Engineering news

Engineering

Transparent oxide glass tops 130 GPa using conventional melt-quenching

Glass is a versatile material used in a wide range of applications, from light bulb casings to optical fibers. Recently, high-strength glass has become an important focus of materials research, as new technologies demand ...

Engineering

Safer all-solid-state sodium battery could cut grid storage costs and reduce lithium dependence

Lithium-ion batteries dominate the market for large-scale energy storage today. However, the element's uneven global distribution and rising costs are driving the search for alternatives. Sodium is roughly a thousand times ...

Robotics

Robotic collective flows like matter, adapting without centralized control

Cornell engineers have developed a robotic collective that behaves less like a machine and more like a material that flows, reshapes, and adapts to its environment without centralized control. The system, called the Cross-Link ...

Engineering

These brick walls are built to come apart, move, and rise again after demolition

The construction sector still has some way to go in terms of reducing the consumption of resources and greenhouse gas emissions. One of these relates to the construction waste produced during the demolition of buildings. ...

Engineering

Custom device maps carbon capture reactions in real time

Removing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air, a process called direct air capture (or DAC), is one of several approaches being developed to help reduce the concentration of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Among ...

Engineering

Building the future with robotic construction

On April 24, the Architectural Robotic Construction Lab ( ARC Lab) in The University of Texas at Arlington's College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs demonstrated its new large-scale 3D printing technology.

Engineering

Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement

Ideas to reduce carbon emissions often revolve around renewable power, electric vehicles and energy efficiency. But there's another, less colorful character that's often overlooked: cement.

Engineering

Building batteries that don't break in the cold

Extreme winter weather can strain power systems, stall electric vehicles and leave backup batteries unable to deliver energy when it is most needed. Researchers at Texas A&M University have now developed a battery design ...

Engineering

Why I'm building an office out of straw

When we moved into our house, there was a shed in the garden. Its timbers were rotten, the floor had long since disappeared into the ground, there was no door, the window had fallen out and various creatures had moved in.

Engineering

Understanding the physics at the anode of sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) are gaining traction as a next-generation technology to complement the widely used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). NIBs offer clear advantages versus LIBs in terms of sustainability and cost, as ...

Robotics

Robot swarms turn music into moving light paintings

A system developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo lets people collaborate with groups of robots to create works of art inspired by music. The new technology features multiple wheeled robots about the size of ...

Engineering

City skylines need an upgrade in the face of climate stress

When structural engineers design a building, they aren't just stacking floors; they are calculating how to win a complex battle against nature. Every building is built to withstand a specific "budget" of environmental stress—the ...