am | by Dirk Lammers, Associated Press | CommentsNearly 120 scientists and engineers from around the world are meeting in South Dakota this week to discuss operational and technical issues with collecting images from the Landsat 8 satellite. In February, NASA launched the satellite, which takes images of every inch of the Earth’s surface to see what happens over time, and recently handed over operational control of it to the EROS Center.
Sandia Labs hosts annual Robot Rodeo
June 19, 2013 12:46 am | CommentsThis week, Sandia National Laboratories is hosting the seventh annual Western National Robot Rodeo and Capability Exercise, a challenging five-day event that draws civilian and military bomb squad teams from across the country to see who can most effectively defuse dangerous situations with the help of robots. The competition provides an opportunity to practice using robots and new technology in a low-risk, but competitive environment.
Rapid prototyping conference breaks past attendance records
June 19, 2013 12:11 am | CommentsMore than 2,500 attendees turned out for the 2013 RAPID Conference and Exposition, almost doubling last year’s attendance and reflecting widespread excitement about 3D printing and additive manufacturing, according to event organizer SME. It included attendees from nearly 30 countries and the U.S.
Insaco supports “green”
June 18, 2013 2:24 pm | CommentsSince 1947, Insaco, Quakertown, Pa., has provided precision machining and polishing of fabricated parts from most technical ceramics, sapphire, glass and quartz. The company machines these materials to very precise tolerances—many times measured in millionths of an inch—for dimension, flatness, wedge and roundness or cylindricity.
Stop hyperventilating, say energy-efficiency researchers
June 18, 2013 2:10 pm | CommentsA single advanced building control now in development could slash 18%—tens of thousands of dollars—off the overall annual energy bill of the average large office building, with no loss of comfort, according to a report by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Printing tiny batteries
June 18, 2013 1:52 pm | Comments3-D printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on laboratory benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.
World’s most powerful microscope ready for research
June 18, 2013 1:26 pm | CommentsThe world’s most powerful microscope, which resides in a specially constructed room at the Univ. of Victoria, has now been fully assembled and tested, and has a lineup of scientists and businesses eager to use it. The seven-ton, 4.5-m-tall scanning transmission electron holography microscope, the first such microscope of its type, came to the university in parts last year.
Researchers design variant of main painkiller receptor
June 18, 2013 1:04 pm | CommentsOpioids are still the most effective class of painkillers, but they come with unwanted side effects. Designing new drugs of this type involves testing them on their corresponding receptors, but access to meaningful quantities of these receptors that work in experimental conditions has been a limiting factor. Now, researchers have developed a variant of the mu opioid receptor that has several advantages when it comes to experimentation.
A new high-energy record for LCLS
June 18, 2013 11:25 am | CommentsJohn Hill, a Brookhaven National Laboratory scientist, and his team watched with eager anticipation as controllers ramped up the power systems driving SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's x-ray laser in an attempt to achieve the record high energies needed to make his experiment a runaway success. To reach the high x-ray energies they were aiming for, all of the 80 klystrons associated with LCLS would need to operate at near-peak levels.
New method helps distinguish between neighboring quantum bits
June 18, 2013 10:42 am | CommentsResearchers at the Univ. of New South Wales have proposed a new way to distinguish between quantum bits that are placed only a few nanometers apart in a silicon chip, taking them a step closer to the construction of a large-scale quantum computer.
Global cooling as significant as global warming
June 18, 2013 10:30 am | CommentsA “cold snap” 116 million years ago triggered a similar marine ecosystem crisis to the ones witnessed in the past as a result of global warming, according to recently published research. The international study confirms the link between global cooling and a crash in the marine ecosystem during the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse period.
China’s Tiahne-2 is the new world champ of supercomputing
June 18, 2013 9:27 am | CommentsTiahne-2, or Milky Way-2, a supercomputer developed by China's National Univ. of Defense Technology, is the new No. 1 ranked machine on the industry-standard Top500 list of the world's most powerful high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
Database helps building owners, investors evaluate energy-efficient buildings
June 18, 2013 7:32 am | CommentsA new database of building features and energy use data helps building managers, owners, real estate investors and lenders evaluate the financial results of energy efficiency investment projects and identify high- and low-performing buildings.
