February 22, 2007

Scientists are always on the lookout for better ways to use clean sources of energy. One alternative is natural gas, a domestically produced, plentiful, and clean-burning fuel.

A free, small-footprint communication protocol from Microchip Technology targets developers who don't need the interoperability of a ZigBee protocol but still want to use IEEE 802.15.4 transceivers for inexpensive peer-to-peer networks.

Bosch Rexroth knows that all work and no play makes for a boring workplace and that some of the best ideas come from playful creativity.

A snakelike robot could help surgeons make incisions and tie sutures with greater precision.

Machine safety is now something you can learn about in movie theaters.

Balanced on his small kiteboard, Swedish kitesurfing champion Christian Dittrich brings his audience to its feet when he pilots his way into the power zone.

"Unless we do something radical pretty soon, the microelectronics revolution that has enriched our lives in so many different ways might come to a screeching halt," predicts Jesus del Alamo, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A smart ac-motor drive lets Centrilift Cable, Claremore, Okla., eliminate a PLC while quickly winding finished cable onto drums.

Bone-jarring collisions against hockey-rink dasher boards are an inevitable part of matches for National Hockey League players.

Kokomo, Ind.-based analytical lab Foresite Inc.'s overseas supplier designed production molds for a new plastic assembly.

Two Northwestern University engineers have been studying rat whiskers to learn how mechanical information from the whiskers gets to the rat's brain.

It might not be the perfect vehicle for everyone, but the personal hot-air blimp could be the next big thing for the pilot who wants to launch from the backyard.

Over 1,300 teams entered the 2007 First (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC).

Have you ever opened a bottle of wine and only had one glass? Or used a minimal amount for cooking, and then forgot about it until it went bad?

A new wireless mouse helps stop the spread of bacterial infection, says the device's manufacturer, Unotron Inc., Irving, Tex. (unotron.com).

Evolution coatings from Ferro Corp., Cleveland, OH, take metallic kitchen finishes to the next level of performance.

Electromagnetic clutch/brakes from Ogura Industrial Corp., Somerset, N.J., start and stop cutting blades in GPS-guided lawn mowers.

Carbon nanotubes conduct electricity much better than conventional copper wires, though integrating the tiny devices with electronics is an ongoing challenge.

The eXasis, a concept car from Rinspeed in Geneva, features fore and aft tandem seating, a supercharged two-cylinder 750-cc engine that burns bioethanol and puts out 150 hp, and a body and floor pan made of transparent plastic.

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created mirrors that pack the same 99.9% reflectivity as current distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors, but do so in packages 20 times thinner.

A new online tool dynamically balances spinning systems.

A component that mounts onto a circuit board is billed as the first to enable simple drop-in network connections for vending machines, appliances, and other equipment that would benefit from remote diagnostics, monitoring, and control.

Superman may not be the only one able to leap a building in a single bound thanks to graduate student in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nathan Ball.

A team of engineers in Maryland has developed a scramjet engine they say efficiently mixes fuel in an aircraft that might travel as fast as Mach 25.