News by Subject Technology & Engineering

Thrips don't rely on lift in order to fly. Instead, the tiny insects rely on a drag-based flight mechanism, staying afloat in airflow velocities with a large ratio of force to wing size. Researchers have performed the first test of drag force on a thrip's wing under constant airflow in a bench-top wind tunnel and, drawing from microfabrication and nanomechanics, they created an experiment in which a thrip's wing was glued to a self-sensing microcantilever.

The way the scale armor works is that when in contact with a force, the scales converge inward upon one another to form a solid barrier. When not under force, they can 'move' on top of one another to provide varying amounts of flexibility dependent upon their shape and placement.

Researchers City, University of London are developing new vibration-control devices based on Formula 1 technology so "needle-like" high-rise skyscrapers which still withstand high winds can be built. Current devices called tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are fitted in the top floors of tall buildings to act like heavyweight pendulums counteracting building movement caused by winds and earthquakes.

The researchers from Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University and Institute of Problems of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences studied the distribution of hydrogen in metals in the process of standard testing for hydrogen cracking. They found that there is a surface effect that does not let hydrogen enter the metal. This can result in errors in industrial quality control of material, and to fundamental errors in terms of scientific research of hydrogen embrittlement.

In the not too distant future, we can expect to see our skies filled with unmanned aerial vehicles delivering packages, maybe even people, from location to location. Researchers from The University of Texas and MIT, in collaboration with Akselos, and Aurora Flight Sciences, are developing 'digital twins' that combine computational models and machine learning to predict vehicle health and enable autonomous decision-making at the edge.

Researchers from Lehigh University have, for the first time, revealed first-hand knowledge about the fundamental energy carrier properties of chalcogenide perovskite CaZrSe3, important for potential solar energy use. They have published their findings in NPJ Computational Materials.