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Question of the Week: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Can a 'Cool' Strategy Improve Water-Purification Efforts?
Researchers from the University of Buffalo found a counter-intuitive way of improving the water-purification process: keeping things cool.
Blog: Materials
A stretchy material, modeled after squid skin, achieves thermal invisibility by reflecting heat.
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A new microchip allows sensor nodes to run uninterruptedly, even when the battery runs out.
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Podcasts: Robotics, Automation & Control
Some conditions are too dangerous, or just too mundane, for people.
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A “MapLite” framework from MIT allows self-driving cars to navigate roads – with just GPS and sensors as a guide.
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Blog: Green Design & Manufacturing
Researchers at the University of Buffalo have found a counter-intuitive way of improving the water-purification process: keeping things cool.
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Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers
Would You Wear a 'Mind-Reading' Headset?
A Tech Briefs TV video this week featured AlterEgo, a “mind-reading” wearable headset from MIT's Media Lab.The technology allows a user to silently converse with a computing device, AI assistant, or application without any audible voice or discernible movements. The wearable device captures electrical...
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Thermal Imager Sierra-Olympic Technologies (Hood River, OR) introduced the Tenum™640, a thermal imager with a 640 x 512 array and 10-micron pixel pitch. The new camera, from the Leonardo DRS line of uncooled thermal cores...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Holography, like photography, is a way to record the world around us. Both use light to make recordings, but instead of two-dimensional photos, holograms reproduce...
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
MIT researchers have developed a system that can produce images of objects shrouded by fog so thick that human vision can’t penetrate it. It can also gauge the objects’ distance.
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
To catch chemistry in action, scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory use the shortest possible flashes of X-ray light to create “molecular movies”...
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Blog: Automotive
Answering Your Questions: Will Reducing Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Lead to Increased Particulate?
Does less nitrogen oxide mean more particulate emissions? A reader asks our expert.
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Will 3D Printing Get Past the Plastic?
If you think there’s too much hype surrounding 3D printing, perhaps that’s because you’re only thinking about plastic parts.
NASA Spinoff: Test & Measurement
Spinoff is NASA’s annual publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. This commercialization has contributed to the development of products and services in...
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Briefs: Materials
Polymer-Based 2D-to-3D Transformable Surfaces
Technologies using stretchable materials are increasingly important. Yet, in general, it is not possible to control how they stretch with much more sophistication than inflating balloons. A method was developed that allows the calculated transformation of 2D stretchable surfaces into targeted 3D shapes.
Briefs: Aerospace
Large-scale liquid rocket engines with regeneratively cooled nozzles will enable reliable and reduced-cost access to space. The coolant that circulates through the internal...
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Application Briefs: Data Acquisition
Northrop Grumman CorporationAzusa, CAwww.northropgrumman.com Two critical instruments built by Northrop Grumman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s...
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Briefs: Imaging
When testing composite structures, it is important to understand the response of the structure to the load. Of significance is the formation of damage and growth of that damage leading to...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Crew time on the International Space Station (ISS) is extremely limited for any operations on science payloads. Autonomous science experiments in small, self-contained, cubical payloads are highly desirable...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Laser Technique Detects Toxic Agents in the Atmosphere
A real-time instrument was developed that could scan the atmosphere for toxic agents in order to alert communities to a biological or chemical attack.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Correlation spectroscopy is an attractive technique for sensing and analysis applications because it combines the attributes of mechanical and optical simplicity, high selectivity, and good sensitivity. In correlation...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Mobile Instrument Detects and Samples Aerosol Particles
Hazardous airborne particles pose a risk for health and safety in a variety of environments; thus, detection of these small particles is essential. Current particle magnification systems are bulky and require a lot of power for operation, making them unsuitable to easily detect and analyze...
Articles: Medical
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.
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Briefs: Aerospace
Method for Transferring a Spacecraft from Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit to Lunar Orbit
This novel innovation from Ames Research Center allows spacecraft to share rides with larger spacecraft that are headed to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The secondary spacecraft is dropped off Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) at any time during the day or...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Freeform Fabrication Using Electrically Conductive Filaments
The use of multifunctional composites such as mechanically reinforced, electrically and thermally conductive parts is of interest in a range of application areas. Especially interesting and important is where tailorability of function is achieved by strategic placement of materials with...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Thinning a material down to a single-atom thickness can dramatically change that material’s physical properties. Graphene, the best known two-dimensional (2D) material, has...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Printing Ink Removes Oxygen in Sealed Packages
Oxygen adversely impacts food flavor and nutrition. NASA’s proposed five-year shelf life for astronaut food requires aggressive measures to minimize oxygen. Previously, NASA packaged foods in containers with a high oxygen and moisture barrier. These materials have limiting properties. They contain a...
Briefs: Materials
Researchers at NASA’s Glenn and Langley Research Centers have developed a groundbreaking bio-mimicking acoustic liner for quieting noisy environments. Conventional approaches have not been able to absorb...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Soft robots inspired by nature can crawl, swim, grasp delicate objects, and even assist a beating heart, but none of them has been able to sense and respond to the...
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