Artificial ‘power plants’ harness energy from wind and rain
From American Chemical Society 20/01/24 Fake plants are moving into the 21st century! Researchers developed literal “power plants” — tiny, leaf-shaped generators that create electricity from a blowing breeze or falling raindrops — and described them in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. The team tested the energy harvesters by incorporating them into artificial plants. Electrical […]
Quiet, rugged coaxial drone for all weather conditions
From Superinnovators 19/01/24 US company Ascent Aerosystems (f. 2014) launched Spirit, a compact dual rotor coaxial drone in 2020, and larger model NX30 in 2022. The cylindrical shaped drones are designed handle high winds, heavy rain and snow, and come with two payloads at the top and bottom. Spirit, available for $13,999, has a top […]
Higher measurement accuracy opens new window to the quantum world
From Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie 19/01/24 A team at HZB has developed a new measurement method that, for the first time, accurately detects tiny temperature differences in the range of 100 microkelvin in the thermal Hall effect. Previously, these temperature differences could not be measured quantitatively due to thermal noise. Using the well-known […]
Webb shows many early galaxies looked like pool noodles, surfboards
From NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center 19/01/24 Researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, like surfboards and pool noodles – and are rarely round, like volleyballs or frisbees. “Roughly 50 to 80% of the galaxies we studied appear to be flattened […]
Autonomous mobility aid could replace guide dogs
From Superinnovators 19/01/24 US startup Glidance (founded 2023) unveiled an autonomous mobility aid, Glide, in late 2023 that uses sensors to help vision-impaired people steer around obstacles and navigate in public spaces. Glide gives haptic/audio feedback, applies auto-braking, navigates pre-programmed or spontaneous routes and has 6+ hours battery life. Founder and CEO Amos Miller lost […]
Insect populations flourish in the restored habitats of solar energy facilities
From DOE/Argonne National Laboratory 18/01/24 Bumblebees buzz from flower to flower, stopping for a moment under a clear blue Minnesota sky. Birds chirp, and tall grasses blow in the breeze. This isn’t a scene from a pristine nature preserve or national park. It is nestled between photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays on rehabilitated farmland. Researchers at […]
‘Zero tolerance machining’ desk toy
From Superinnovators 18/01/24 British company MetMo crowdfunded a curious steel cube desk toy in 2019 with two pneumatic metal pins that seem to magically fuse with the cube without any gap. It’s not magic though, it’s engineering: the MetMo cube is manufactured using advanced wire EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) that has continually developed since its […]
Next generation spinal fusion goes “meta”
From University of Pittsburgh 18/01/24 A civil engineer at the University of Pittsburgh is applying his expertise in bridges and infrastructure to develop new materials that better treat spinal injury, repair, and recovery. Amir Alavi’s proposal received a $557,000 boost from the National Institutes of Health to test the first “metamaterial” orthopedic implants. With an […]
Keys to aging hidden in the leaves
From University of California – Riverside 16/01/24 Scientists have known about a particular organelle in plant cells for over a century. However, UC Riverside scientists have only now discovered that organelle’s key role in aging. The researchers initially set out to understand more generally which parts of plant cells control plant responses to stress from […]
Revolutionizing grape yield predictions: the rise of semi-supervised berry counting with CDMENet
From Nanjing Agricultural University The Academy of Science 16/01/24 To improve grape yield predictions, automated berry counting has emerged as a crucial yet challenging task due to the dense distribution and occlusion of berries. While grape cultivation is a significant global economic activity, traditional manual counting methods are inaccurate and inefficient. Recent research has shifted […]