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Category: engineering – Page 15

True humility is rare today. It takes courage and a strong stance. It’s the story of Grigori Perelman, who proved the Poincaré conjecture — the only one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems solved by humanity. 1️⃣ In 1990s, Perelman worked at UC Berkeley. Top universities tried to hire him. A hiring committee at Stanford asked him for a C.V. to include with requests for letters of recommendation. But Perelman said: “If they know my work, they don’t need my C.V. If they need my C.V., they don’t know my work.” he received several job offers. But he declined them all. 2️⃣ In 2002–2003, he posted three manuscripts on arXiv where he solved the Poincare problem. On a PREPRINT server. Not in a journal! He did not care about publishing them in Nature. He did not care about getting them peer reviewed. He just wanted to make his work publicly available. Several leading math groups immediately started checking his proof. 3️⃣ In 2006, he was awarded a Fields Medal for his work on the Ricci flow and Poincare conjecture. But Perelman declined it: “[The prize] was completely irrelevant for me. Everybody understood that if the proof is correct, then no other recognition is needed.” He did not attend the ceremony. He was the only person to have ever declined the prize. 4️⃣ In 2010, Perelman was awarded a Millennium Prize ($1,000,000). He did not attend a ceremony in Paris as well. He considered the decision of the Clay Institute unfair because he wanted to share the prize with Richard Hamilton (who had a big influence on Perelman in 1990s). “The main reason is my disagreement with the organized mathematical community. I don’t like their decisions, I consider them UNJUST.” ❗️Why I am writing all this? Because: There’s no fairness in academia. It’s unjust and often illogical. It’s full of competition and unkindness. Perelman was very sensitive to it. So, he left mathematics… IF we don’t want to lose brilliant minds like this… IF we want our kids to love science as they grow up… Then we should focus on making it a better place. Less pressure on tenure track professors. No pursuit of metrics. No emphasis on awards. More mentorship and quality research. We need it. #science #research #engineering #mathematics #scienceandtechnology

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Microplastics have been steadily increasing in freshwater environments for decades and are directly tied to rising global plastic production since the 1950s, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers. The findings provide insight into how microplastics move and spread in freshwater environments, which could be important for creating long-term solutions to reduce pollution, the researchers said.

The work is available online now and will be published in the December issue of Science of the Total Environment.

“Few studies examine how microplastics change over time,” said Nathaniel Warner, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the corresponding author on the paper. “Ours is one of the first to track microplastic levels in freshwater sediment from before the 1950s to today, showing that concentrations rise in line with plastic production.”

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Summary: A new method developed by researchers allows scientists to identify unique, redundant, and synergistic causality, providing a clearer view of what influences complex systems. Known as SURD, this method has implications across diverse fields, from climate science to aerospace engineering.

Traditional methods often confuse variables that are not true causes, but SURD accurately decomposes causality, minimizing errors. This tool has the potential to aid in the design of optimized systems by pinpointing causative factors more precisely.

The researchers demonstrated SURD’s utility by examining turbulence, revealing previously hidden interactions between airflow variables. Their work highlights the benefits of SURD for more accurate causal analysis in complex fields.

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Thread#showTweet data-screenname= awiltschko data-tweet=1851327552490733686 dir= auto Well, we actually did it. We digitized scent. A fresh summer plum was the first fruit and scent to be fully digitized and reprinted with no human intervention. It smells great.

Holy moly, I’m still processing the magnitude of what we’ve done. And yet, it feels like as we cross this finish line we are instantly at a new starting line. I’ll have more to share about what’s in store that we’re building on top of this.

A huge HUGE congrats to the entire team across scientific, engineering, operational, and creative disciplines. It takes a village named Osmo to do this.

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“Our vision is for chip designers and engineering students, not just suppliers and manufacturers, to co-locate here, to create a value added ecosystem beyond just what it takes to build chips, and that’s how we’re going to create more value in the Phoenix economy,” Mack said.

A further three plants are also planned for the Phoenix site, which could bring TSMC’s total investment in the area to over $120 billion. Tech giant Apple has announced it will buy semiconductors from the fabrication plants.

The plants are anticipated to create 10,000 permanent jobs, and another 80,000 are expected to be created in the surrounding development.

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What keeps some immune systems youthful and effective in warding off age-related diseases? In a new paper published in Cellular & Molecular Immunology, USC Stem Cell scientist Rong Lu and her collaborators point the finger at a small subset of blood stem cells, which make an outsized contribution to maintaining either a youthful balance or an age-related imbalance of the two main types of immune cells: innate and adaptive.

Innate immune cells serve as the body’s first line of defense, mobilizing a quick and general attack against invading germs. For germs that evade the body’s innate immune defenses, the second line of attack consists of , such as B cells and T cells that rely on their memory of past infections to craft a specific and targeted response. A healthy balance between innate and adaptive immune cells is the hallmark of a youthful immune system—and a key to longevity.

“Our study provides compelling evidence that when a small subset of overproduces innate immune cells, this drives the aging of the immune system, contributes to disease, and ultimately shortens the lifespan,” said Lu, who is an associate professor of stem cell biology and , , medicine, and gerontology at USC, and a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar. Lu is also a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

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In a bold move towards sustainability in the automotive industry, Alpine has introduced its new V6 hydrogen engine. The engine is a groundbreaking development that merges high-performance engineering with eco-friendly technology. This innovative engine represents a significant leap for the French automotive brand, showcasing its commitment to advancing hydrogen as a viable fuel alternative in the world of motorsport and beyond.

While Japanese automobile company Toyota continues to be leading the hydrogen revolution, other automobile companies are following closely behind. While some have placed all their bets on electric vehicles being the future of sustainable engines, others are looking at ways to continue producing the internal combustion engine. The answer may be found in hydrogen technology whereby traditional internal combustion engines can be adapted to support the alternative fuel source.

Alpine previously introduced a hydrogen powered car in 2022. Now, the newer model is twice as powerful as the last. The car features a 3.5-litre, twin-turbo V6 engine. It produces a power output of 740bhp, and can reach up to 9,000rpm with 770 Nm of torque. The two hydrogen engines are located in the sidepods and behind the cockpit. The model has been in the works for two years and is a testament to Alpine’s continued dedication towards sustainability.

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Researchers from UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management have developed a method that could eliminate nearly all of of the carbon dioxide emitted during the process of cement production, which accounts for about 8% of global atmospheric CO2 emissions.

In a new study published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the researchers describe how the new approach could be easily incorporated into existing cement-production processes, providing a more affordable alternative to existing solutions to decarbonize the industry.

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Next Generation Biomanufacturing Technologies — Dr. Leonard Tender, Ph.D. — Biological Technologies Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — DARPA

Dr. Leonard Tender, Ph.D. is a Program Manager in the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA (https://www.darpa.mil/staff/dr-leonar…) where his research interests include developing new methods for user-defined control of biological processes, and climate and supply chain resilience.

Prior to coming to DARPA, Dr. Tender was a principal investigator and led the Laboratory for Molecular Interfaces in the Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. There, among other accomplishments, he facilitated numerous international collaborations with key external stakeholders in academia, industry, and government and his highly interdisciplinary research team, comprised of electrochemists, microbiologists, and engineers, is widely recognized for its many contributions to the field of microbial electrochemistry.

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