The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Sorted by date Results 26 - 49 of 49
Strong and flexible, HEA offers the ideal additive manufacturing combination Scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Institute of Technology have 3D printed a dual-phase, nanostructured, high-entropy alloy that exceeds the strength and ductility of other state-of-the-art additive manufactured materials and could be a game-changer for 3D printing. Led by assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering Wen Chen at UMass, and Ting...
MIT develops a wearable sensor able to target any biomarker Using a gold-gallium "band-aid" could prove the next generation of biological monitoring as researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a new kind of wearable sensor capable of communicating wirelessly without the need for microchips or even batteries. Wearable sensors are ubiquitous due to wireless technology, which enables the monitoring of glucose concentrations, blood pressure, heart...
Ask anyone, "who invented the lightbulb?" and most would be able to answer Thomas Edison. Ask anyone, "who invented the telephone?" and some would be able to answer Alexander Graham Bell. Ask anyone, "who invented the lithium-ion battery powering your smartphone and laptop?" and perhaps scant few would be able to answer John Goodenough. Along with his colleagues Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino, Goodenough was jointly bestowed the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the...
Just when you would think graphene could not possibly be more amazing than it already is, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prove that to be furthest from the truth, discovering that if two or more graphene layers are stacked at an offset angle, the conductive properties of graphene become superconductive. Initially discovered in 2018, the MIT researchers recently published a new finding in Nature Materials that if you just keep stacking graphene with a...
MIT scientists find that brewer's yeast absorbs heavy metal. While drinking an ice-cold pint of beer may not flush lead from your system – there is not a libation strong enough for that task – the yeast used to brew your favorite ale may prevent the heavy metal from getting into your body in the first place. And like they say, "16 ounces of prevention is better than a pound of cure" – or something like that. Researchers at the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Techn...
A high-tech company, Seurat Technologies, intends to make the most of its innovation in the emerging world of metal 3D printing and in the process, revolutionize the way large industrial products like planes and cars are manufactured. The Wilmington, Mass.-based startup is touting its new process as the key to not only cutting the costs of mass manufacturing but also dramatically reducing the sector's carbon footprint. A new industry 3D printing, also called additive...
Two brothers in a Rice University laboratory noticed a fascinating result during the production of the miracle material graphene that could potentially change the way it is manufactured – by listening to the sound it makes. The brothers, John Li, a Rice alumnus now studying at Stanford University, and Victor Li, then a high school student in New York and now a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are co-lead authors of a paper that describes real-time a...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers have developed a rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the form of an ultra-long fiber that can be woven into fabrics and even washed. This latest innovation could enable a wide variety of wearable electronic devices and might even be used to make 3D-printed batteries in virtually any shape. The team envisions new possibilities for self-powered communications, sensing, and computational devices that could be worn like ordinary...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have devised a unique method to help curb the looming shortages of critical minerals and metals by making it easier to separate them from ore and recycled materials with a chemical process called sulfidation. This processing technique, as written about in a paper they published in the journal "Nature," allows the metals to remain in solid form and be separated without dissolving. This would avoid the typical but costly liquid s...
Powering up its mission to become the world's leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, Volkswagen Group has established a European public company to consolidate activities along the EV battery supply chain – from processing raw materials, to developing a unified Volkswagen battery, and managing the five European gigafactories the company has in the pipeline. The German automaker's new battery business will be headquartered in Salzgitter, Germany, which is the site of V...
Market and business research firm, IDTechEx, predicts that while battery electric vehicles (BEV) are paving the way for decarbonizing road transport, the hydrogen fuel cell will claim a leading role, an estimated US$160 billion role. In the latest report by UK-based tech speculator, "Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles 2022-2042," IDTechEx forecasts the market value of on-road fuel cell vehicles will grow to US$160 billion in 2042 at a compound annual growth rate of 23.9% over the...
The explosion of scientific research into the properties and potential benefits of graphene since the material was first identified nearly two decades ago continues to yield substantial results. Ultrathin materials made of a single layer of atoms have riveted scientists' attention since the isolation of graphene. Among the exciting advances made by researchers since that time include the discovery that stacking individual sheets of the carbon-based 2D materials and sometimes...
As the world aspires to move away from fossil fuels and minimize carbon emissions, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new method to generate clean hydrogen fuel using scrap aluminum and water. Hydrogen fuel cells function by combining hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical process to produce electrical energy and water. While an incredible source of energy, with the only byproduct being water vapor, the extraction of hydrogen is not...
Idaho-focused mining company Perpetua Resources Corp. and Ambri Inc., a battery technology company born from research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have forged a partnership that will help advance the antimony-based liquid-metal battery technology that can provide the large-scale energy storage needed to decarbonize electrical grids in the United States and around the world. "This agreement is a meaningful step in support of the current administration's goal...
Ambri Inc., which is advancing antimony-based liquid-metal battery technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has secured a $144 million financing to commercialize and grow its daily cycling, long-duration battery technology, and to build a domestic manufacturing facility. This latest round of financing announced by the company on Aug. 9 was led by strategic investors Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.,...
Solar energy company and startup from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Solar247 Inc., announced earlier this year a robust new battery technology, HeatStorE, a long duration thermal battery designed to offer a reliable, renewable energy storage alternative to the conventional diesel engines powering remote mines, villages, and micro-grids. "In the mining industry, we see more and more off-grid microgrids that incorporate short-term energy storage systems," said Thomas...
An international team led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers has discovered a method of imaging what goes on at the boundary of 2D and 3D materials, down to the level of individual atoms. In recent years, engineers have managed to develop ways to modify the properties of few "two-dimensional" materials – considered such by existing as a single atom in thickness. For practical applications however, two-dimensional materials like graphene and hexagonal boron n...
Early last year, the U.S. Department of Energy launched three separate award programs to fund domestic private companies in developing nuclear reactors in the United States. Congress appropriated US$230 million to kick off this series of investments and through a cost-sharing partnership the DOE, will award amounts to private companies while expecting to invest close to US$4 billion over seven years with the partners providing at least 20% in matching funds. "All of these proj...
Diamonds are well known as the hardest minerals on earth. The sparkling gemstones also are exceptional thermal conductors and electrical insulators. Now, an international team of researchers says diamonds have yet another distinction – they can exhibit the properties of metals. The discovery, first reported Oct. 5 in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," could write a new chapter in the saga of diamonds used in sophisticated technological and industrial a...
Global technology supplier Cisco Systems Inc. proceeds with acquisition of Fluidmesh Networks to develop their wireless Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio. Beginning with a collaborative project in 2016 where Cisco and Fluidmesh sought to improve Wi-Fi connectivity on high-speed trains, the partnership has become an integration. Fluidmesh Networks, founded in 2005 by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Polytechnic University of Milan,...
In its push to get "everybody in" on its transition to electric vehicles, General Motors is working closely with SolidEnergy Systems to accelerate the development of a next-generation Ultium battery to power safer, more affordable, and longer-range GM EVs. This coming iteration of the Ultium battery is expected to be lithium-metal, which promises to have twice the energy density, charge faster, and last longer than the state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries currently powering...
Since its invention nearly 140 years ago, the modern steam turbine has represented the apex of efficiency when it comes to converting thermal energy into electricity. Now, engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and National Renewable Energy Laboratory have created a heat engine with no moving parts that exceeds the efficiency of the turbines used in today's coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants. Reminiscent of the photovoltaic solar cells that convert...
From the advancements of technology during the Bronze Age to the computers and telecommunication systems of today's Big Data Era, tin has been critical to human progress for at least 5,500 years. Sometime around 3500 BC, Sumerians living in modern day Turkey and Iran discovered that mixing a little tin with copper created bronze, an alloy that produced much more durable weapons and tools than those cast from copper alone. This cutting-edge discovery offered a strategic and...
An unsung war hero that saved countless American troops during World War II, an overlooked battery material that has played a pivotal role in storing electricity for more than 100 years, and a major ingredient in futuristic grid-scale energy storage, antimony is among the most important critical metalloids that most people have never heard of. While antimony may not be part of the common lexicon, humans have been using this semi-metal for more than 5,000 years. "For example,...
