In efforts to fight obesity and enhance drug absorption, scientists have extensively studied how gastric juices in the stomach break down ingested food and other substances. However, less is known about how the complex flow patterns and mechanical stresses produced in the stomach contribute to digestion.
Researchers from France, Michigan, and Switzerland built a prototype of an artificial antrum, or lower stomach, to present a deeper understanding of how physical forces influence food digestion based on fluid dynamics. In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, they reveal a classifying effect based on the breakup of liquid drops combined with transport phenomena derived from complementary computer simulations.
The relevant parts of the stomach are the corpus, where food is stored; the antrum, where food is ground; and the pylorus, or pyloric sphincter, the tissue valve that connects to the small intestine. Slow-wave muscle contractions begin in the corpus, with wave speed and amplitude increasing to form the antral contraction waves (ACWs) as they propagate toward the pylorus.
The researchers’ antrum device consists of a cylinder, capped at one end to imitate a closed pylorus, and a hollow piston that moves inside the cylinder to replicate ACWs. As verified through computer simulations and experimental measurements, the protype produces the characteristics of retropulsive jet flow that exist in the antrum.
Food disintegration is quantified by determining the breakup of liquid drops in flow fields produced by ACWs. The researchers studied different model fluid systems with various viscosity to account for the broad physical properties of digested food. The drop size and other parameters resemble conditions in a real stomach.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill has a provision that mandates the unproven technology be incorporated into all passenger vehicles within the decade.
Buried deep in the 2,700-page bipartisan infrastructure billis a provision that mandates all cars manufactured from 2027 onwards be equipped with a drunk driver monitoring system, in the hopes of ending a behavior that results in about 10,000 deaths in the U.S. every year. If passed with this provision, the bill would give a firm release date to a research program the federal government and an automotive industry group have collaborated on for more than a decade.
Since 2008, an alphabet soup of acronym organizations have been working on a public-private partnership to invent a new technology that can prevent drunk driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) partnered with the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), an industry group representing all the major automakers, to form the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety Program, which goes by the unfortunate acronym of DADSS.
DADSS is working on two separate detection systems. One detects blood alcohol levels in a driver’s breath through ambient air in the car cabin, supposedly distinguishing the driver’s breath from that of any passengers. The other uses a touch sensor with infrared lights that can be incorporated into the push-start engine button to detect blood alcohol level through the skin. Both are designed to be passive monitoring systems, meaning the driver doesn’t have to do anything to be tested. If, in theory, the system detects a blood alcohol level above the legal limit, the car will not be allowed to drive, but can remain on to power the climate control or charge a phone. The technology will be open-source licensed, so any auto supplier or manufacturer can use it “on the same terms,” although it won’t be free.
It’s abundantly clear that fossil fuel-driven transport needs to be replaced, but more rail infrastructure is only as “green” as the materials and energy it uses. Currently under construction, the UK’s second high-speed rail network, HS2, may use concrete 3D printing technology to build concrete slabs on-site. The contractor, Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS JV) claims that it will reduce the project’s carbon footprint by up to 50 percent.
Dubbing the technology “Printfrastructure”, SCS JV says that it will be using a mobile concrete 3D printer to 3D print elements of the rail network on-site, rather than transporting pre-cast slabs by road and lowering them into place via crane. This will allow for the construction of pieces in physically-restricted spaces, prevent disruption of public spaces and roadways that would be required by traditional methods, and make it possible to work during normal daylight hours, rather than at night, when the trains have stopped running.
SCS JV is a joint venture between Costain, a century-old British construction firm involved in the building of the Chunnel between France and England, and Skanska, a century-old Swedish company that’s renovated U.N. headquarters, built the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and MetLife stadium, among other notable projects. Their legacies should be ample evidence that they can take on HS2 and additive construction, but their legacies have also provided ample breeding ground for controversies and corruption.
CyBe Robotic Arm for additive construction. Image courtesy of CyBe.
Working on the project are ChangeMaker3D, a UK-based firm that collaborates with additive construction company CyBe, which has developed a mobile industrial robotic arm that deposits the firm’s own concrete material. ChangeMaker3D will be teaming with Versarien, a material expert, to incorporate graphene into the 3D printing process. So far, the use of graphene has not been used in additive construction, but the project team says, “Concrete with microscopic strands of graphene only several atoms thick running through it like stripes in a stick of rock replaces traditional steel to help drive improved site safety, greater construction flexibility, shorter build time and a smaller carbon footprint.”
This, in turn will reduce the carbon footprint by up to 50 percent, according to SCS JV, in part due to the lack of steel, cranes, and delivery trucks. Another factor contributing to reduced CO2 emissions is the type of pattern that can be produced with 3D printing. Unlike casting, additive construction is capable of making lattice structures that reduce total material use overall.
The CyBe robotic arm 3D printing the drone laboratory in Dubai. Image courtesy of CyBe.
SCS JV Temporary Works Manager, Andrew Duck, said: “Automation enabled by Printfrastructure’s 3D reinforced concrete printing creates a factory-like environmental that delivers a high-quality product that both increases efficient use of materials, and reduces our carbon footprint. It is important that we give technologies such as Printfrastructure the opportunity to flourish because of the possibilities it offers the industry to make a step change in how projects are delivered.”
Numerous studies have suggested that tends to have a much lower carbon footprint than car or air transportation. During the construction phase, emissions may go up, however. China Dialogue suggested that coal use associated with steel and cement production increased two years in a row in 2018, with CO2 emissions thus going up. Though construction of high speed rail infrastructure can result in 58 t– 176 t of CO2 per km of line and year, an analysis by International Union of Railways determined “that the carbon footprint of high speed rail including operation, track construction and rollingstock construction is about 14 to 16 times less than transport by private car or airplane.”
Carbon emission in t CO2 due to construction per km of line and year for high speed rail. Image courtesy of International Union of Railways.
Carbon Footprint of traffic modes on route Valence – Marseille in France for high speed rail. Image courtesy of International Union of Railways.
The amount of greenhouse gasses that can be reduced, however, is determined by the energy source for electric trains. According to Railway Technology, “The high-speed trains between Spain and France run on renewable electrical energy and have a low carbon footprint, with every 100km travelled enabling an emission reduction of around 15kg of CO2.”
HS2 is also aiming to use alternative fuel sources at its construction sites, including hydrogen power. If the HS2 project really does deliver, then even the construction process may use fewer fossil fuels. That may be a big “if”. Not only do we have to see that graphene can be incorporated into the 3D printing process, but we also have to see the HS2 project actually stay on track. In the U.S., high speed rail projects have been regularly derailed by such large oil interests as the Koch brothers. In the U.K., the eastern leg of HS2 has been attacked as “unachievable”.
For those who believe rail may be the answer to decarbonizing transport, let’s hope that that’s not the case. Proof of concept trials for the additive component of HS2 are scheduled to begin in Spring 2022. Meanwhile, Changemaker 3D is also working with the British government to possibly 3D print wastewater distribution chambers in the country.
Tetra Aviation’s new electric aircraft is all about numero uno. The exclusive, single-seat eVTOL, dubbed the Mk-5, will allow just one traveler to fly up to 100 miles safely, silently and sans any emissions.
The aircraft, which has been roughly three and a half years in the making, was recently unveiled at the week-long EAA AirVenture event at the Wittman Regional Airport in Wisconsin. The futuristic design looks kind of like a pod racer from a sci-fi flick and has the innovative tech to match.
Forged from aluminum and carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP), the Mk-5 measures roughly 28 feet wide by 20 feet long by 7 feet high and weighs just over 1,000 pounds when empty. It’s equipped with some 32 vertical rotors on four fixed-wing planes along with one horizontal thrust at the rear to help it soar through the skies.
“It is not surprising sellers are opting to rent, due to the all-time high housing prices.”
By Shawn M. Carter
The housing market is red-hot and showing few signs of slowing down. Home prices were at a median $386,888 in June, according to Redfin, up 24% since last June. And demand is high: The average house lasted just 14 days on the market, a whopping 25 fewer than last year.
While that seems like welcome news to sellers looking to cash in, 45% of people told Rent.com that even after a home sale, they don’t plan to buy another house right away.
Researchers polled 2,800 homeowners in June to see how the crisis changed their plans. Here’s why people are forgoing the purchase of another house and what they’re doing instead.
Scientists mailed freeze-dried mouse sperm on a postcard and birthed pups on the other side, a major advance for affordable long-distance sperm transfer.
It’s always a delight to receive a thoughtful letter in the mail, but scientists in Japan have added a whole new layer to the experience by sending each other postcards containing freeze-dried mouse sperm. What’s more, the researchers were able to produce viable mouse offspring with the sperm that landed in their mailboxes after days in the post.
The unprecedented experiment could transform the way that sperm from many different species is transported, pioneering applications for “infertility treatments, livestock production, maintenance of strains of genetically modified individuals, and conservation of genetic resources, including those of endangered species,” according to a study published on iScience on Thursday.
“This is the first report in the world [to show] that freeze-dried mouse sperm can be preserved in a thin plastic sheet (0.2 millimeters) instead of conventional glass ampoules,” said Daiyu Ito, a PhD student at the University of Yamanashi who led the new study, in an email.
“We went through various trials and errors and finally succeeded,” he continued. “When we were able to develop a method of preservation of mouse sperm freeze-drying on a sheet, we thought that mouse sperm should be able to be mailed on a postcard by this method” which is the “absolute cheapest” technique ever developed to transport sperm.
The wearable ‘pancreas’ connects to a patient’s smartphone, using an algorithm to monitor blood glucose levels and automatically give insulin as needed.
Patients with type 2 diabetes benefit from wearing an ‘artificial pancreas’ run by a computer algorithm, a new study has found.
The device helped people monitor how much sugar was in their blood and automatically administered the exact amount of insulin needed to bring high sugar levels down. It even learned their eating habits to find patterns in glucose intake.
After 20 days with the artificial pancreas, patients had a more consistently safe blood glucose level and had reduced their risk of lengthy ‘hypos’ – serious symptoms that occur when a person has dangerously low sugar levels.
The study focussed on patients living with type 2 diabetes and kidney failure, a ‘particularly vulnerable group’ according to Dr Charlotte Boughton from the Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge, who led the research.
“Managing their condition – trying to prevent potentially dangerous highs or lows of blood sugar levels – can be a challenge,” she said.
“There’s a real unmet need for new approaches to help them manage their condition safely and effectively.”
Would you wear a dress that signals to people that they’re standing too close to you?
Or how about a shirt that changes color when it senses a change in your mood?
Those are actual creations Dutch fashion designer and engineer Anouk Wipprecht has been working on for 20 years.
Her distinctive “fashion tech” designs combine couture, interactive technology and artificial intelligence.
“So, on a day I am coding and designing, I am sewing and anything and everything that has to do with the body and technology and electronics,” Wipprecht told Morning Edition.
First patented in the early 1900s, ground-penetrating radar has been used by geologists, archaeologists, and aeronautics engineers ever since. Notably, the Apollo 17 mission used a GPR to record depth information about the moon. GPR is not new technology, but it’s new to the application of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
Some companies are betting on GPR to get ahead of their competitors in the field by improving the reliability and accuracy of autonomous features. Within the hot ADAS segment, everyone is looking for the panacea that will make billions of dollars and solve all of the autonomous driving challenges.
Concept: Estonia-based parcel delivery robotics company Cleveron has launched a new unmanned semi-autonomous robotic last-mile delivery vehicle, the Cleveron 701. It is designed for retailers and logistics companies that intend to boost last-mile delivery efficiencies. The company aims to allow businesses to meet the mounting demand for same-day delivery or same-hour delivery cost-effectively.
Nature of Disruption: Cleveron 701 is a lightweight electric vehicle with an option to use different rechargeable batteries. The maximum speed of the vehicle is 30 miles per hour and it can carry a load of a maximum of 500 pounds. It can drive in low traffic areas like suburbs to deliver within a 15 to 30 minutes drive radius of a retailer, fulfillment center or a dark store. It can deliver goods from a warehouse or a store to customers staying nearby within an hour when administered remotely. It reduces labor costs as only one teleoperator can supervise 10 vehicles simultaneously. Moreover, vehicle operators can customize the Cleveron 701’s adaptable, semi-autonomous platform as per diverse delivery needs. For instance, Cleveron 701 can be customized to function as a grocery delivery robot with temperature-controlled sections, a parcel delivery vehicle, an ice cream truck or even a high-tech coffee robot.
Rice University bioengineers are designing a vascularized, insulin-producing implant for Type 1 diabetes. Graduate student Madison Royse demonstrates a laboratory setup for testing blood flow through 3D-printed hydrogels that can be turned into living tissue.
Rice University bioengineers are using 3D printing and smart biomaterials to create an insulin-producing implant for Type 1 diabetics.
The three-year project is a partnership between the laboratories of Omid Veiseh and Jordan Miller that’s supported by a grant from JDRF, the leading global funder of diabetes research. Veiseh and Miller will use insulin-producing beta cells made from human stem cells to create an implant that senses and regulates blood glucose levels by responding with the correct amount of insulin at a given time.
Veiseh, an assistant professor of bioengineering, has spent more than a decade developing biomaterials that protect implanted cell therapies from the immune system. Miller, an associate professor of bioengineering, has spent more than 15 years researching techniques to 3D print tissues with vasculature, or networks of blood vessels.
“If we really want to recapitulate what the pancreas normally does, we need vasculature,” Veiseh said. “And that’s the purpose of this grant with JDRF. The pancreas naturally has all these blood vessels, and cells are organized in particular ways in the pancreas. Jordan and I want to print in the same orientation that exists in nature.”
Supersonic flight is old news, hypersonic is the future – we could be able to cross the Atlantic in 90 minutes sooner that we might think. Plus, the line between military and civilian applications is also getting blurred. Game-changing technology is not only available for top defense projects, but can serve a dual purpose and bring forth benefits that we can all enjoy.
If you were impressed by Virgin Galactic’s Mach 3 speed, hear this – there’s another hypersonic aircraft on the block, that takes it up to 5. That’s more than 3,800 mph (6,100 km/h), meaning that it could get from New York to London almost 7 times faster than current commercial airlines.
The small team at Hermeus Corporation, a Georgia-based aerospace start-up, wanted to develop a groundbreaking Mach 5 commercial aircraft, and they already scored partnerships with none other than NASA and the U.S. Air Force(USAF). After successfully demonstrating their Mach 5 engine last year, now it’s time for another milestone, flight testing this cutting-edge aircraft, under a $60 million contract with USAF.
Not too many details have been revealed about the Quarterhorse, other that it will become the world’s fastest aircraft (flying at Mach 5 hypersonic speeds), it will be fully reusable, and it will also be autonomous (with the option of being remotely piloted), with an outstanding 4,600-mile (7,403 km) range.
