http://phys.org/technology-news/engineering/ en-us Phys.Org provides the latest news on engineering technology, engineering science, computer engineering , civil engineering, chemical engineering, aerospace engineering and environmental engineering. Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. For the devastating Japan 2011 event, the team reveals that the analysis of the GPS data and issue of a detailed tsunami alert would have taken no more than three minutes. The results are published on 17 May in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). http://phys.org/news287997937.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 17 May 2013 08:25:58 EST news287997937 Their system uses simple, cheap detectors which have just a single pixel to sense light instead of the millions of pixels used in the imaging sensors of digital cameras. http://phys.org/news287996345.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 17 May 2013 08:10:05 EST news287996345 (Phys.org) —A new design tool interprets hand gestures, enabling designers and artists to create and modify three-dimensional shapes using only their hands as a "natural user interface" instead of keyboard and mouse. http://phys.org/news287910099.html Technology - Engineering Thu, 16 May 2013 08:01:57 EST news287910099 (Phys.org) —A Wayne State University researcher understands that the three most important things about real estate also apply to small ground robotic vehicles: location, location, location. http://phys.org/news287754191.html Technology - Engineering Tue, 14 May 2013 12:43:18 EST news287754191 (Phys.org) —It's an old idea, really. One of the oldest. To make useful things, humans remove the bits that aren't part of the thing we want. We've learned how to then make giant factory machines that assemble the different parts into a more complex whole. It's called "reductive" manufacturing—with some assembly required—and has dominated our lives for thousands of years. http://phys.org/news287650288.html Technology - Engineering Mon, 13 May 2013 07:51:50 EST news287650288 An entrepreneur whose Eureka moment came at last year's wet and windy Grand National has reinvented the umbrella with the help of WMG at the University of Warwick. http://phys.org/news287388652.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 10 May 2013 07:30:02 EST news287388652 In 2015, NASA, for the first time, will fly a space mission utilizing a radically different propellant—one which has reduced toxicity and is environmentally benign. This energetic ionic liquid, or EIL, is quite different from the historically employed hydrazine-based propellant, which was first used as a rocket fuel during World War II for the Messerschmitt Me 163B (the first rocket-powered fighter plane). http://phys.org/news287159005.html Technology - Engineering Tue, 07 May 2013 15:23:32 EST news287159005 Computer files to create a handgun almost entirely from parts made with a 3D printer went online Monday, alarming gun control advocates after it was successfully test-fired by its inventor. http://phys.org/news287079118.html Technology - Engineering Mon, 06 May 2013 17:12:12 EST news287079118 Take a swab of saliva from your mouth and within minutes your DNA could be ready for analysis and genome sequencing with the help of a new device. http://phys.org/news287060843.html Technology - Engineering Mon, 06 May 2013 12:07:30 EST news287060843 (Phys.org) —When the retina's supply of blood and oxygen runs low, physicians have to react quickly to preserve a patient's eyesight. But up until now there have been no methods sensitive enough to measure how well the eye is oxygenated. A microrobot invented by ETH researchers may come to the rescue. http://phys.org/news287038174.html Technology - Engineering Mon, 06 May 2013 05:49:44 EST news287038174 An experimental unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Air Force has flown at more than five times the speed of sound in a test off California. http://phys.org/news286813547.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 03 May 2013 15:40:02 EST news286813547 You get into your car and ask it to get you home in time for the start of the big game, stopping off at your favorite Chinese restaurant on the way to grab some takeout. http://phys.org/news286787178.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 03 May 2013 08:06:37 EST news286787178 In the very early hours of the morning, in a Harvard robotics laboratory last summer, an insect took flight. Half the size of a paperclip, weighing less than a tenth of a gram, it leapt a few inches, hovered for a moment on fragile, flapping wings, and then sped along a preset route through the air. http://phys.org/news286715035.html Technology - Engineering Thu, 02 May 2013 14:00:05 EST news286715035 Inspired by the complex fly eye, an interdisciplinary team led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University has developed a hemispherical digital camera with nearly 200 tiny lenses, delivering exceptionally wide-angle field of view and sharp images. http://phys.org/news286625615.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:31 EST news286625615 (Phys.org) —Co-founders of a company called botObjects have announced on their website, the development of a full color 3D printer, the first of its kind. Until now, most 3D printers have been either monochrome or were able to use just a few select colors. The new printer from botObjects—called the ProDesk3D—its makers claim, is able to print three dimensional objects using virtually the same color palette as 2D color printers. http://phys.org/news286623935.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 01 May 2013 11:10:02 EST news286623935 As potentially game-changing as the steam engine or telegraph were in their day, 3D printing could herald a new industrial revolution, experts say. http://phys.org/news286376418.html Technology - Engineering Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:00:33 EST news286376418 (Phys.org) —You are walking down the street with a friend. A shot is fired. The two of you duck behind the nearest cover and you pull out your smartphone. A map of the neighborhood pops up on its screen with a large red arrow pointing in the direction the shot came from. http://phys.org/news286133070.html Technology - Engineering Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:24:38 EST news286133070 (Phys.org) —Artificial photosynthesis is a dream technology that mimics a natural leaf, converting water and carbon dioxide into fuels with sunlight. But before this technology can take flight, scientists will have to solve a fundamental plumbing problem: how to gather molecules of fuel from microscopic reaction sites to pipes that will pour it out by the gallon. http://phys.org/news286006080.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:08:18 EST news286006080 U.S. regulators let Boeing help write the safety conditions for the problematic battery system in its beleaguered 787 "Dreamliner," prescribe how to test it and carry out those tests itself, according to testimony and documents released at a hearing Tuesday. http://phys.org/news285932393.html Technology - Engineering Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:41:00 EST news285932393 (Phys.org) —Daniel Attinger paused before handing over a photo of a crime scene. "Are you bothered by the sight of blood?" There was good reason for his question: The photo showed blood pooled and smeared on a floor. Blood drops ran down a nearby wall. A single shoe was left in the evidence of violence and pain. http://phys.org/news285581135.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:50:01 EST news285581135 (Phys.org) —What use is a hand without nerves, that can't tell what it's holding? A hand that lifts a can of soda to your lips, but inadvertently tips or crushes it in the process? http://phys.org/news285504996.html Technology - Engineering Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:56:50 EST news285504996 (Phys.org) —Major bridge failures in recent years have focused attention on the need to monitor America's highway bridges and other infrastructure. As thousands of bridges, parking garages and other structures age, improved methods for detecting deterioration could save lives and prevent economic disruption. http://phys.org/news285405478.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:18:58 EST news285405478 (Phys.org) —The unmatched ability of the human brain to process and make sense of large amounts of complex data has caught the attention of engineers working in the field of control systems. http://phys.org/news285399975.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:00:01 EST news285399975 A parasitic worm may hold the answer to keeping skin grafts firmly in place over wounds, according to a new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). http://phys.org/news285328951.html Technology - Engineering Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:02:54 EST news285328951 (Phys.org) —A new innovation allows treadmill users to work their bodies and brains at the same time. The system, called ReadingMate, adjusts text on a monitor to counteract the bobbing motion of a runner's head so that the text appears still, said Ji Soo Yi, an assistant professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University. http://phys.org/news285260362.html Technology - Engineering Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:59:44 EST news285260362 (Phys.org) —A unique pair of eyeglasses developed by an FIU student team could revolutionize the lives of the blind, enabling them to walk into a library or a store, pick up any book or a can of soup, and read it. http://phys.org/news284974221.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:30:53 EST news284974221 (Phys.org) —To make better mind maps, a group of French scientists – building on prototypes developed at the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) – have produced the world's first microscopic, organic transistors that can amplify and record signals from within the brain itself. http://phys.org/news284967892.html Technology - Engineering Fri, 12 Apr 2013 06:45:05 EST news284967892 (Phys.org) —Talk about taking chip assembly to the next level: That 3-D-printer is not only to make the personalized phone case but the phone. At least this idea has some potential with a recent report making the rounds this week, where the author of an article in The New York Times wrote about what scientists at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) are up to. http://phys.org/news284827533.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:48:07 EST news284827533 An advance in micromotor technology akin to the invention of cars that fuel themselves from the pavement or air, rather than gasoline or batteries, is opening the door to broad new medical and industrial uses for these tiny devices, scientists said here today. Their update on development of the motors—so small that thousands would fit inside this "o"—was part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. http://phys.org/news284811111.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:30:03 EST news284811111 University of Utah researchers developed a high-speed camera system that spent the past two winters photographing snowflakes in 3-D as they fell – and they don't look much like those perfect-but-rare snowflakes often seen in photos. http://phys.org/news284784327.html Technology - Engineering Wed, 10 Apr 2013 03:46:18 EST news284784327