Imagine a battery-powered plane that has 10 engines and can take off like a helicopter and fly efficiently like an aircraft. That is a concept being developed by NASA researchers called Greased Lightning or GL-10. NASA Langley researchers designed and built a battery-powered, 10-engine remotely piloted aircraft. The Greased Lightning GL-10 prototype has a 10-foot …
Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research and consulting firm. Here he gives the talk “The Rise of the Different: Why the Global Order Doesn’t Work and What We Can Do About It.” His analysis focuses on global macro political trends and emerging markets, which he defines as …
GE and Hitachi are building the first commercial-scale U-235 laser enrichment facility licensed for production. It will use an Australian-developed laser enrichment technology known as Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation (SILEX). Currently Silex has completed its phase I test loop program at GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment’s (GLE) facility in North Carolina. When the commercial …
MIT chemical engineers have designed tiny particles that can “steer” themselves along preprogrammed trajectories and align themselves to flow through the center of a microchannel, making it possible to control the particles’ flow through microfluidic devices without applying any external forces. Such particles could make it more feasible to design lab-on-a-chip devices, which hold potential …
The market for micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) chips will almost double from about $12 billion in 2012 to over $22 billion by 2018, according to market analyst. MEMS for mobile is the driver for future growth, noting that smartphones have as many as 12 MEMS chips today, growing to as many as 20 in the near …
Using inexpensive materials configured and tuned to capture microwave signals, researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering have designed a power-harvesting device with efficiency similar to that of modern solar panels. It operates on a similar principle to solar panels, which convert light energy into electrical current. But this versatile energy harvester could be …