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Category: transportation

Self-driving system makes key plastic ingredient using in-house generated H₂O₂

An eco-friendly system capable of producing propylene oxide (PO) without external electricity or sunlight has been developed. PO is a vital raw material used in manufacturing household items such as polyurethane for sofas and mattresses, as well as polyester for textiles and water bottles.

A research team led by Professors Ja Hun Kwak and Ji-Wook Jang from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Sung June Cho of Chonnam National University, has successfully created a self-driven PO production system utilizing in-situ generated hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂).

The research is published in Nature Communications.

Composite metal foam could lead to safer hazmat transportation

A new study finds that composite metal foam (CMF) can withstand tremendous force—enough to punch a hole in a railroad tank car—at much lower weight than solid steel. The finding raises the possibility of creating a safer generation of tanker cars for transporting hazardous materials.

The researchers have also developed a that can be used to determine what thickness of CMF is needed in order to provide the desired level of protection necessary for any given application. The paper, “Numerical Model and Experimental Validation of Composite Metal Foam in Protecting Carbon Steel Against Puncture,” is published in Advanced Engineering Materials.

“Railroad tank cars are responsible for transporting a wide range of hazardous materials, from acids and chemicals to petroleum and liquefied ,” says Afsaneh Rabiei, corresponding author of a paper on the work and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University.

Scientists create new bullet-proof fiber that is stronger and thinner than Kevlar

Kevlar has met its match. For decades, it has been the gold standard for impact protection, from bulletproof vests to armored vehicles, and is still widely used. But scientists have now developed a new composite material that is stronger, tougher and better at stopping bullets than Kevlar even though it is much thinner. Their study is published in the journal Matter.

To stop high-speed impacts, like a bullet, a material needs to resist breaking under force () and be able to absorb a lot of energy without shattering or failing (high toughness). However, there is a problem with current solutions, such as Kevlar, which is made from aramid fibers. When scientists try to make these fibers stronger, they often become more brittle, making it difficult to achieve both simultaneously. This is a common trade-off in materials science when you try to improve a material’s overall performance.

How silver iodide triggers ice formation at the atomic level

No one can control the weather, but certain clouds can be deliberately triggered to release rain or snow. The process, known as cloud seeding, typically involves dispersing small silver iodide particles from aircraft into clouds. These particles act as seeds on which water molecules accumulate, forming ice crystals that grow and eventually become heavy enough to fall to the ground as rain or snow.

Until now, the microscopic details of this process have remained unclear. Using and , researchers at TU Wien have investigated how interacts with water at the .

Their findings, published in Science Advances, reveal that silver iodide exposes two fundamentally different surfaces, but only one of them promotes . The discovery deepens our understanding of how clouds form rain and snow and may guide the design of improved materials for inducing precipitation.

TxDOT spends $748M to burrow bus-size tunnels under Central Austin

The Texas Department of Transportation is set to launch one of Austin’s largest underground construction projects in 2026, digging 6.5 miles of 22-foot-wide tunnels beneath the city’s busiest highway.

Explained

As part of the I-35 overhaul in Central Austin, which will lower sections of the highway below ground level, the transportation agency will build underground drainage tunnels to help prevent flooding along the corridor.

Safer lithium-ion battery design prevents thermal runaway that can cause fires

Conventional lithium-ion batteries are known to present a fire risk, and can even cause explosions in certain cases. The widespread usage of lithium-ion batteries, in everything from electric vehicles to electric toothbrushes, makes lithium-ion battery fire risk mitigation a major priority. There is a great need for lithium-ion battery designs that balance long cycle life, high voltage, and safety.

The arises when lithium-ion batteries undergo some kind of physical damage, are overcharged or even when they have manufacturing defects. This causes thermal runaway when anions—or negatively charged ions—break their bonds with lithium and release heat. Conventional lithium-ion batteries can undergo a temperature change of over 500°C when this occurs.

However, researchers in China have now found a way to drastically reduce the heat released when lithium-ion batteries are damaged. Their study, published in Nature Energy, details the new design and the experimental results of nail penetration tests, in which the temperature rise was only around 3.5°C.

All-solid-state battery researchers reveal key insights into degradation mechanisms

Researchers from UNIST, Seoul National University (SNU), and POSTECH have made a significant breakthrough in understanding the degradation mechanisms of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs), a promising technology for next-generation electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage.

Jointly led by Professor Donghyuk Kim at UNIST’s School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Professor Sung-Kyun Jung at SNU’s School of Transdisciplinary Innovations, and Professor Jihyun Hong from POSTECH, their study reveals that interfacial chemical reactions play a critical role in structural damage and performance decline in sulfide-based ASSBs. The findings are published in Nature Communications.

Unlike that rely on flammable liquid electrolytes, ASSBs use non-flammable solid electrolytes, offering enhanced safety and higher energy density. However, challenges such as interface instability and microstructural deterioration have impeded their commercialization. Until now, the detailed understanding of how these phenomena occur has remained limited.

How San Francisco became Waymo-pilled

Shifted from slightly against to strongly in favor. 2023: half oppose, 2025: only 29 oppose. People fear new technology… until it is no longer new.

Expect this to happen with things like cell ag (lab grown meat), nanobots, and the like. Most people are not ideologically oppose to them, they just want enough time for them to prove themselves as safe.

“Opposition to autonomous vehicles is on the decline, the poll showed: In 2023, more than 50% of voters opposed driverless cars; now, it’s 29%.”

And:

“Two-thirds of voters said they support allowing fully autonomous vehicles to operate in San Francisco. It’s a significant increase from 2023, when fewer than half agreed with the sentiment.”

(https://sfstandard.com/2025/10/08/san-francisco-became-waymo-pilled/)

Continue reading “How San Francisco became Waymo-pilled” | >

NVIDIA Now Working On Its Own Robotaxis

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Because why not?

NVIDIA has actually been involved in the robotaxi world for years, providing different hardware needs to various automakers who have been automating more and more driving. For example, I just noticed that four years ago I wrote about AutoX robotaxis using NVIDIA Drive. NVIDIA also put out a blog post highlighting that “Cruise, Zoox, DiDi, Oxbotica, Pony.ai and AutoX [were] developing level 4/5 systems on NVIDIA’s autonomous vehicle platform.” It also acquired DeepMap at that time. “DeepMap expected to extend NVIDIA mapping products, scale worldwide map operations and expand NVIDIA’s full-self driving expertise,” the company announced in 2021.

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