• Rapid and highly accurate test detects viruses such as Covid-19

    The UCF researchers developed a device that detects viruses in the body as fast as - and more accurately than - the current commonly used rapid detection tests. The optical sensor uses nanotechnology to accurately identify viruses from blood samples in seconds. The researchers say the device can tell with 95 per cent accuracy if someone has a virus, a significant improvement over existing rapid tests, which experts have warned can suffer from low accuracy. Testing for viruses is important for early treatment and to help stop their spread. The researchers tested the device using samples of Dengue virus, a mosquito transmitted pathogen that causes Dengue fever and is a threat to people in the tropics. However, the technology can also easily be adapted to detect other viruses, such as Covid…

  • Nasa calls off ISS spacewalk due to space debris threat

    Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron were due to scale the outside of the space station today in order to mend a faulty antenna. The faulty S-band radio communications antenna assembly, now more than 20 years old, was to be replaced with a new spare stowed outside the space station. However, Nasa issued a debris notification on Monday evening and the mission was called off. “Due to the lack of opportunity to properly assess the risk it could pose to the astronauts, teams have decided to delay the spacewalk until more information is available,” the agency said. “The space station schedule and operations are able to easily accommodate the delay of the spacewalk.” It was not made clear how close debris had come to the ISS, which orbits approximately 402km above the Earth. Debris…

  • Scientists build self-replicating living robots

    The robots are the brainchild of a collaborative team at the University of Vermont, Tufts University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, the same team that built the first living robots: 'Xenobots' - assembled from frog cells – reported in 2020. According to the researchers, these computer-designed and hand-assembled organisms can swim out into their tiny dish, find single cells, gather hundreds of them together, and assemble 'baby' Xenobots inside their Pac-Man-shaped “mouth”. A few days later, these babies become new Xenobots that look and move just like themselves. And then these new Xenobots can go out, find cells, and build copies of themselves, and this process repeats. “With the right design – they will spontaneously self-replicate…

  • Firm foundations are vital for large-scale AI-enabled projects

    The clamour of anticipation around new applications for artificial intelligence is as fevered as ever. The problem for me is that expectations are not informed by a robust appreciation of the practical requirements for innovating with AI. As an adviser to businesses on bringing such innovation to market, my advice is simple: to scale rapidly, large-scale AI-enabled projects must be built on firm foundations to allow multidisciplinary development teams to thrive. Chief among the reasons is that, in engineering terms, developing AI is a complex, non-linear process. Frankly, you can expend a great deal of time and effort with very little progress to show for it. It is the antithesis of agile approaches that deliver incremental advances. Even if you do make solid progress, rapid acceleration…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Toyota ‘Human Support Robot’ completes first UK home trial

    Toyota’s Human Support Robot (HSR) can fetch objects, perform basic human interactions, open doors and entertain through song and dance. A HSR was provided for the home of Anthony Walsh, who had motor neurone disease (MND), through the company’s partnership with the MND Association. Walsh passed away shortly after the trial; his family have agreed to release details of the trial and a short film about the experience to raise awareness about MND and the MND Association. Walsh lived in Southgate, north London, with his wife and two young children. He received his diagnosis in May and quickly went from being an active football-playing father to a wheelchair user, due to the rapid onset of the incurable disease. Although it was difficult to move around his home, he disliked having to ask his…

  • Subjecting contaminated water to speaker system helps eliminate microplastics

    Microplastics are released into the environment by cosmetics, clothing and industrial processes, or from larger plastic products as they break down naturally. The pollutants eventually find their way into rivers and oceans, posing problems for marine life. Filtering and removing the small particles from water is a difficult task, but acoustic waves may provide a solution. Researchers at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology in Surabaya, Indonesia, have developed a filtration prototype using two speakers to create acoustic waves. The force produced by the waves separates the microplastics from the water by creating pressure on a tube of inflowing water. As the tube splits into three channels, the microplastic particles are pressed toward the centre with the clean water flowing toward…

  • Investment in sustainable UK tech firms surges in 2021

    According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), impact tech firms have seen a 127 per cent increase in investment in the UK since 2018 and together, they are now worth £50bn and employ over 35,000 people. The UK now has 12 “impact unicorns” which are companies in the space that are worth over £1bn. Of these, six of them are based outside of London, including Vertical Aerospace which is based in Bristol and is building zero-carbon, commercial flying taxis, ITM Power in Sheffield which designs and manufactures hydrogen energy systems and Ceres Power Holdings in Horsham which is creating low-cost next-generation fuel cell technology to enable companies to deliver clean energy at scale. Other companies include energy firms Ovo and Octopus (pictured) which are focused…

  • Nissan to spend £13bn on new EVs and improved battery production

    At a news conference in Japan, Nissan executives explained that the automaker is pressing ahead to “democratise” EVs by producing a wide and attractive electric offering in the next decade. This strategy is known as “Nissan Ambition 2030”. Gupta said Nissan would spend ¥2tn (£13.2bn) on EVs over the next five years. It has set an EV sales target of 75 per cent of European sales by fiscal year 2026 and 40 per cent of sales in the US by 2030. It also aims for half of its overall output to be electric by the end of the decade. Max-Out, Surf-Out, Hang-Out Be it beach parties or at-home-like experiences with friends and family, these #Nissan concept EVs combine superlative stability and comfort with a spirit of living life to the fullest. Which one would suit you? ️: https://t.co/r2xbhB8TAe…

  • Cutting-edge advances celebrated at 2021 E&T Innovation Awards

    Now in its seventeenth year, the E&T Innovation Awards gives recognition to people, projects and organisations that are revolutionising our world through excellence in engineering and technology. This year’s awards, hosted by television presenter Fran Scott at Savoy Place in London, included a range of new categories, such as ‘Future Mobility’ and ‘Trust and Truth’, to reflect the societal challenges that rely on engineers and technologists for their solution. Dr Esther Ngumbi, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, won the top prize (E&T Difference Maker of the Year) for her inspiring work as a researcher, author, public servant, entrepreneur, and educator. Born in a rural farming community along the Kenyan Coast, Ngumbi studied hard at school…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Sainsbury’s launches checkout-free store in Central London

    Amazon started experimenting with the concept in 2016 when it opened its first “Amazon Go” branch in Seattle which used what has been dubbed “Just Walk Out” technology. It relies on an accompanying app, which has to be used to enter the store, that tracks whether products are removed from, or returned to, the shelves. Amazon used the same types of technologies found in self-driving cars, such as computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning to make the concept work. Last year, it announced it would open up its technology platform to other retailers who wanted to trial the technology. Sainsbury’s will now put it to use in a convenience store at Holborn Circus. Customers will need to scan a QR code when entering using their SmartShop app, which is linked to a credit or debit card.…

  • View from India: Research can generate intellectual value

    The computational wave of Covid has spurred the convergence of technology and science at an unprecedented pace. The outcome, which is a portfolio of vaccines and anti-viral drugs, along with online and app-based applications, illustrates the interconnection between basic science and technology. Scale and inclusivity are the hallmarks of the vaccine drive that began in January 2021. “India has administered more than 117 crore [1.17 billion] Covid vaccines under the world’s largest vaccine drive so far,” the Government of India tweeted. This could well be an example of technology facilitating mass manufacturing. The future could be about new drugs to combat infections and decode forms of virus. All this has boosted the intrinsic value of pharma companies. We need to take it to the next level…

  • Autonomous shuttle service kicks off in Oxfordshire

    The new service is being trialled by Darwin Innovation Group, using a shuttle created by Navya. The company previously provided shuttles for trials in an urban setting in Switzerland. The autonomous shuttle service operates at Harwell Science Campus during weekdays, morning to evening. It travels two routes, one along Fermi Avenue and one along Eighth Avenue, with the ESA building being the central stop for both routes. There is no cost to ride the shuttle, which is currently available to campus pass-holders and registered guests of pass-holders. The shuttle – which is battery powered – uses lidar to help navigate safely in its surroundings, in addition to cameras and ultrasound sensors. The shuttle also features a satellite antenna for positioning. While there is no steering wheel, the…

  • Scrapped Scotland-NI bridge ‘would cost £335bn’

    The Prime Minister previously enthused about the possibility of a fixed transport connection between Scotland and Northern Ireland , arguing that it would boost connectivity. The feasibility study, commissioned by Johnson and led by Network Rail chair Sir Peter Hendy, concluded that the project would cost billions of pounds, present serious technical challenges, and take a generation to build. A bridge would cost an estimated £335bn while a tunnel would cost £209bn, the report said. Either structure would be the longest of their kind ever built. The cost “would be impossible to justify”, Sir Peter concluded, stating “the benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs”. The structure would take nearly 30 years to complete planning, design, parliamentary and legal processes, and construction…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • ‘Super jelly’ material can withstand trampling by elephants

    The material looks and feels like a jelly, with a 'squishy' texture, but when compressed it acts like an ultra-hard, shatterproof glass. Never before has such resistance to compression been incorporated into a soft material. This is even more remarkable considering that it is mostly composed of water. The 'super jelly' could be used for a range of potential applications, including soft robotics, bioelectronics, or even as a cartilage replacement for biomedical use. The behaviour of materials is dependent on their molecular structure. Stretchy, rubber-like hydrogels have many useful properties (such as toughness, flexibility, and self-healing capabilities) that make them a popular research subject, particularly as a potential material for surgical applications. However, making hydrogels…

  • Google commits to privacy oversight from UK watchdog

    The CMA said that Google has laid out a set of commitments from Google regarding its 'Privacy Sandbox' plans, which it said risked squeezing competition by removing third-party cookies and other functionalities from its updated Chrome browser. The new system will split users into cohorts, and rather than a person’s browser history being sent to a central location, their own computer will figure out what they like and assign them to a group with similar interests. Online ads will still be personalised under the system, but Google claims it will afford users greater privacy. Investigators raised concern that Google concealing user data would impede competition in digital advertising markets. The CMA launched its investigation in June this year and heard from more than 40 third parties, who…

  • Ready-made tips for mass customisation

    We see it every day – a menu for a local takeaway, or that mug we picked up in a trade show goodie bag. Branded merchandise this is a staple of small business marketing. Becoming the design and marketing partner of choice for small businesses means constantly optimising for rock-solid reliability, predictably consistent customer experience, choice, availability, quality – and on-time delivery you can set your watch by. What does it take to get truly personalised, high-quality products into customers’ hands? Offering hundreds of product lines that are all 100 per cent tailored to a customer's specifications is a tall order. Especially if you think of the scale and complexity of a massive marketplace distribution warehouse, then add to that products which need to be custom-made first, not just…

  • ‘Magic wand’ imaging technology reveals nano-wonderland

    Materials scientists have developed materials for next-generation electronics so tiny that they are indistinguishable when closely packed. They are so small that, even under the most powerful optical microscopes, they do not reflect enough light (visible light varies in wavelength from 400-700nm) to show fine details such as colours. For instance, carbon nanotubes merely appear grey under an optical microscope. The inability to distinguish fine details and differences between individual pieces of nanomaterials makes it difficult for scientists to study their unique properties and discover ways to perfect them for practical applications. The advance permitted by this new technique improves colour-imaging resolution to an unprecedented 6nm level, helping scientists view nanomaterials in enough…

  • Over 300 new exoplanets identified from Kepler data

    The term ‘exoplanets’ is used to describe planets outside of our own solar system. The number of exoplanets that have been identified by astronomers totals fewer than 5,000 in all, so the identification of hundreds of new ones is a significant advance. The team from University Of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) believe that studying such a large new group of bodies could improve understanding of how planets form and orbits evolve, and it could provide new insights about how unusual our solar system is. “Discovering hundreds of new exoplanets is a significant accomplishment by itself, but what sets this work apart is how it will illuminate features of the exoplanet population as a whole,” said Erik Petigura, a UCLA astronomy professor and co-author of the research. One challenge in identifying…

  • Synthetic diamond glass is hardest known material of its kind

    The new ultrahard glass has a wealth of potential applications for electronic devices. When it comes to comprehending the properties of materials, function follows form. How a material’s atoms are chemically bonded, and their resulting structure, determines its physical qualities. This applies both to properties observable to the naked eye and those more subtle qualities only revealed by probing with specialist instrumentation. Carbon has unrivalled versatility when it comes to forming stable structures, both alone and in combination with other elements. Some carbon-based materials have highly organised structures (e.g. diamond structure) with repeating crystalline lattices while others are more disordered or amorphous. Glass is a non-crystalline, amorphous material typically formed by…

  • 3D-printed prosthetic eye fitted at Moorfields Eye Hospital

    Conventionally, patients requiring an eye prosthesis receive a painted acrylic eye. During a two-hour session, the eye socket is moulded to create a comfortable prosthetic; this invasive procedure can be so difficult that it can require a general anaesthetic when the patient is a child. The eye is then painted. This process takes six weeks. The 3D-printed eye is more realistic, having clearer definition and “real depth” to the pupil. For conventional acrylic eyes, the iris is hand-painted onto a black disc embedded in the prosthesis, meaning that light cannot pass the full depth of the eye, while light can interact more naturally with the 3D-printed prosthesis. However, a 3D-printed prosthetic is not only more realistic but also reduces the manufacturing process to two to three weeks. The…

  • Sponsored: How Manchester is making material gains for cities of the future

    Recognised as one of the most innovative cities in the world, the city that was at the centre of the Industrial Revolution, is delivering new global firsts that are shaping cities and lives of tomorrow – from the built environment and transport, to healthcare, our food chain and carbon reduction. Home to world-leading institutes, Manchester is nurturing strong collaborations between business and academia – and demonstrating its ability to turn ideas into reality. Here we meet some of the people, places and thinking behind Manchester’s latest innovations in advanced materials and the future of manufacturing. Material innovators of Manchester Two scientists at The University of Manchester made history in 2004, when they isolated graphene for the first time, and went on to be awarded the Nobel…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • China sees first fall in carbon emissions since pandemic recovery

    The country, which is the world’s largest carbon emitter, saw it emissions rise by approximately 9 per cent in the first half of the year before tapering off in the following months. The analysis from the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) found that much of the savings were achieved through emission declines in fossil fuel and concrete usage. Furthermore, the declining trend in the third quarter steepened into September – the first month during which monthly emissions returned to 2019 levels – and looks set to deepen further in October, based on preliminary data. This analysis is based on official figures for the domestic production, import and export of fossil fuels and cement, as well as commercial data on changes in stocks of stored fuel. In the case…

  • Smart sleeve lets wearer feel and understand any foreign language

    Through these vibrations, it is possible to understand any foreign language. The HART team plans to present its application tomorrow (Friday) to a number of fellow students on the campus of TU/e. It is thought that this is the first time that a sleeve with vibrating motors has been used for communication. The students have developed a 'vibratory language' based on the 39 different sounds of the English language. The sleeve works with a computer programme that converts written text into English and then into sound units, which in turn are converted into vibrations. Each sound has its own vibration. The vibrations that a user feels on his or her arm through the sleeve, together form words and sentences. Team member Lisa Overdevest, an Industrial Engineering student (pictured below), learned…

  • AI algorithm more accurately predicts when patients have developed sepsis

    Sepsis affects more than 30 million people worldwide, causing an estimated six million deaths. It is an extreme response from the human body to an infection and is often life-threatening. Every hour of delayed treatment can increase the odds of death by 4-8 per cent, so timely and accurate predictions of sepsis are crucial to reduce morbidity and mortality. Various healthcare organisations are already deploying predictive analytics to help identify patients with sepsis by using electronic medical record (EMR) data. But the new AI, developed by a team of international researchers from McMaster University and St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, both in Canada, could greatly improve the timeliness and accuracy of data-driven sepsis predictions. “Sepsis can be predicted very accurately and very…

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