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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 152

May 8, 2023

Qualcomm to acquire Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

May 8 (Reuters) — Chip designer Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) said on Monday it would buy Israel’s Autotalks Ltd that makes chips used in technology aimed at preventing vehicle crashes, as the U.S. firm looks to deepen its automotive business.

With increasing electric vehicles and automatic features in cars, the number of chips used by automakers is surging, making the automotive market a key growth area for chipmakers.

Autotalks makes dedicated chips used in the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications technology for manned and driverless vehicles to improve road safety.

May 8, 2023

Hiller Flying Platform

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Vertical Takeoff Vehicles, and other tech like electric cars are older than you think This one is from the 50’s.


Here are a series of videos that are mainly played in our gallery alongside exhibits, but we wanted patrons unable to visit the museum on a regular basis the chance to access them at a moment’s notice. Enjoy!

May 7, 2023

Italian startup carves sculptures with robotic arm guided by AI

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability

“Our robots are born from sculptors for sculpture,” says the artist.

A new startup called Robotor is seeking to revolutionize how sculptures are made by simplifying the sculpting process with the use of robotics and artificial intelligence. Founded by Filippo Tincolini and Giacomo Massari, the new company aims to make these works of art faster and easier to produce and even more sustainable.

Continue reading “Italian startup carves sculptures with robotic arm guided by AI” »

May 6, 2023

Exciton Fission Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Photovoltaic Solar Cell Technology

Posted by in categories: particle physics, solar power, sustainability

Researchers have resolved the mechanism of exciton fission, which could increase solar-to-electricity efficiency by one-third, potentially revolutionizing photovoltaic technology.

Photovoltaics, the conversion of light to electricity, is a key technology for sustainable energy. Since the days of Max Planck and Albert Einstein, we know that light as well as electricity are quantized, meaning they come in tiny packets called photons and electrons. In a solar cell, the energy of a single photon.

A photon is a particle of light. It is the basic unit of light and other electromagnetic radiation, and is responsible for the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. Photons have no mass, but they do have energy and momentum. They travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, and can have different wavelengths, which correspond to different colors of light. Photons can also have different energies, which correspond to different frequencies of light.

May 5, 2023

How avocado pits are turned into biodegradable silverware

Posted by in category: sustainability

Biofase, a company in Mexico, transforms avocado waste into bioplastic, which breaks down fast and requires less fossil fuels to produce.

May 5, 2023

Improving Performance and Lifetime — Scientists Solve Battery Mystery

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, sustainability

Researchers at the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) now managed to characterize the formation of the SEI with a multi-scale approach. “This solves one of the great mysteries regarding an essential part of all liquid electrolyte batteries – especially the lithium-ion batteries we all use every day,” says Professor Wolfgang Wenzel, director of the research group “Multiscale Materials Modelling and Virtual Design ” at INT, which is involved in the large-scale European research initiative BATTERY 2030+ that aims to develop safe, affordable, long-lasting, sustainable high-performance batteries for the future.

The KIT researchers report on their findings in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

To examine the growth and composition of the passivation layer at the anode of liquid electrolyte batteries, the researchers at INT generated an ensemble of over 50 000 simulations representing different reaction conditions. They found that the growth of the organic SEI follows a solution-mediated pathway: First, SEI precursors that are formed directly at the surface join far away from the electrode surface via a nucleation process.

May 5, 2023

A major problem with fusion is solved leading us closer to a perpetual energy source

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, sustainability

Fusion reactor.

Without a doubt someday it is possible to have fusion power plants providing sustainable energy resolving our long-standing energy problems. This is the main reason so many scientists throughout the world are carrying out research on this power source. The generation of power from this method actually mimics the sun.

May 4, 2023

Brains on board: Smart microrobots walk autonomously

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability

A collaborative effort has installed electronic “brains” on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size – smaller than an ant’s head – so that they can walk autonomously without being externally controlled.

Cornell researchers installed electronic “brains” on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size, so the tiny bots can walk autonomously without being externally controlled. Noël Heaney/Cornell University

Continue reading “Brains on board: Smart microrobots walk autonomously” »

May 3, 2023

This solar-powered motorhome was designed by students

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, computing, solar power, sustainability, transportation

A solar-powered motorhome, shaped like a huge elongated teardrop, silently rolled into Madrid on Friday as part of a month-long journey from the Netherlands to southern Spain to highlight more sustainable modes of transport.

Engineering students at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands created the blue and white vehicle, named Stella Vita – Latin for “star” and “life” – to inspire car makers and politicians to accelerate the transition toward green energy.

Continue reading “This solar-powered motorhome was designed by students” »

May 2, 2023

China’s first desert-based solar and wind energy farm goes online

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

It can generate enough energy to power 1.5 million households a year.

The first of China’s wind and solar energy projects being built in the desert areas is now connected to the electricity grid and has begun generating power, media outlet ChinaDaily.

With the planet needing to reduce carbon emissions, countries are now innovating in generating greener energy. Interesting Engineering reported earlier this year how Switzerland installed 5,000 solar panels on the highest dam in Europe. On its part, China is looking to convert the arid regions of its geography into power generation zones.