Next week, NISE Net (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network) celebrates NanoDays, a nationwide series of events and activities at your local science centers dedicated to the wondrous world of nanotechnology.
So what exactly is nanotech, you may ask, and how is it crucial to the future of engineering? Watch the video above to find out.
Two companies believe that they have created the ultimate truth-revealing technology to help accurately determine who should go to jail and who should be freed.
Instead of relying on polygraph tests (see above image), which use pulse and breathing measurements to catch liars, the companies are using brain-scanning fMRI (functional magnetic-resonance imaging) scanners, which work by detecting the change of oxygen levels in response to neural activity. If a section of the brain is working hard, it will use more oxygen and glow brighter on the scan.
Researchers from the Materials Science and Engineering branch of CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) in Australia have found a way to artificially produce honeybee silk. Due to its heavily coiled protein structure, honeybee silk is even stronger than that produced by spiders and other insects. Potential uses for this new super silk range from textiles to lightweight composite materials for marine or aviation purposes to artificial ligaments. Now that’s the bees knees!
Every two years we get to marvel at the speed, skill and artistry of the world’s top athletes and watch increasingly lavish opening and closing ceremonies, yet few of us ponder the work that goes on behind the scenes at the Olympic Games. In a recent post on her engineering education blog, Celeste Baine estimates that there were about 4,000 engineers involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, doing things like planning the pyrotechnics of the torch lighting and creating the fastest and most efficient running shoe.
Two companies believe that they have created the ultimate 
