Turning blueprints green

Feb 24 | News

An open-source program developed at MIT allows architects and engineers to optimize a building’s energy systems early in the design process.

R&D Tax Credit Can Turn R&D Investment into Cash

Feb 18 | Featured Articles

One truly benign way of cutting costs is reducing the tax burden. In industries from chemicals to software, from agriculture to fashion, and at every level, taking full advantage of a tax credit provided by the federal and many state governments to encourage innovation and competitiveness—the R&D tax credit—enables companies to achieve remarkable tax savings.

Microwaving Moondust

Feb 16 | Featured Articles

Physics software simulates parameters for extracting water from the Moon. Preliminary data from NASA’s Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009, impacts into the Moon’s south pole.

Street-legal airplane made possible with new rules, new software

Jan 14 | News

Engineering companies are increasingly leveraging the power of 3D and finite-element modeling. Terrafugia, an aeronautical startup by a group of MIT aeronautical engineers and business grads, recently partnered with design software maker Dassault Systemes to help refine the Transition Roadable Aircraft, an airplane that takes advantage of new FAA rules.

Mathematical model aids simulations of early universe

Jan 6 | News

What exactly happened during the Big Bang, when rapidly evolving physical processes set the stage for gases to form stars, planets and galaxies? Now astrophysicists using supercomputers to simulate the Big Bang have a new mathematical tool to unravel those mysteries.  

Software To the Rescue

12/21/2009 | Featured Articles

Running a lab lean, fast, and green is about more than choosing the right personnel, facilities, and equipment. Increasingly, software can make the key difference.

Environment Steers Females Away from Computer Science

12/21/2009 | RDBlog

Stereotypes could be what drive females away from the computer science fields according to a press release issued by the Univ. of Washington. Being a female, the first thing I think about computer scientists are men with beer bellies that stay up all night coding, have no social life, and play video games or watc Star Trek (and not the new movie, the old shows) religiously. According to a study done by researchers at the Univ. of Washington, these stereotypes are brought on by the appearance of the environment people work in.

Physicists lay the groundwork for faster computing

12/15/2009 | News

Quantum optics researchers from the Univ. of Toronto have discovered new behaviours of light within photonic crystals that could lead to faster optical information processing and compact computers that don't overheat.  

Quake prediction model developed

12/3/2009 | News

The third in a series of papers in Nature completes the case for a new method of predicting earthquakes. The forecasting model aims to predict the rough size and location of future quakes. Testing of the model is underway. While the timing of quakes remains unpredictable, progress on two out of three key questions is significant in the hard discipline of earthquake forecasting.  

Building real security with virtual worlds

11/26/2009 | News

Advances in computerized modeling and prediction of group behavior, together with improvements in video game graphics, are making possible virtual worlds in which defense analysts can explore and predict results of many different possible military and policy actions, say computer science researchers at the Univ. of Maryland.

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Much ado about next to nothing

Mar 15

The recent review of the past 10 years of the National Nanotechnology Initiative--as presented by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology--suggested the rise of nanomanufacturing as the near future of nanotechnology. But the actual proposed funding reflects a cautious approach, even about nanotech in general.

Lunar tires, space MRSA, and resonating microfluidics

Mar 5

I typically attend the annual Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy each year in pursuit of specific coverage. This year, I sought out candidates for coverage in a vacuum technology article, and pulled together some instruments for a spectroscopy guide. But as busy as that kept me, it wasn’t all mass spectrometers and vacuum pumps on the show floor.  

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NuGard Coating Ashburn Hill

Jan 7

NuGard First Response Protective Clothing are lightweight coveralls, jackets, and pants that provide protection from heat and flame while keeping the wearers body temperature constant.

Multi-Touch Music Maker

Jan 7

Professor David Wessel shows his multi-touch interface that uses computer technologies that allow him to experiment with fine controls to "caress" the instrument.