Posted on August 12th, 2011 by axb
In Manila, the capital of the Philippines, lack of electricity keeps millions of the city’s poorer inhabitants in the dark. Metal rooftops on the city’s slum houses also block natural daylight, but students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a cheap and elegant solution to the problem: plastic water bottles.
By filling a plastic bottle with water and bleach (to prevent algae from growing), students and residents can fashion a solar lamp that fills even the gloomiest shelters with light. It works thanks to phenomenon you may have learned in physics class – refraction. When sunlight passes through the bottle and hits the water, its rays bend and disperse in many different directions.
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Filed under: Chemical, e-News, Environmental | 10 Comments »
Tags: Chemical, Environmental, Giving Back, Green Technology
Posted on August 4th, 2011 by axb
Engineers are responsible for building planes, trains, and automobiles, but what about those who are more aquatically inclined? Budding Captain Nemos may want to consider pursuing Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, a field of study dedicated to the design, construction, and maintenance of ships.
Since we haven’t mentioned this particular engineering discipline on our blog before, we’d like to take a moment to provide our readers with a brief overview of what it’s like to be a naval architect and a marine engineer.
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Filed under: Architectural, e-News, Explore Engineering, Ocean | Comments Off on Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
Tags: Architectural, Defense, Military, Ocean, Transportation
Posted on July 28th, 2011 by axb
Parkland College-University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Materials Science & Engineering
“Even at a young age, I was interested in mathematics and science. Math and science have revolutionized the world we live in today and always will with the new technology that is constantly being invented. I want to be a part of it because it is fascinating to build something from nothing, especially when the end result can benefit other people.”
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Filed under: Materials, Meet More Students | 2 Comments »
Tags: Materials, SMART
Posted on July 16th, 2011 by axb
University of California, Los Angeles
Electrical Engineering
“I grew up playing video-games and watching science-fiction movies. I would remember all the cool, futuristic technology I would use in these games, and I realized that I wanted to study how to someday make something that ‘fake’ into reality.”
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Filed under: Computer, Electrical, Meet More Students | 1 Comment »
Tags: Computer, Electrical, SMART
Posted on July 14th, 2011 by axb
A mosquito-blasting laser gun is a sensible weapon for fighting malaria — but a smartphone? Turns out that high-def touchscreen might be good for more than video chatting and slinging angry birds.
Five graduate students have designed a smartphone app for the 2011 Imagine Cup that will allow doctors to quickly and accurately diagnose malaria. It works by analyzing data from the phone’s camera – which has been outfitted with a microscopic lens – to determine whether malarial parasites are present in blood samples.
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Filed under: Biomedical, Computer, e-News | 5 Comments »
Tags: Biomedical, Computer
