Noise cancelling device halves noise pollution through open windows

Alex Newton

Engineering

May 18 2018



Nanyang Technological University developed a device that can reduce noise pollution entering the buildings. This device works even when the windows are open. The device reduces up to 50% of the noises coming from nearby areas. This is similar to noise canceling headphones and uses the same technology. Its able to release a counter sound to fight those noisy sound waves.

Deadly Gas

               Air pollution poses a massive threat to the public and is an issue that needs to be dealt with when it arises or many people could become sick or even die. This is exactly what happened in France in 1952 where over 150,000 people went to the hospital and 4,000 people died from what was eventually dubbed, The Great Smog.
               Scientists are looking for disease caused by particles often way too small to see with the human eye. These particles come from many sources such as power plants, factories, homes and cars, and even forest fires. If a person breathes in these particles they can move deep into your lungs where they can enter your bloodstream. The blood can carry these particles anywhere in your body even your brain and they trigger inflammation anywhere they go. This is why making sure the air is clean is such a huge problem because it only takes a small amount of particles to harm our bodies. High traffic roads are a very prominent source of pollution. Research has shown that people who live near areas with a lot of traffic related air pollution are much more likely to get Alzheimers Disease than people who do not.
               Air pollution is a massive threat to public safety and if it is not quickly noticed it can lead to the sickness and death of many people which is why it is such a big problem.

Link:https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/dirty-air-can-harm-your-brain-and-stress-body

Microphone for light: Tiny guitar string vibrates 1 billion times when plucked

Scientists have engineered a tiny guitar string that vibrates 1 billion times when plucked to use as a microphone for light.

Listening to light


Strain can be used to engineer unusual properties at the nanoscale. Researchers in Tobias Kippenberg's lab at EPFL have harnessed this effect to engineer an extremely low loss nanostring. When plucked, the string vibrates for minutes with a period of a microsecond (equivalent to a standard guitar note playing for a month). Using it as an ultrasensitive microphone, the researchers hope to be able to "hear" the sound of photons in a laser beam.

Because of their small mass, nanostrings, like the ones developed in the Kippenberg lab, are expected to have an important impact on traditional sensing applications. For example, they are capable of detecting attonewtons (1 attonewton = 1.0 × 10^-18 newton), which could detect the gravitational pull between human beings.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180412141008.htm

Spider silk as the key to a new bone-fixing composite

by Lorenzo DeSimone




Researchers at the University of Connecticut have created a biodegradable composite made of silk fibers that can be used to repair broken load-bearing bones without the complications sometimes presented by other materials.


To facilitate repair, doctors may install a metal plate to support the bone as it fuses and heals. Yet that can be problematic. Some metals leach ions into surrounding tissue, causing inflammation and irritation. Metals are also very stiff. If a metal plate bears too much load in the leg, the new bone may grow back weaker and be vulnerable to fracture.


The new composite is also resilient. Large leg bones in adults and seniors can take many months to heal. The composite developed in their lab does its job and then starts to degrade after a year. No surgery is required for removal.





This picture depicts a breakdown of the spider silk material with bone marrow. The composite is made of silk fibers and fibers of polylactic acid that are coated with fine bioceramic particles to add strength while maintaining flexibility. The biodegradable composite helps heal bones without the complications posed by metal parts.


Article here:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419130915.htm

Artificial Intelligence Accelerates Discovery of Metallic Glass

Ryan Trojan

May 4, 2018

Engineering

"Combining artificial intelligence with experimentation sped up the discovery of metallic glass by 200 times. The new material's glassy nature makes it stronger, lighter and more corrosion-resistant than today's best steel."

If you combine two or three metals together, you will get an alloy that usually looks and acts like a metal, with its atoms organized in rigid geometric patterns. 

But sometimes, under perfect conditions, you get something entirely new: a futuristic alloy called metallic glass. The formless material's atoms are arranged every which way, much like the atoms of the glass in a window. Its glassy nature makes it stronger and lighter than today's best steel, and it stands up better to corrosion.



Northwestern University. "Artificial intelligence accelerates discovery of metallic glass: Machine learning algorithms pinpoint new materials 200 times faster than previously possible." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 April 2018. 

Cheap 3-D printer can produce self-folding materials

Alex Newton

May 4th

Engineering


"Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used an inexpensive 3-D printer to produce flat plastic items that, when heated, fold themselves into predetermined shapes, such as a rose, a boat or even a bunny." 


Lining Yao is a professor at the HC Interaction Institute and helped create these self-folding plastic objects. Self-folding objects help make them easier to transport. One of the examples they use is emergency shelter that can open up under heat of the sun. 

Others have tried to create self-folding with more exotic materials which are more expensive. Yao and his team was able to use a cheap 3D printer to create objects that would work just as good if not better.

Snow Day Holder By: Destiny Gwann

Snow Day Holder 

By: Destiny Gwann
Mr. Gray 

Instructions:

1. Put on a coat and gloves. 

2. Open the door and go outside to the backyard

3. Find some good fluffy snow 

4. Gather any other products you will use

5. Grab some leaves from your neighbors trees and grapes from inside

6. Push a bunch of snow together and get crushed ice 

7. Grab a big cup 
8. Pat it down

9. Fill it with all of the ingredients 
10. Grab a smaller cup and push a hole through the middle of it

11. Don't push it too far so you do not have a small break through on the bottom of it

11. Go back inside because you forgot the candle and the lighter and the sandpaper from home depot

12. Wipe your feet before entering the house again

13. Grab it then exit back out to the backyard 

14. Place the candle inside the inside of it and light it 

15. Take picture for blogger 

16. Then blow out the candle and take it inside 

17. Throw the candle in your neighbors yard