Engineering news
Better engines and fuels 'the quickest way to cut car emissions’
Professional Engineering
Uptake of electric vehicles is too slow and the technology itself is not yet efficient enough to quickly make significant cuts to emissions, a new IMechE report has said. The quickest way to cut emissions is instead to improve efficiency of internal combustion engines and switch to low-carbon fuels, according to Accelerating Road Transport: Decarbonisation.
Boeing’s first annual loss in more than 20 years
The Wall Street Journal
Costs related to the two 737 Max crashes and subsequent grounding have reached over $19bn for Boeing, which posted its first annual loss in more than 20 years this week. The world’s largest aerospace company recently suspended production of the airliner, which is not currently approved to fly.
Salary transparency key to closing gender pay gap
Professional Engineering
Transparency around salaries is one of the most important steps a firm can take to reduce the gender pay gap, says a new report from the Royal Academy of Engineering. According to Closing the engineering pay gap, female engineers earn a mean 10.8% less than male engineers, a median of 11.4%.
Bionic jellyfish could use newfound speed to patrol the ocean
Professional Engineering
It sounds like it could be a terrible idea – giving jellyfish prosthetics to make them faster. They could be an important solution to a big problem however. Researchers in California developed the tiny prosthetics, which enable the creatures to swim faster and more efficiently than they normally do without causing stress. Bionic jellyfish could one day explore and record information in oceans around the world.
‘Grave concern’ as UK car manufacturing drops to lowest level since 2010
Professional Engineering
British car manufacturing fell for a third consecutive year in 2019, reaching the lowest level since 2010. The day before the UK leaves the EU, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) voiced fears about the potential state of the sector after Brexit. According to new SMMT figures, the industry built 1.3m cars last year – a fall of 14.2%.
Fast-track visas and new research funding ‘go some way to addressing Brexit fears’
Professional Engineering
Research community fears of losing funding and struggling to recruit overseas researchers post-Brexit have been partially addressed by new government announcements, the IMechE’s engineering policy adviser has said. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced a new fast-track visa scheme to attract the world’s top scientists, researchers and mathematicians on Monday (27 January). The visa reforms coincided with up to £300m of new government funding for “experimental and imaginative” mathematical science research by the best global talent over the next five years.
Sweaty hands for soft robots
The Engineer
The week after researchers unveiled a technology to make mobile devices ‘sweat’, a team from Cornell University in New York state has revealed a 3D-printed soft robot hand that also cools itself by ‘sweating’ water. The technique could be vital for consistent operation of durable and adaptable robots, the researchers said.
MeyGen tidal-energy array exports electricity for whole of 2019
Professional Engineering
The world’s largest tidal-stream array ran for the whole of 2019, the longest ever period of uninterrupted generation from a multi-megawatt tidal turbine installation. The MeyGen array, between the northern coast of mainland Scotland and the island of Stroma, exported energy equivalent to the annual consumption of about 3,800 UK homes in 2019. The Simec Atlantis project has now sent 24.7GWh of electricity to the grid.
SpaceX ‘mega-constellation’ grows bigger
Space.com
SpaceX added 60 new satellites to its Starlink ‘mega-constellation’ this week. The satellites are designed to provide global internet coverage, but the scale of the project has been criticised for a potential increased risk of collisions with other spacecraft and interference with scientific observations.
Blue crab and seaweed combined into ‘sturdy and anti-microbial’ fibres
Professional Engineering
A ‘sturdy and anti-microbial’ new material created by combining two marine materials could be a useful tool in biomedical engineering. The fibres, created with chitin nanoparticles from residual blue crab shells and alginate from seaweed, could potentially be used as threads for surgical procedures and webs for internal tissue engineering.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.