Breakthroughs and trends in the world of technology.
Air Filtration
Breathers’ Corner
A new German study in Nature estimates that about 3.3 million people per year die prematurely from exposure to dirty air. That figure will double by 2050 if cities don’t do a better job of ridding their environs of smog. Now Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde and Bob Ursem, scientific director of the botanical garden at Delft University of Technology, have teamed up to offer a small, partial solution: a louvered tower that stands nearly 23 feet tall and contains an air filtration system that sucks in filthy air, cleanses it, and pumps it back out up to 75 percent cleaner. It currently stands in a park in Rotterdam. The ion filtration system was invented by Ursem. Once the air is sucked in, the system positively charges any particulates it contains, and they are then drawn, magnetlike, to a grounded counter electrode. The system runs on wind power and requires no more electricity than an electric kettle, Studio Roosegaarde says, and it can clean 30,000 cubic meters of air an hour. Smog removed from the air is compressed by the studio into small black cubes of carbon or man-made “diamonds” that are mounted on rings and sold to the public to defray costs. Roosegaarde plans a tour to major cities that are terribly affected by smog, including Beijing and Mumbai. Ursem’s filters can be used in other ways: New York, for instance, has ordered 12 street-cleaning cars fitted with the filters. – Thomas K. Grose
©Studio Roosegaarde
Advanced Manufacturing
Housing Buzz
There is an urgent need to house the poor in developing countries. The United Nations estimates that the world will need nearly 100,000 new homes every day for the next 15 years to fit a growing—and impoverished—population. That kind of housing boom could, of course, be costly and environmentally damaging. Enter the Italian engineering collective WASP, or World’s Advanced Saving Project. WASP has designed and built what it claims is the world’s largest 3-D printer, which can cheaply build houses of mud, clay, water, dirt, and natural fibers—all environmentally friendly materials—in one continuous printing session. Once erected, the mud huts are also easy to maintain: A thin application of fresh clay every five years should keep them in good shape. True to its name, the WASP hut’s semi-cone design was inspired by the potter wasp, a breed that constructs its nests layer by layer. The printer stands 40 feet high and requires very little power, which also keeps costs, well, dirt cheap. – TG
©University of Leeds
Computer-Aided Design
Paper Machine
Cardboard has many uses, but it’s not usually considered the base material for autos – until now. Japanese luxury carmaker Lexus, a division of Toyota, commissioned a full-size, working replica of its IS sedan made entirely of cardboard – except for an aluminum and steel frame, electric motor, and headlights. The so-called origami car is made from 1,700 sheets of cardboard that were laser cut into components and then painstakingly assembled by hand. Built by London companies LaserCut Works and Scales & Models, the cardboard vehicle was fashioned from the same computer-design files employed to build real Lexus IS sedans. Lexus may be on the cutting edge of a trend. Dutch artist Max Siedentopf has earned headlines by using cardboard and tape to turn “boring” cars he sees parked on Amsterdam’s streets into glam-mobiles by tricking them out with spoilers, hood scoops, and racy fenders. The result is more silly than sleek – which probably is why his project is dubbed Slapdash Supercars. – TG
©Lexus
Hydraulic Fracturing
Worrisome Trends
The past six years have brought a spike in small-to-medium-size earthquakes in Oklahoma; last year, the state was the most seismically active of the lower 48. It recorded three times as many quakes as California. A growing stack of studies places the blame on deep wells used to dispose of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. That’s the process of cracking open shale deep underground with millions of gallons of high-pressure water mixed with saline and chemicals, then extracting the released oil and natural gas using horizontal drilling techniques. Fracking has, in recent years, created a boom in domestic gas and oil production in the U.S., but earthquake fears and public health concerns have rendered the practice controversial. Recent seismic activity in Oklahoma has generated special concern about burying wastewater near the town of Cushing, a crude-oil hub that stores 53 million barrels of oil. State officials tightened rules on disposal in Cushing’s region this September to help prevent earthquakes. A few weeks later, however, the town was rocked by a 4.5-magnitude temblor. On the public health front, fracking was also recently linked to increased incidences of premature or high-risk births among women living near oil and gas extraction sites. The Johns Hopkins University study was based on the records of 9,384 mothers in 40 Pennsylvania counties between January 2009 and January 2013. Researchers say that stress caused by increased road traffic and noise, as well as poorer air quality from drilling operations, may be the reasons behind the pregnancy problems. – TG
©Thinkstock
Weaponry
Toward a Safer Gun
In the wake of rising gun violence across the U.S., firearm aficionados and lawmakers gathered early this year at the Seattle International Smart Gun Symposium to discuss changes – mostly in the design or testing phase – intended to increase weapon safety. Some designs would render a gun inoperable if it fell into the wrong hands—for example, if it were stolen or if a child found it. RFID, or radio-frequency identification, could pair a gun with a nearby device (like a phone, watch, or bracelet) requiring an identifying password input by the owner. Others would rely on biometric signaling to verify the owner’s identity. Engineers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have worked with the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center to create a gun that profiles the owner’s grip pressure. The concept is currently being tested on police weapons. Other smart technologies would aid investigators by helping to match bullets to the weapons that fired them. One currently making headway is called microstamping: unique laser etchings on the gun that would transfer tiny stamp marks onto cartridges as they’re fired. While the ideas have gained favor with some legislators and even a few gun-store owners, some pro-gun activists are opposed. – Jennifer Pocock
©Nicola Nittoli/Thinkstock
Cancer Detection
Locating the Source
On the front lines of the war on cancer, two promising new technologies have emerged. Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark have developed TumorTracer, which combines genetics with computer science to pinpoint a cancer’s origin. In most cancers, doctors can immediately find the source. But for one in 20 patients, while doctors can diagnose the cancer, they can’t figure out where it started, and the myriad of diagnostic tests needed to find the source can delay treatment. DTU’s TumorTracer, however, uses an algorithm that analyzes patterns of mutations in biopsy samples taken from patients whose cancer has metastasized and quickly identifies the source with 85 percent certainty. It can currently complete an analysis in about two days’ time. That’s already a huge improvement, but researchers are certain they’ll eventually make it even faster. Meanwhile, in England, scientists at the universities of Nottingham and Manchester are developing a gel that can mimic the biological matrices of breast tissues. The gel-based models can then be used to research how cancer cells are influenced by adjacent normal cells, a type of testing now done using rodents. They expect that the gel will allow them to manipulate the environment of precancer cells. Learning the exact mechanisms of cancer-causing cell interactions could lead to new ways to treat and prevent breast cancers. – TG
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Haptic Technology
Soft Touch
DARPA, the Pentagon’s envelope-pushing research arm, has poured millions of dollars into developing prosthetics that can be controlled by thought via neural implants. The effort is paying off. Earlier this year, Erik Sorto used a brain-guided robotic arm to drink a beer. Now DARPA says it’s achieved another first: a robotic hand that can feel tactile sensations. The prosthetic hand was wired to an array of neural implants attached to a volunteer’s sensory cortex, the area of the brain that identifies touch. A quadriplegic since suffering a spinal cord injury 10 years ago, the unnamed volunteer was able to detect pressure placed on a finger with 100 percent accuracy. Blindfolded to ensure he couldn’t see which fingers were touched, he also was able to ascertain when a researcher pressed two fingers at once. Justin Sanchez, the DARPA program manager, says great progress is being made in engineering thought-controlled prosthetic limbs, but without a sense of touch, it will be hard for users to perform precise movements. The research is pending peer review and acceptance for publication in a scientific journal. But by announcing the results, DARPA clearly senses it has a hands-down breakthrough. – TG
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Biomedical Engineering
Immune Alert
One of the main side effects for chemotherapy patients is immunosuppression, or low white-blood-cell counts, which lowers resistance to infection and can lead to hospitalization, delayed treatment, and shortened life expectancy. Invasive blood tests now used to determine cell counts typically don’t yield results for several hours. So an MIT-led consortium of researchers from universities and hospitals in Boston and Madrid is developing a noninvasive device that can record white-blood-cell counts in real time. When pressed to a fingertip, the device uses an optical sensor to capture images of superficial capillaries beneath the skin with cellular resolution. An algorithm analyzes the images, detecting and calculating the concentration of white blood cells. Carlos Castro, an MIT biomedical engineering postdoc working on the project, says the device could be used not only to diagnose and treat patients with immunosuppression but also to personalize therapies. For example, patients who are recovering more rapidly than expected could be administered new doses, shortening recovery times. Such personalized treatment isn’t feasible now, because blood tests cannot be administered hourly or daily. The “leukometer” also could eventually be used to help prevent sepsis and speed up the diagnosis of bacterial or viral infections. The team currently is working on three different prototypes and expects to have a final version ready to market by early 2019. – TG
©Research Laboratory of Electronics/MIT
Robotics
Four-Legged Friend
Spot may be the quintessential dog’s name, but this one is more of a pack mule – and a robotic one at that. Built by Google subsidiary Boston Dynamics, the 154-pound, quadruped robot has hydraulically actuated legs that recently got a real-world workout at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. The Marines are in the market for walking, four-legged robots that can carry equipment and conduct scouting missions. Spot was tested on hills, in wooded areas, and in an urban environment, where it was sent into a building to snoop out potential threats. The operator controlling the robot via laptop can be as far as 500 meters away and even beyond its line of sight. The Marines have tested other Boston Dynamics robots, including Big Dog and LS3, but Spot gets extra points for being quieter and better able to work in tough terrains. The head of the base’s Warfighting Lab gave the robot high marks. – TG
©Boston Dynamics
Water Infrastructure
Pipes in Peril
Three years ago, a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers said a funding crisis and an aging water network were combining to create a water-service crisis in the United States. If investment for needed fixes isn’t forthcoming over the next 20 years, it warned, America “risks reversing the environmental, public health, and economic gains of the last three decades.” Now a new investigation by the Associated Press finds that, if anything, things are getting worse. Many cities and regions rely on water systems built 70 to 100 years ago, while some pipes date to the 19th century. They need replacing, the AP says, and the costs will be astronomical. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it could cost $384 billion over 20 years to replace pipes and build or repair thousands of water plants. The American Water Works Association pegs the costs even higher, at $1 trillion over 25 years. Cities and utilities, the AP says, get only small change in federal funds for waterworks, so they’re mostly on their own. The need to heavily invest in infrastructure comes at a time when revenue from consumers is falling, thanks to their greater use of more efficient toilets and showers. Meanwhile, Mother Nature proved that water can be a risk factor for other types of crumbling infrastructure. The biblical rains that lashed South Carolina in September were of the thousand-year variety. Some areas got more than 20 inches of rainfall, and heavy flooding occurred across the state. As a result, at least 13 dams failed and dozens of others were in danger. ASCE estimates that more than 4,000 dams in the U.S. are in hazardous condition and are urgently in need of repair. – TG
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Resettlement
Brain Gain
With some 500,000 mostly Syrian migrants arriving from their war-torn country, the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has launched a website to help those who are scientists find academic jobs. The Science4Refugees program lets refugees and asylum seekers post their CVs on the E.U.’s research-careers website, Euraxess, and is urging Europe’s universities to advertise jobs, internships, and training programs that are open to refugees. The goal, it says, is to help refugee scientists find suitable jobs and to boost European research. Several universities, including the universities of Strasbourg and Leuven, say they plan to make use of the site. Individual countries also have initiatives to help refugee academics. Germany’s Fraunhofer and Max Planck Societies, for example, are launching a pilot program to make it easier for them to settle in Germany. And the United Kingdom’s Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA), which formed in 1933 to help German scientists escape the Nazis, doesn’t just post jobs and CVs – it actively works to match refugee scientists with U.K. schools, conduct background and reference checks, and even provide funding to asylum seekers. – TG
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Data Mining
Beyond Autopilot
The aeronautics industry is awash with data. Planes laden with sensors and embedded computers generate data constantly. Meanwhile, manufacturers and airlines gather massive amounts of data during a plane’s manufacture and routine maintenance. Is there a way to decipher all that information and make aircraft safe and more efficient? Boeing thinks so and is spending $7.5 million over the next three years to fund a new Aerospace Data Analytics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science. Jaime Carbonell, the computer science professor who will head the lab, tells the Washington Post that “the mass of data generated daily by the aerospace industry overwhelms human understanding,” but he’s convinced that advances in artificial intelligence and big-data mining can ferret out useful nuggets. A main goal, for now, is using data to determine when a plane needs maintenance before there’s any chance of failure. That would enhance safety and greatly reduce the need to ground planes for repairs after they’ve experienced mechanical failures. – TG
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Computer Engineering
Light Show
Photonic semiconductors have long been the holy grail of computer engineering. Today’s chips move data using electrons, which can bump into one another, slowing things down and generating heat that must be removed. Photons travel in harmony, but any information they move must be converted to electrons upon reaching the circuits that either process or store data. Optical memory circuits have been developed, but they need continuous power or the data disappear. Now a British-German research team led by Oxford University has devised a way potentially to overcome this processor-memory gap using a film of GST, an alloy of tellurium, antimony, and germanium already used for rewritable CDs and DVDs. By sending pulses of light at different intensities through a “waveguide” of silicon nitride topped with GST, researchers found they could change the GST from a glasslike crystalline state to an amorphous, metal-like one. The difference between how much transmitted light each state absorbed could be measured, allowing researchers to read the presence of information in the device as a 1 or 0. They also showed they could use a single pulse to read and write memory simultaneously. In theory, says Harish Bhaskaran, an associate professor of nanoscale engineering at Oxford, “we could read and write thousands of bits at once, providing virtually unlimited bandwidth.” – TG
©Thinkstock