The 2010 World Cup brought on the advent of the controversial Jabulani soccer ball and many questions of whether or not the ball played a critical role in some of the soccer players’ blunders during game play. Adidas engineers designed a brand new soccer ball to debut as the official World Cup ball. Jabulani featured [...]
Though many have tried and failed, those attempting to combine ground and sky with street-legal aircraft are presented with a new window of opportunity through which they can feasibly offer their innovations to the masses. Joint exploratory research conducted by NASA and the FAA has created the groundwork for an overhaul of our nation’s airspace [...]
Current research and experimentation with metamaterials have led to advancements in the development of invisibility. Metamaterials can be used to make objects appear invisible by bending light around those objects through refraction instead of away from those objects by reflection. Though no natural material exhibits this behavior, engineers are working to design cloaking devices with [...]
Brain-computer interfaces have offered the opportunity for highly disabled patients with motor disabilities to live more normal lives. The recent innovations in thought-controlled wheelchairs using EEG technology will allow patients to not only communicate with their surroundings but to also navigate around them. The development of this technology could potentially make a huge impact on [...]
Electronic ink mimics the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. It is currently used in cell phones, signs, and e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. There are many ways to imitate natural ink displays, but the most commonly used method is electrophoretic ink. This ink takes advantage of interactions between computer processors and charged black and [...]
Over the last decade, the game of hockey has changed significantly, especially due to advances in composite hockey stick technology. This paper discusses the progression of hockey stick composition throughout the years as well as important properties of hockey sticks and how the composition of sticks affects these properties. It also examines the slap shot, [...]
Rarely are cakes thought of as miniature buildings, but they are actually governed by the same physics that keep homes and offices upright. As such, multi-layered cakes are subject building like forces and need a support system that will hold the weight of the different layers. They share many structural elements with modern day skyscrapers [...]
Decaffeinated coffee is a popular beverage in cafes and homes throughout the world. There are several different methods used to decaffeinate coffee, including the direct method, indirect method, carbon dioxide method, and the Swiss Water Process. While the first three methods involve chemical treatment of the coffee beans, the last one—Swiss Water Process—does not involve [...]
The National Academy of Engineering recently released fourteen Grand Challenges for the engineers of the 21st century. These challenges reflect global problems that range from the creation of new energy sources to the advancement of healthcare informatics. With the growth of informatics technology, more patient files are making their way onto hard-drives and servers, which [...]
Advancements in technology over the last 150 years have allowed people to spread music throughout the world by recording sound into a physical form and replaying it at their convenience. Music reproduction began in the late 19th century with the advent of the vinyl album, the first invention to let the masses record audio into [...]
Pole vaulting is an incredibly dynamic and complex sport that requires high levels of athleticism, precision, and skill. The process of the vault involves the transfer of energy from the vaulter to the pole, and finally back to the vaulter as he is launched into the air. As a result, the vault relies heavily on [...]
The quadrotor is an emerging Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) that may have limitless applications. Departing from a century old design, modern quadrotors are evolving into small and agile vehicles. After already proving their usefulness as aerial imaging tools, new research is allowing quadrotors to communicate intelligently with other autonomous vehicles, to explore unknown environments, and [...]
Image depth is created by three processes: layering, line perspective, and binocular stereoscopy. The first two are most effective in creating 2D paintings while binocular stereoscopy is used in 3D media today. Stereoscopy employs the same principles as natural binocular vision by layering two slightly different images, which will then be separated for each eye, [...]
Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) use bacteria to convert organic waste material into electrical energy. This environmentally-friendly process produces electricity without the combustion of fossil fuels. MFCs have various practical applications such as in breweries, domestic wastewater treatment, desalination plants, hydrogen production, remote sensing, and pollution remediation, and they can be used as a remote power [...]
The Olympic Games are the world’s largest international athletic competition. Every two years, viewers from around the globe tune in to the Olympics to cheer on their nations’ most celebrated athletes. The heroic athletic performances of the Olympics will always be remembered, but what is often forgotten is the incredible preparation effort completed by each [...]
Urban sprawl and a lack of public transportation infrastructure have led to ever increasing traffic congestion, as people commute to most of their daily activities. Traffic-actuated signals have been created to alleviate this problem by efficiently managing traffic flow. The system is capable of detecting live traffic data and assigning the appropriate light cycle (for [...]
Modern music recognition software has taken the guesswork out of locating music. With just a tap of a finger, smartphone users everywhere can record, send, and analyze 15 seconds worth of music to receive a response with the track name in only a matter of seconds. By analyzing a song’s unique “audio fingerprint” and reducing [...]
The demand for power in the United States is rising every year, mostly due to population growth and the increasing use of and dependence on electronics. Our current power grid, being nearly a century old, is simply struggling to keep up. The development of a Smart Grid is a necessary improvement for this country’s infrastructure [...]
