'RoboClam' hits new depths as robotic digger

10-Apr-2014 - A digging robot inspired by the unique mechanisms employed by the Atlantic razor clam has been created by a group of researchers in the US. The robot, dubbed RoboClam, is able to dig with extreme efficiency by transforming the surrounding soil from a solid into a liquid, and could have a variety ...

Munich lab demonstrates diesel truck engine with barely measurable emissions

08-Dec-2009 - Just three months after the Euro 5 Norm for exhaust emissions went into force for all new car models, researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have demonstrated an engine that is already close to meeting the more stringent Euro 6 emissions standard. A research team headed by ...

Hollow spheres made of metal

05-Oct-2009 - Producing metallic hollow spheres is complicated: It has not yet been possible to make the small sizes required for new high-tech applications. Now for the first time researchers have manufactured ground hollow spheres measuring just two to ten millimeters. New drive technologies combined with ...

Micromuscles: Micrometer-Sized Actuators from Liquid-crystal Elastomers

12-Aug-2009 - To move your arm or leg, certain muscles need to change shape, to either lengthen or contract. Now scientists have made liquid-crystalline particles that can change shape in a similar way, but which are only micrometers across. Professor Rudolf Zentel and his colleagues at the Universities of ...

Music is the engine of new U-M lab-on-a-chip device

27-Jul-2009 - Music, rather than electromechanical valves, can drive experimental samples through a lab-on-a-chip in a new system developed at the University of Michigan. This development could significantly simplify the process of conducting experiments in microfluidic devices. A lab-on-a-chip, or ...

Scientists patent corrosion-resistant nano-coating for metals

Thinner, less toxic than existing coatings; efficient and economical to produce

30-Mar-2009 - Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a method for coating metal surfaces with an ultrathin film containing nanoparticles which renders the metal resistant to corrosion and eliminates the use of toxic chromium for this purpose. The scientists ...

Emerson Wins Contract to Digitally Automate New Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) Advanced Polymers Plant in China

23-Mar-2009 - Emerson Process Management Asia Pacific has been awarded a contract by MCC Advanced Polymers (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. to digitally automate a new advanced polymers plant in Zhejiang Province, Peoples Republic of China. According to the contract, Emerson will provide engineering and project management, ...

Nanoscientists play catch up with nature

09-Mar-2007 - Living things are great nanotechnologists, they use complex molecularsystems as tiny machines, switches and valves, nutrient processors, waste disposal units, motors and much more. Numerous research groups around the world hope to emulate nature's nanotech prowess by building their own molecular ...

Electromagnetic Miniatures

Simultaneous production of microchannels with parallel, electrically conducting metal wires

09-Oct-2006 - Magnetic components that can be controlled by the application of an external electric field are useful in many different applications. They can serve as microfluidic pumps, mixers, or valves in miniature lab-on-chip systems, or they can help in sorting and arranging magnetic particles. ...

Solvay to boost ultra performance polymer portfolio with acquisition of Mississippi Polymer Technologies

12-Jan-2006 - Solvay announced that it has signed a binding Agreement for the acquisition of Mississippi Polymer Technologies (MPT). MPT is a US-based start-up company that commercialized PARMAX®, a new family of specialty materials with unique properties. This will further expand Solvay's portfolio of ...