Thin Flexible Sensor Characterizes High-Speed Airflows on Curved Surfaces

To improve efficiency, it is necessary to characterize and reduce flow separation on curved surfaces.

Compact Laser Source Detects Pollution

A middle infrared light source can detect greenhouse and other gases as well as molecules in a person’s breath. The compact system, which resembles a tiny suitcase, contains just two parts: a standard...

Sensors Driven by Machine Learning Sniff Out Gas Leaks

The ALFaLDS detection tool supports oil plants.

New Sensor Paves Way to Low-Cost Sensitive Methane Measurements

Recent advances could make it feasible to deploy networks of methane sensors to detect this greenhouse gas at large facilities.

Catalyst Makes Styrene Manufacturing Cheaper and Greener

This could reduce the environmental impact of styrene manufacturing.

Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (CEAS) for Ozone Detection

This simple and inexpensive design achieves high-quality ozone measurements.

Virtual and Augmented Reality Device Simulates Vision Loss

VR/AR devices can simulate some of the key difficulties experienced due to glaucoma.

Power System for Hybrid Heavy-Duty Trucks

Electric motors and gas-alcohol engines could slash pollution levels and greenhouse gases from long-haul trucks.

Methane Detector Sniffs Out Leaks

Methane is everywhere on Earth. It’s the main ingredient in the natural gas that powers heating, cooking, and electricity. It’s also a potent greenhouse gas. The presence of methane is also interesting...

Bio-Renewable Process Creates “Green” Plastic

Plastics are often derived from petroleum, contributing to reliance on fossil fuels, and driving harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Crystallization Method for Carbon Capture from Ambient Air

A method to capture carbon dioxide directly from ambient air offers a new option for carbon capture and storage strategies to combat global warming.

Technological Advances, and How Structural Adhesives Support Manufacturing

Exciting new technological innovations are making the planet cleaner, people healthier, food more plentiful, transportation speedier, communication more accessible,...

Freeze-Dried Boron Nitride Foam Soaks Up Carbon Dioxide

A light foam was created from two-dimensional sheets of hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) that absorbs carbon dioxide. Freeze-drying h-BN turned it into a macro-scale foam that...

Innovators Recognized for "Creating the Future" 2017

The Create the Future Design Contest has helped stimulate and reward engineering innovation over the past 16 years, drawing more than 14,000 product designs from engineers, students, and...

2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner

Airfoil Performance Monitor (APM) John Maris, Puthy Soupin, Ludovic Laberge, and Marie-Hélène Larose
Marinvent Corporation
Saint-bruno, Quebec, Canada...

2017 Create the Future Design Contest: Grand Prize Winner

Hi-Light - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO₂ to Hydrocarbons Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, Jessica Akemi Cimada da Silva, David Erickson, and Tobias...

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Opened in 1947 on the former site of the U.S. military's Camp Upton in New York, Brookhaven National Lab's (BNL) initial mission centered on the peaceful exploration of the atom. Particle accelerators, leading...

Drones Spot Gas Leaks From the Sky

ANAHEIM, CA. During this year’s SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing 2017 conference, panelists from industry, academia, and government demonstrated how miniaturized sensing platforms, and the...

Robust, Highly Efficient Oxygen-Carbon Monoxide Cogeneration System

Oxygen, water, and fuel are of paramount importance to human life. As a leading concept, the solid-oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is a very powerful technology, especially...

CO2 Recovery System Puts Bubbles into Beer

Technology used to capture carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere can save brewers money.

Building on work he and his companies did with Johnson Space Center’s In Situ Resource Utilization...

Supercritical Wing Design Cuts Billions in Fuel Costs

Langley Research Center aeronautics engineer Richard T. Whitcomb was 34 when he did something no other single person could do. Whitcomb overcame the aviation challenge of the day — the...

State-of-the-Art Testing for LED Lamps and Luminaires

Unlike previous lighting requirements, LED testing has become more stringent and complicated, and involves a significant number of tests for various lighting characteristics. From...

2014 Create the Future Design: Sustainable Technologies Category Winner

ecovent Systems — Make Every Room the Right Temperature Dipul Patel, Yoel Kelman, Nick Lancaster, Shawn Rose, and Brian Bowen
ecovent Systems
Boston, MA...

Light-Control Systems Help NASA Go ‘Net Zero’

The Propellants North Administrative and Maintenance Facility at Kennedy Space Center, located in Cape Canaveral, FL, achieves net-zero energy use. To offset the costs of electricity provided...