Show Notes 9 August 2024
Story 1: Harvesting unused micro-vibration to generate electricity
Source: NewsWise.com
Link: https://d.newswise.com/articles/harvesting-unused-micro-vibration-to-generate-electricity/
- The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science has developed a metamaterial that traps and amplifies micro-vibrations in small areas. This innovation is expected to increase the power output of energy harvesting, which converts wasted vibration energy into electricity, and accelerate its commercialization.
- Time out, what is a metamaterial? A metamaterial is an artificially structured material engineered to have properties that are rarely observed in naturally occurring materials.
- Side note, what are micro-vibrations?
- Micro-vibrations refer to low-level mechanical vibrations or disturbances that typically occur at frequencies ranging from less than 1 Hz to 1 kHz.
- Micro-vibrations can be caused by a variety of factors, depending on the context. Here are some common sources:
- Mechanical Components: In machinery and electronic devices, micro-vibrations can be caused by moving parts such as motors, fans, and gears.
- Environmental Factors: External sources like sound waves, seismic activity, or even nearby traffic can induce micro-vibrations.
- Thermal Effects: Changes in temperature can cause materials to expand or contract, leading to micro-vibrations.
- Energy harvesting refers to technology that converts wasted energy in the form of heat, light, and vibration into electrical energy. While solar power generation, which utilizes sunlight as its energy source, is commonly used, it poses limitations such as inconsistent output and the inability to generate power under certain weather and terrain conditions.
- In contrast, utilizing ubiquitous vibrations as an energy source enables stable power generation without surrounding environmental constraints.
- This is why vibration energy harvesting continues to gain attention as a future source of power for sensors that require a constant 24/7 power supply and wearable medical devices that could measure blood pressure and sugar levels in real time.
- The metamaterial developed by Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science traps and accumulates micro-vibrations within it and amplifies them by more than 45 times.
- This allows the generation of large-scale electrical power relative to the small number of piezoelectric elements that are utilized.
- Reminder – Piezoelectricity refers to the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, ceramics, and biological matter—when subjected to mechanical stress.
- The newly developed metamaterial has a thin, flat structure roughly the size of an adult’s palm, allowing it to be easily attached to any surface where vibration occurs.
- Applications range from diagnostic sensors that check for damage in high-rise buildings or large bridges to small biosensors that monitor health conditions of individuals.
Story 2: Researchers invent 100% biodegradable ‘barley plastic’
Source: Phys.org Story by University of Copenhagen
Link: https://phys.org/news/2024-06-biodegradable-barley-plastic.html
Experiments on the degradation of different plastic materials. Top left is a common LDPE plastic film. Top center and right are the researchers’ amylose-based bioplastic and a plastic made from corn starch, respectively. At the bottom are three different bags made from conventional bioplastics. A) shows the start of the experiment. B) shows the degradation after 8 days, C) the degradation after 11 days, D) 21 days E 41 days and F) shows the degradation after 54 days. Photo: Camilla Skovbjerg
- A biofriendly new material made from barley starch blended with fiber from sugarbeet waste—a strong material that turns into compost should it end up in nature—has been created at the University of Copenhagen.
- Researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences have invented a new material made from modified starch that can completely decompose in nature—and do so within only two months.
- One of the key researchers noted, “We’ve developed a new type of bioplastic that is stronger and can better withstand water than current bioplastics. At the same time, our material is 100% biodegradable and can be converted into compost by microorganisms….”
- The new material is a so-called biocomposite and composed of several different substances that decompose naturally. Its main ingredients, amylose and cellulose, are common across the plant kingdom. Amylose is extracted from many crops including corn, potatoes, wheat and barley.
- The research team has founded a spinoff company in which they developed a barley variety that produces pure amylose in its kernels.
- The researchers further noted, “Amylose and cellulose form long, strong molecular chains. Combining them has allowed us to create a durable, flexible material that has the potential to be used for shopping bags and the packaging of goods that we now wrap in plastic.”
Story 3: Embraer Introduces Automatic Takeoffs for E2 Family [of aircraft]
Source: Aviation Week Story by Jens Flottau
See also: https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/embraer-world-1st-auto-takeoff-planes
- Auto-landing software and systems have been a standard capability for decades.
- Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer is the first aircraft manufacturer to develop software that allows automatic takeoffs.
- Embraer is introducing an automatic takeoff function onto its E2 family of passenger jets, leading to much-enhanced range capabilities from short runways.
- The function, called Embraer Enhanced Takeoff System, will be available starting the fourth quarter of 2025 and will also be available for retrofit on aircraft that have already been delivered.
- The Brazilian manufacturer’s design claims to improve rotation and trajectory, reduce field length, and lessen pilot workload. Other than a software update, no aircraft modifications are required.
- Time out, what is “rotation” relative to an aircraft’s takeoff? Rotation during takeoff is a critical moment for pilots. It’s when they lift the nosewheel of a tricycle-geared airplane off the runway by pulling back on the yoke, raising the elevator, and causing the tail to lower.
- Embraer Enhanced Takeoff System involves a patented software upgrade to the existing flight control system.
- The company has been working on the software for three years.
- The system will rotate the aircraft to its maximum geometrical limits while avoiding a tailstrike at the same rotation speeds as would be used for manual takeoffs.
- Upon lining up on the runway, pilots will select the auto-takeoff mode along with autothrottle and engage the autopilot. They will still manually correct heading with the pedals if needed. The takeoff roll is initiated by pushing the power levers forward to engage the autothrottle.
Story 4: Your Face’s Heat Patterns Could Reveal Vital Clues About Your Health
Source: ScienceAlert.com Story by Carly Cassella
Link: https://www.sciencealert.com/your-faces-heat-patterns-could-reveal-vital-clues-about-your-health
See also: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(24)00188-8
- A quick scan of your face could one day reveal how well you are aging and whether you are at risk of developing certain diseases.
- A team of scientists in China from multiple institutions [including, for example, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Center for Quantitative Biology (CQB), Peking University, Beijing, China] have found that a comparison of the heat coming off a person’s nose, cheeks, and eye area could be an “ideal monitoring and screening tool for healthy aging”.
- Trained using facial temperature data from 2,811 Chinese participants between the ages of 21 and 88, their artificial intelligence program identified several facial thermal patterns that could hint at a person’s ‘biological clock’.
- For instance, the temperature of an individual’s nose was found to decrease with age faster than other regions of their face, whereas the temperature around their eyes tended to increase with age.
- This means that those who have warmer noses and cooler areas around the eye may have a facial thermal clock that is ticking slower.
- But what does that have to do with a person’s health?
- Researchers found that an individual’s facial thermal profile was linked to certain lifestyle factors and metabolic health. Those with diabetes showed a facial thermal profile more than six years older than their healthy peers of the same age.
- In fact, the machine learning model was able to automatically process and analyze a person’s facial thermal map to predict if they had a metabolic disorder, like fatty liver disease or diabetes, with over 80 percent accuracy.
- In the study, those with a metabolic disorder were more likely to show higher temperatures in the eye area than their healthy, age-matched, and sex-matched counterparts.
- What’s more, participants with elevated blood pressure showed increased temperatures in the eye area and cheeks. Males with hypertension were typically observed with relatively colder noses.
Honorable Mentions:
Story: This startup is using dead leaves to make paper without cutting trees
Source: ZME Science Story by Rupendra Brahambhatt
A startup called Releaf Paper has developed an innovative method to manufacture paper from the dead leaves that naturally fall from trees. Their approach enables them to produce one ton of cellulose (raw material for paper and pulp) from 2.3 tons of dead leaves.
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Story: Alaska Airlines reveals groundbreaking tech getting us closer to sustainable flight — it’s more watery than we imagined
Source: The Cool Down Story by Elizabeth Turek
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS-aQ1kCfV8
- Alaska Airlines — which announced plans in late 2023 to merge with Hawaiian Airlines — is one of those partners collaborating with innovative developer Regent to bring the all-electric, 12-passenger seaglider to market.
- Unlike traditional fixed-wing aircraft, the seaglider operates in three modes: float (when leaving the dock), hydrofoil (as it speeds up), and fly (once it hits open water). It’s quieter, too, according to Regent, and has a range of over 180 miles. The company estimates that next-generation batteries could increase the length of routes to as much as 500 miles per charge.
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Story: 100% Battery Recycling Could Be Possible
Source: The Tech Tribune
Link: https://thetechtribune.com/100-battery-recycling-could-be-possible/
- Researchers at Penn State University (PSU) have developed a practical method to recycle solid-state batteries. They inserted polymer layers between the electrode and electrolyte of a solid-state lithium coin cell, which, during the recycling process, prevented them from mixing.
- This separation enabled efficient recycling of battery materials. Using cold sintering, the researchers combined recovered materials into a new battery, which retained over 92% of the original battery’s discharge capacity. This successful experiment suggests that recycling solid-state batteries is feasible, paving the way for environmentally friendly battery technology in the future.
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Story: Tiny jellyfish robots made of ferrofluid can be controlled with light
Source: New Scientist Story by Kamela Padavic-Callagahan
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6UeH3W18k
- Jellyfish-shaped robots made of magnetic ferrofluid can be controlled by light through an underwater obstacle course. Swarms of these soft robots could be useful for delivering chemicals throughout a liquid mixture or moving fluids through a lab-on-a-chip.
- Ferrofluid droplets are made of magnetic nanoparticles suspended in oil, and they can move across flat surfaces or change shape when coaxed in different directions by magnets. By immersing these droplets in water and exposing them to light, Mengmeng Sun at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany and his colleagues have now made them defy gravity.