Posted on November 11th, 2010 by jxh
Recycling is extremely important because it reuses materials, reducing waste and pollution, and keeping our planet clean.
Many laptops contain recyclable components, including precious metals such as platinum. However, those components are usually melded together in such a way that no ordinary person could safely deconstruct them.
That is why a group of grad students from Stanford University designed the Bloom laptop, which can be disassembled for recycling in just two minutes without any tools.
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Filed under: Computer, e-News, Environmental | 1 Comment »
Tags: Computer, Environmental
Posted on November 9th, 2010 by axb
Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, an associate professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, is changing the future of electronics. The key? One word: plastics.
Loo’s research examines how electrically-active materials can be processed to make cheap, efficient, thin film devices (such as solar cells). Her manipulation of plastics could ultimately lead to technologies like tinted solar windows, color-changing sensors to detect water contamination, and smart plastic patches to monitor health.
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Filed under: Chemical, e-News, Materials | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 7th, 2010 by jxh
Just because humans have fingers doesn’t mean that robots need to have them too.
Researchers have developed a new type of robotic hand – a soft gripping mechanism that stiffens when air is sucked out.
The hand is essentially a latex balloon filled with ground coffee (because the grounds are both lightweight and pliable). Its softness allows the robot hand to conform to the shape of hard objects.
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Filed under: Computer, e-News, Mechanical | 5 Comments »
Tags: Computer, Computer Science, Mechanical, Robotics
Posted on November 5th, 2010 by axb
We’ve written about more than a few creative transportation ideas on this blog, but this one takes the cake: a huge, road-straddling vehicle that operates like a type of bus-subway hybrid.
Originally created by Chinese engineers and set to arrive in Beijing in 2011, this super bus will be powered by electricity combined with rooftop solar panels. It will travel at speeds of 25-50mph and sit about eight feet above other vehicles, allowing them to pass underneath the passenger compartment.
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Filed under: Civil, e-News, Transportation | 14 Comments »
Tags: Civil, Environmental, Green Technology, Green Transportation, renewable energy, Transportation
Posted on November 1st, 2010 by jxh
This is the journey of a lifetime – literally.
NASA and DARPA have teamed up to build a Hundred-Year Starship, an initiative that would entail passengers leaving Earth and never coming back.
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Filed under: Aerospace, e-News | 10 Comments »
Tags: Aerospace, Space
