• The eccentric engineer: an aviation ostrich destined never to fly

    Not all engineering is about novelty. A great deal of time and energy goes into improving things that already exist – making them lighter, faster, stronger and, in a world where economies of scale matter, bigger. Just how big can you make something? That was exactly the question the US Air Force posed to Lockheed. How big could an aeroplane actually get? What they got back from Lockheed’s Skunkworks in 1969 was the plans for the CL-1201 – the largest aeroplane never built. Everything about it was enormous, verging sometimes on the ridiculous. The CL-1201 had a crescent wingspan of over 341 metres (15 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower) and was nearly 170 metres long (two and half times as long as a 747), 11 storeys high and weighed in at 5,265 tonnes. The inside was spacious to say the…

  • Teardown: Apple iPhone Pro 13

    At £999, the iPhone 13 Pro is not that far in price off a DSLR camera that can match it for resolution up to and including 4K video. You get a lot more functionality with an iPhone, but the comparison feels apt because Apple’s latest smartphone flagships – this handset and the 13 Pro Max – lean heavily on their visual capabilities. The three-camera array – Wide, Ultra Wide and Telephoto – has undergone a sizeable upgrade, although resolution remains at 12MP. For example, Wide receives a wider aperture (f/2.8) as does Ultra Wide (f/1.5); Wide has a larger sensor, Ultra Wide a faster one and the Telephoto option now has a night mode. The camera can also automatically engage a Macro mode for very close subjects up to 2cm away. The computation photography muscle in the 13 Pro is assisted by…

  • ISS shunted into wider orbit to avoid space junk from Chinese satellite

    According to Russian space program Roscosmos, the ISS corrected its orbit to be around 1.2km higher than it had been orbiting previously. A command was issued to fire the Progress MS-18 cargo spacecraft engines for six minutes, which was docked to the Zvezda Service Module ISS Russian segment. Without the adjustment, Roscosmos said that a fragment of the Fengyun-1C satellite would have approached the station tomorrow morning and would have come within around 600m of the ISS. “In order to dodge the ‘space junk’, [mission control] specialists have calculated how to correct the orbit of the International Space Station,” the agency’s statement said. The ISS was hit by another piece of space junk in June this year, which took a chunk out of its 17m-long robotic arm . The European Space…

  • Book review: ‘The Science of Life and Death in Frankenstein’

    Modern film treatments of ‘Frankenstein’ – don’t forget that Frankenstein is the scientist and not his ‘Creature’ – have tended to concentrate so much on the elements of the gothic, horror and suspense, that it is easy to forget (if we ever knew) that the original novel behind the franchise is arguably the protype for the science-fiction genre. It’s also an extraordinary tale that weaves together vast ethical themes related to the artificial creation of life with a young woman’s understanding of an emerging frontier of scientific thought. Sharon Ruston’s ‘The Science of Life and Death in Frankenstein’ (Bodleian Library, £25, ISBN 9781851245574) is a superb examination of the confluence of early-19th-century objective discovery and the subjective Romantic imagination. Mary Shelley’s novel…

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    E+T Magazine

  • US and China unveil surprise carbon emissions deal at COP26

    The announcement from the two countries - the world’s largest carbon emitters - came as a surprise to delegates of COP26, the international climate change conference held in Glasgow over the last two weeks. The framework agreement proposes a number of measures including cutting methane emissions, phasing out coal consumption and protecting forests. US climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua made the announcement at COP26 just hours after the head of the United Nations conference said that the climate commitments pledged so far in the talks would do too little to tame climate change. Kerry said: “The United States and China have no shortage of differences, but on climate co-operation is the only way to get this job done. This is not a discretionary thing, frankly…

  • Can AI be music to our ears?

    When AI music researchers Bob L Sturm and Oded Ben-Tal realised they had created algorithms effective enough to imitate traditional Irish music compositions, the pair came up with an ingenious idea for an experiment. They would hire professional musicians to record an album, ‘Let’s Have Another Gan Ainm’, using material generated by a computer trained on over 23,000 transcriptions of traditional music. UK musician Daren Banarse was drafted to curate the work. In a cunning ruse, CDs were sent to various critics in the US and Europe with an elaborate fabricated backstory printed on the album sleeve, attributing the tunes to the Ó Conaill family, including daughters Caitlın and Una. Contrary to expectations, the release received almost universal acclaim, says Sturm, an associate professor…

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    E+T Magazine

  • Network Rail says half its suppliers now commit to carbon reductions

    The body, which manages the UK’s railway infrastructure, had already set of series of targets in its Environmental Sustainability Strategy to deliver a greener railway based on efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C. It said around 97 per cent of its emissions are within “scope three”, meaning emissions largely come from third parties, including suppliers. To address this, Network Rail has set a target for 75 per cent of suppliers to have their carbon targets by 2025. It has already worked alongside transport industry partners to deliver workshops throughout 2021 to help suppliers commit to carbon cutting. Roger Maybury, supplier management director, said: “We’ve had a wonderful response and we’re extremely grateful to our suppliers for showing such positive support for this initiative…

  • Fresh prints: the road to 3D printed organs

    Darcy Wagner is on a quest to improve research into the human lung – and to develop synthetic therapies for both acute and chronic lung disease. “These are the third and fourth leading causes of death in the world – and have no cure,” says Wagner, associate professor in the department of experimental medical science at Lund University in Sweden. Patients with chronic lung disease have one option: a lung transplant. However, survival times are short compared to, say, a heart transplant, and there is an acute shortage of lungs for transplantation. These factors inform Wagner’s work in developing ways to produce synthetic lung tissue using 3D printing. Now, it is being intensively researched – by Wagner and many others – as a way of manipulating biological material. Shortages of donor organs…

  • Big tech is betting on the metaverse: it would do better to focus on email security

    Big tech’s latest obsession is the metaverse. Once a niche concept originating in science fiction, it’s gained a lot of mainstream attention lately. Most notably, Mark Zuckerberg recently told The Verge that Facebook is set to become a metaverse company, although the term was also bandied about in a recent Microsoft earnings call. If devotees are to be believed, the metaverse will change the way we do – well - everything. Sceptics, on the other hand, think it’s more likely to be just another tech bust, along the lines of Google Glass. While the reality is likely somewhere in between, there can be no doubt that big tech could accomplish a lot more in the here and now by doubling down on security, particularly in the email space. Before digging into why focusing on security is so important…

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    E+T Magazine

  • Reversing the trend of failed mine remediation

    Kakadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory has dual World Heritage listings for its ecological and cultural value. Its escarpment country, rainforests, wetlands, and mudflats are home to cascading waterfalls, indigenous communities, and a diverse range of species, including crocodiles lurking in billabongs and creeks. Perhaps only in Australia – a country where the mining industry has poignantly been described as “disaster and triumph entwined” – would such a unique reserve surround one of the world’s biggest and longest-operating uranium mines. Located 260km southeast of Darwin, Ranger Mine started producing uranium oxide in 1981. The mining lease, which is owned and operated by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), a subsidiary of mining giant Rio Tinto, was approved at around…

  • ‘Sitting on data is like sitting on an oilfield’: Mark Girolami, the Alan Turing Institute

    “Artificial intelligence is very much an umbrella term,” says Mark Girolami. “When we say AI, what we’re really describing is a whole load of technologies that are characterised by three components at their core: data, computing and algorithms.” Girolami, who has taken up the post of the Alan Turing Institute’s first chief scientist, says that while there are plenty of people out there crossing over into philosophy and neural sciences “solving intelligence”, his approach to AI is based on these three inter-related parameters. A University of Cambridge academic, he also holds the Royal Academy of Engineering research chair in data-centric engineering. The two positions “feed off each other”, he says. Girolami’s appointment at the Alan Turing Institute comes hot on the heels of the UK government…

  • Can technology help people with autism in the workplace?

    In February 2021, the Office of National Statistics released figures showing that only 22 per cent of adults with autism in the UK are in any kind of employment. Only 16 per cent work full-time, according to the National Autistic Society (NAS). These figures don’t come close to reflecting autistic people’s levels of capability in the workplace. Pioneers such as Einstein, Darwin, Newton, Mozart, Michelangelo are believed to have been autistic, albeit undiagnosed. Perhaps Steve Jobs too, some observers have suggested. What the numbers do show, however, is a systemic failure to include and involve around 1 per cent of the UK population (according to NAS figures) in the workplace, cater for their needs, provide opportunities, and adequately use their talents. NAS defines autism as a lifelong…

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    E+T Magazine

  • EVs broadly backed at COP26, but major markets and makers missing

    Cars, trucks, ships, buses and aircraft account for about a quarter of all CO2 emissions, according to data from the International Energy Agency, with road-based vehicles being the main culprits. The 'Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Cars and Vans' - introduced at COP26 - pledges signatories to “rapidly” accelerate the transition to less-polluting vehicles. Leading markets will aim to end the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2035, with other markets aiming for 2040. According to reports, major signatories include Ford, General Motors, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, BYD Co, and Jaguar Land Rover from the automotive industry; the countries of India, New Zealand and Poland; individual cities such as Seoul, Sao Paolo, California and New York State, and corporations with large…

  • Access for all: the democratisation of AI

    ‘AI for all’ and ‘the Democratisation of AI’ are current buzz phrases in artificial intelligence. But they can mean different things to different groups. Generally, there is a two-way split. Commercially, they refer to the drive to develop and release new hardware and software tools that open development and innovation to groups beyond data scientists and algorithm authors. For civil society, they reflect concerns that AI is already being dominated and directed by a few very large companies – typically, the usual suspects of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and their Chinese counterparts like Tencent and Alibaba. Although it is those same technology giants that are mostly delivering these new tools – along with key hardware players like Nvidia and new strongly backed ones like OpenAI…

  • Sponsored: Modelling the 3D Microstructure of the Next Generation of Lithium-Ion Batteries

    Join us for this webinar presenting the workflow developed to simulate the electrochemical performances of an electrode at its microstructure level and at different discharge C-rates, as well as discussing the performance limitations to identify and overcome to fulfill the demands of next-generation batteries. You will see a live demonstration in the COMSOL Multiphysics software, followed by Q&A. Register for this webinar to learn about: The benefits of using simulation to model electrochemical systems How easy it is to create multiphysics models which investigate an electrodes performance A unique insight into simulation-driven product development How COMSOL Multiphysics can be used to extend understanding beyond that which can be achieved experimentally With live Q&A on 18th…

  • Supreme Court blocks £3bn class action against Google

    Former Which? magazine executive director Richard Lloyd, supported by the campaign group Google You Owe Us, wanted to bring a ‘representative action’ against the US-based tech firm on behalf of around 4.4 million people in England and Wales. Lloyd alleged that Google illegally obtained over five million Apple iPhone users’ personal data between 2011 and 2012 by bypassing default privacy settings on the Safari browser to track internet browsing histories, known as the ‘Safari workaround’. Lloyd and Google You Owe Us hoped to win between £1bn and £3bn in compensation for alleged breaches of the Data Protection Act. The High Court initially ruled that Lloyd could not serve the claim on Google outside the jurisdiction of England and Wales in October 2018, but that decision was overturned…

  • AI takes on city design

    Architects and engineers have long harnessed the power of software to automate aspects of the design of buildings and structures, but a new breed of generative design tools based on artificial intelligence is pushing the boundaries of scale, complexity and computational power like never before. Software products like Delve, by Google’s sister company Sidewalk Labs, and Spacemaker, recently acquired by Autodesk, churn through reams of numerical and contextual data and, based on project priorities, spit out a series of optimised designs for developments, neighbourhoods or even entire city districts. AI and machine-learning algorithms enable the tools to crunch more data and weigh up a plethora of project considerations much faster than human design teams can achieve. This can take the stress…

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    E+T Magazine

  • CT images generated from MRI alone

    Transcranial-focused ultrasound is a non-invasive treatment used for degenerative movement disorders, pain, and mental disorders. In order to target a specific area of the brain, the treatment must be applied with an image-based technology for locating brain lesions. Doctors typically use computed tomography (CT) to obtain information about a patient’s skull that is difficult to identify with MRI alone. CT scans expose the patient to radiation doses, which, while generally considered safe, are much higher than the doses associated with conventional X-rays. The number of CT scans could be lowered if more detailed information could be extracted from lower-dose imaging such as MRI. Now, researchers from the Bionics Research Centre at KIST have developed an AI tool to generate CT images based…

  • Engineers design autonomous robot that doesn’t need to knock

    Aerospace engineering professor Ou Ma at the University of Cincinnati (UC) said opening a door is a tricky task for a robot, describing it as their kryptonite. “Robots can do many things, but if you want one to open a door by itself and go through the doorway, that’s a tremendous challenge,” he explained. To tackle this, students in UC’s Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory have solved this complex problem in three-dimensional (3D) digital simulations and are building an autonomous robot to demonstrate this. According to its developers, this simple advance in independence represents a huge leap forward for helper robots that vacuum and disinfect office buildings, airports, and hospitals. Helper robots are part of a $27bn (£20bn) robotics industry, which includes manufacturing…

  • Greedy tech gives resource problems

    No one seems to have told the AI community about the silicon shortage that has caused memory and graphics card prices to shoot up while car manufacturers struggle to find supplies. Because, based on current trends, there is nothing like a neural network for chewing up silicon. Take Cerebras Systems as an example. The company is now on its second generation of AI processor using a design that consumes more or less a full wafer of silicon. In this second generation, the processor relies on a second external unit to feed it the data it needs. Cerebras today lies at the extreme end of the silicon-area scale, but many of the start-ups and systems companies making accelerators for AI have taken the view that they need to make them as big as they can. Simon Knowles, chief technology officer at…

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    E+T Magazine

  • When is the art the artist?

    The exhibition 'Forever Is Now', which ran until early November 2021, featured an international cast of artists, one of which was Ai-Da – a British humanoid AI robot named in tribute to the genius mathematician Ada Lovelace. Ai-Da’s drawing arm and her drawing AI algorithms were designed by Egyptians Salaheldin Al Abd and Ziad Abass. These algorithms allow analysis of the subject Ai-Da is looking at and use the resulting data set to create the movements required for the drawing arm. Her repertoire has extended to performance art and clay modelling. Who is the artist? Is it Ai-Da or the people who created her? Image credit: . As a humanoid robot, Ai-DA is an artwork in her own right. ...

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    E+T Magazine

  • View from India: The vision is to make India a design country

    R&D, along with a combination of scientific-technological-engineering solutions, has given an edge to deep technologies. What makes this technology worthwhile is that it has potential to build solutions or rebuild everything from scratch. “Deep tech leverages science, technology and multiple disciplines of engineering. This diverse mix makes deep tech disruptive,” said Dr Ajai Chowdhry, one of the founder members of HCL and chairman of IIT Patna, at the recent India Electronics and Semiconductor Association Vision Summit. Clean energy, sustainable solutions and quantum computing are among the numerous applications of deep tech. Covid is another dimension which has put the spotlight on tech-enabled businesses and stressed the need for keeping the environment clean. So it makes sense that some…

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    E+T Magazine

  • Mars colony isolation experiment saw Earth communications wane over time

    At its closest proximity, Mars is still almost 55 million kilometres away from Earth, making communication delays and supply issues between the two worlds unavoidable. This requires crew members to effectively cope with stressful conditions by themselves, with limited autonomous resources available on board. In 2017 and 2019, two isolation experiments - dubbed 'Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station' (aka SIRIUS) - were conducted across periods of 17 days and four months, respectively, in a facility in Moscow, Russia using international and mixed gender crews. These missions were designed to study the effects of isolation and confinement on human psychology in order to help prepare for long-duration space exploration beyond Earth. Researchers have published a…

  • UK’s AI masterplan vs reality

    With the publication of its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (NAIS), the UK joins the roll of nations jostling to assert ‘superpower’ status in the field of AI. Published in September, the government’s 10-year plan is founded on the contention that competitive pre-eminence in AI is a “top-level economic, security, health, and wellbeing priority [that is] vital to national ambitions on regional prosperity and for shared global challenges”. Its view is backed up by a 2019 study by McKinsey that reckoned AI could deliver a 22 per cent boost to the UK’s GDP by 2030, but the country will have to show strong competitive prowess to win AI market share away from rival nations: at least 25 countries have already launched their own strategies. These include Canada and UAE (2017), France…

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    E+T Magazine

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