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Category: engineering – Page 23

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.

Dr. Tender earned a doctorate degree in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley; and served as a visiting scientist in the Stanford University Department of Chemistry.

Dr. Tender co-founded the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology and is a recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award, which honors outstanding federal employees, by the George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration.

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A nice study by Hoffmann et al. where nanobodies were inserted into various locations on adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids. The authors also ablated hepatocyte tropism by mutating the heparan binding domain of the AAVs. These strategies greatly enhanced cell type specific targeting (in vitro).

Abstract. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) has been remarkably successful in the clinic, but its broad tropism is a practical limitation of precision gene therapy. A promising path to engineer AAV tropism is the addition of binding domains to the AAV capsid that recognize cell surface markers present on a targeted cell type. We have recently identified two previously unexplored capsid regions near the 2/5-fold wall and 5-fold pore of the AAV capsid that are amenable to insertion of larger protein domains, including nanobodies. Here, we demonstrate that these hotspots facilitate AAV tropism switching through simple nanobody replacement without extensive optimization in both VP1 and VP2. Our data suggest that engineering VP2 is the preferred path for maintaining both virus production yield and infectivity. We demonstrate highly specific targeting of human cancer cells expressing fibroblast activating protein (FAP). Furthermore, we found that the combination of FAP nanobody insertion plus ablation of the heparin binding domain can reduce off-target infection to a minimum, while maintaining a strong infection of FAP receptor-positive cells. Taken together, our study shows that nanobody swapping at multiple capsid locations is a viable strategy for nanobody-directed cell-specific AAV targeting.

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The solutions to these long-standing problems could further enhance our understanding of symmetries of structures and objects in nature and science, and of long-term behavior of various random processes arising in fields ranging from chemistry and physics to engineering, computer science and economics.

A Rutgers University-New Brunswick professor who has devoted his career to resolving the mysteries of higher mathematics has solved two separate, fundamental problems that have perplexed mathematicians for decades.

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New research from North Carolina State University shows that unique materials with distinct properties akin to those of gecko feet – the ability to stick to just about any surface – can be created by harnessing liquid-driven chaos to produce soft polymer microparticles with hierarchical branching on the micro-and nanoscale.

The findings, published today (October 14, 2019) in the journal Nature Materials, hold the potential for advances in gels, pastes, foods, nonwovens, and coatings, among other formulations.

The soft dendritic particle materials with unique adhesive and structure-building properties can be created from a variety of polymers precipitated from solutions under special conditions, says Orlin Velev, S. Frank and Doris Culberson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State and corresponding author of the paper.

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The pace of engineering and science is speeding up, rapidly leading us toward a “Technological Singularity” — a point in time when superintelligent machines achieve and improve so much so fast, traditional humans can no longer operate at the forefront. However, if all goes well, human beings may still flourish greatly in their own ways in this unprecedented era.

If humanity is going to not only survive but prosper as the Singularity unfolds, we will need to understand that the Technological Singularity is an Experiential Singularity as well, and rapidly evolve not only our technology but our level of compassion, ethics and consciousness.

The aim of The Consciousness Explosion is to help curious and open-minded readers wrap their brains around these dramatic emerging changes– and empower readers with tools to cope and thrive as they unfold.

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To realize the full potential of DNA nanotechnology in nanoelectronics applications requires addressing a number of scientific and engineering challenges: how to create and manipulate DNA nanostructures? How to use them for surface patterning and integrating heterogeneous materials at the nanoscale? And how to use these processes to produce electronic devices at lower cost and with better performance? These topics are the focus of a recent reviewarticle.

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Part of the delight in reading science fiction is seeing how real science can be extrapolated to envision future technologies, whether here on Earth or in extraterrestrial environments. Starships are a ubiquitous presence in science fiction and a prototypical example of technology that can stimulate the imagination of future scientists and engineers. As a materials scientist, I am particularly intrigued by the role of various materials (metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, nanomaterials, etc.) in building the starships of tomorrow.

The purpose of this science-meets-science fiction initiative, which we are calling Project Starship, is to deepen the connection between the scientific and science fiction communities, helping to stimulate new interest in both fields. To kick off this series of articles, Grimdark Magazine reached out to three leading voices in dark science fiction to explore the materials required for designing the starships from within their fictional universes. First up is Graham McNeill, a British novelist best known for his Warhammer 40k novels, including Nightbringer. Next is Richard Swan, critically acclaimed author of the dark science fiction trilogy, The Art of War. Finally, Essa Hansen is author of the dark science fiction series, The Graven, which begins with the critically acclaimed Nophek Gloss.

The Anatomy of a Starship.

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