Stanford Engineering Library Blog

Purdue engineers have assembled nanowires to create a proof-of-concept active-matrix display similar to those in television sets and computer monitors. Read more at Purdue News.

Scientists at U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are answering the call for alternative fuels by chemically manipulating algae for production of the next generation of renewable fuels – hydrogen gas. Read more about the project at Argonne Labs News.

Ohio State University has held the crown for Earth's biggest WLAN with 1,700 access points.

However Cisco said that it is installing a 2,500 access point Aironet 1250 Series network at Duke, which will blanket six million square feet of central North Carolina in WiFi. Read more at ChannelWeb.

We now have a better view of where carbon dioxide is being emitted thanks to a research project led by assistant professor Kevin Gurney at Purdue. The Vulcan map shows where carbon dioxide is being emitted in the continental United States in 10-kilometer grids and combines data from sources including factories, automobiles on highways and power plants.
Read more about the project in Purdue News.

Arizona State researchers suggest that ordinary laundering can wash off substantial amounts of the nanosilver particles from socks impregnated with the material. intended to prevent foot odor, thereby polluting aquatic resources downstream of waste water plants. Read more at EurekAlert!.

Widely available in Japan, China, India and other countries, bamboo fabric is soft, durable and elastic. Subhash Appidi and Ajoy Sarkar, Ph.D., from Colorado State University have now discovered a way of making bamboo fabric that is resistant to the sun's damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation and has anti-bacterial properties. Read more about their research in EurekAlert!.

Researchers at Northwestern University have used metallic nanotubes to make thin films that are semitransparent, highly conductive, flexible and come in a variety of colors, with an appearance similar to stained glass. Read more at Science Daily.

Work Matters points to a wonderful online magazine, ChangeThis. From the main page: “ChangeThis is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread.” Some of my favorite papers, or manifestos as they are called, include “The New Time Management: Simply Focus on the Fundamentals, and Toss Away the Tips” and “The 10 1/2 Commandments of Visual Thinking: The "Lost Chapter" from The Back of the Napkin.”

ChangeThis is a keeper. The manifestos are engaging, authoritative, relevant, timely. You can reproduce and distribute them as long as you don’t alter them. It’s definitely going on my recommended list of open Web resources for Management Science & Engineering.

Scientists have argued at length over the origin of what some have imagined to be a microscopic "glue" that binds the electrons into pairs, now a team at Princeton is saying that high-temperature superconductivity does not hinge on a magical glue binding electrons together. The secret may rest on the ability of electrons to take advantage of their natural repulsion. Read more at News at Princeton.

The planned Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission will launch before the agency's moon exploration activities accelerate during the next decade. LADEE will gather detailed information about conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust. Read more at the NASA website.

Build, CRAFT, hack, play, MAKE.

Arts • Crafts • Engineering • Food • Green • Music • Science • Technology

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. Coming on May 3 & 4 to the San Mateo County Fairgrounds. Discount ticket sales end on April 25th, 2008.

Reporting their peer-reviewed findings in the journal Science, Dr Kostya Novoselov and Professor Andre Geim from The School of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Manchester show that graphene can be carved into tiny electronic circuits with individual transistors having a size not much larger than that of a molecule. Read more at the
University website.

Applications to test products before production are constantly improving. Here's the latest:
"From cars and mobile phones to computers and furniture, most of today's products are created virtually on a computer before they are actually produced. In the context of the Functional DMU (Digital Mock-Up) project, researchers from four Fraunhofer Institutes are adding new functionalities to digital product development." Read the ScienceNews article

One of the strongest La Niñas in many years is slowly weakening but continues to blanket the Pacific Ocean near the equator, as shown by new sea-level height data collected by the U.S.-French Jason oceanographic satellite. For more information on NASA's ocean surface topography missions, see: http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ ; or to view the latest Jason data, visit: http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/jason1-quick-look/ .

Concern about the potential health effects of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical widely used in consumer plastic products, is growing, following the release this week of a draft report from the US National Toxicology Program (NTP). Water bottle manufacturer Nalgene announced April 18 it would phase out use of BPA in its containers in response to public concern about the chemical.
For those who are concerned about BPA exposure, the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences recommends these steps:

* Don't microwave polycarbonate plastic food containers. Polycarbonate is strong and durable, but over time it may break down from over use at high temperatures.
* Polycarbonate containers that contain BPA usually have a #7 on the bottom.

More information is available from the American Cancer Society.

The SEMAINE project being developed by an international team is building a Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, which perceives a human user's facial expression, gaze, and voice and then engage with the user. When engaging with a human, the SAL will be able to adapt its own performance and pursue different actions, depending on the non-verbal behaviour of the user. Read more at Queen's University (Belfast) News.

Fort Bragg, CA - The town is considering a project to use mushrooms for bioremediation after years of dioxin contamination from a former Georgia-Pacific mill. The city has approved a pilot project to test the effectiveness of mushrooms to extract dioxins.

Full article from The New York Times, 4/27/08
Saddled With Legacy of Dioxin, Town Considers an Odd Ally: The Mushroom, by Annie Correal

The Stanford chapter of Energy Crossroads proudly presents "From Vision to Action: Sparking Global Change", April 30-May1, 2008.

With keynotes by - Cathy Zoi, CEO of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection and Michael Shellenberger, Author of/ Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility.

Free with Student ID or Stanford Affiliates cards, $30 general public. Visit http://stanford.energycrossroads.org for registration and full conference agenda.

The Difference Engine No. 2 Exhibit, on display for the first time in North America, will spend a year at the Computer History Museum. Visitors to the Museum will have the unprecedented opportunity to see and hear the Engine working – a stunning display of Victorian mechanics and one of the earliest designs for an automatic computing engine. The machine, one of only two ever built, is an arresting spectacle.

Open House Saturday, May 10, 2008
Babbage Lecture: 2:30 p.m.
Open House: 12 noon - 5:00 p.m.

To sign up for Dr. Swade's lecture, please click here.

To sign up for your coupon for free popcorn, please click here.

For open hours and more information, visit www.computerhistory.org or call 650.810.1010.