Monday, 6 October 2014

How to make stronger, 'greener' cement

TECH SPACE
How to make stronger, 'greener' cement
Boston MA (SPX) Oct 01, 2014 - Concrete is the world's most-used construction material, and a leading contributor to global warming, producing as much as one-tenth of industry-generated greenhouse-gas emissions. Now a new study suggests a way in which those emissions could be reduced by more than half - and the result would be a stronger, more durable material. The findings come from the most detailed molecular analysis ... more


Solar-Powered Sun Flyer Trainer Makes Progress

SOLAR DAILY
Solar-Powered Sun Flyer Trainer Makes Progress
Denver CO (SPX) Oct 01, 2014 - The quest for low-cost, environmentally friendly flight continues. One company working on a solar powered all-electric two-seater called the Sun Flyer is Aero Electric Aircraft along with its development partners Bye Aerospace and German PC Aero. AEAC has started conducting research and development flights with a single-seat technology demonstrator at Centennial Airport (APA) near Denver. ... more


Bioenergy: Australia's forgotten renewable energy source (so far)

BIO FUEL
Bioenergy: Australia's forgotten renewable energy source (so far)
Sippy Downs, Australia (The Conversation) Oct 01, 2014 - When we think of renewable energy, it's easy to picture spinning wind turbines or rooftop solar panels. But what about bioenergy? While wind and solar are now well established - in South Australia wind now supplies 33% of the state's power generation, while nationwide there are more than 1.3 million roofs now sporting solar panels - bioenergy has nowhere near the same reach or profile in A ... more


Blades of grass inspire advance in organic solar cells

SOLAR DAILY
Blades of grass inspire advance in organic solar cells
Amherst MA (SPX) Oct 01, 2014 - Using a bio-mimicking analog of one of nature's most efficient light-harvesting structures, blades of grass, an international research team led by Alejandro Briseno of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has taken a major step in developing long-sought polymer architecture to boost power-conversion efficiency of light to electricity for use in electronic devices. Briseno, with colleagu ... more


Fukushima operator, Sellafield to compare nuclear notes

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Fukushima operator, Sellafield to compare nuclear notes
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 30, 2014 - The operator of Japan's tsunami-battered Fukushima nuclear plant announced Tuesday it had agreed to share knowledge and experience on decommissioning damaged reactors with Britain's Sellafield. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), has struggled with cleaning up the crippled nuclear plant, especially with safely storing radioactive water used to cool reactors, in the years since the 2011 quake-ts ... more


Sunday, 5 October 2014

System designed to improve hand function lost to nerve damage

ROBO SPACE
System designed to improve hand function lost to nerve damage
Corvallis OR (SPX) Oct 01, 2014 - Engineers at Oregon State University have developed and successfully demonstrated the value of a simple pulley mechanism to improve hand function after surgery. The device, tested in cadaver hands, is one of the first instruments ever created that could improve the transmission of mechanical forces and movement while implanted inside the body. After continued research, technology suc ... more


How things coil

ENERGY TECH
How things coil
New York NY (SPX) Sep 30, 2014 - When one sends an email from Boston to Beijing, it travels through submarine optical cables that someone had to install at some point. The positioning of these cables can generate intriguing coiling patterns that can also cause problems if, for instance, they are tangled or kinked. The deployment of a rodlike structure onto a moving substrate is commonly found in a variety of engineering a ... more