Innovative waste heat recovery experiment in Sweden

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden has set up a small fuel cell-powered data center in Luleå, a coastal city in northern Sweden, for the recovery of waste heat. The fuel cells generate electricity used to power the Edge data center and supply the excess heat to the local district heating and cooling grid.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/innovative-waste-heat-recovery-experiment-in-sweden

New cutting-edge thermoplastic materials for the aerospace sector

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) coordinates the HITCOMP (High Temperature Characterisation and Modelling of Thermoplastic Composites) project within the Horizon 2020 program, which aims to study the possible advantages of thermoplastic materials in the aerospace industry.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/new-cutting-edge-thermoplastic-materials-for-the-aerospace-sector

Airplane mode: Why don't commercial jets stream their flight recorder data?

Shortly after Air France flight 447 took off from Rio De Janeiro in June 2009, it entered a storm, vanished from air control systems, and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. It took more than 2 years for the wreckage to be found, along with the information it held about what went wrong. So why don't planes just send out flight recorder data constantly throughout a flight?

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/airplane-mode-why-dont-commercial-jets-stream-their-flight-recorder-data

New digital tool reveals spheres of influence of big tech companies

Today sees the launch of the website "Sphere Transgression Watch," which reveals how major technology companies are gaining more and more influence in different areas of our society. The Digital Good research team led by Prof. Tamar Sharon invites other researchers and interested parties to use the digital tool and contribute their own examples.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/new-digital-tool-reveals-spheres-of-influence-of-big-tech-companies

China is gunning for supremacy in the global green hydrogen race. Will it shatter Australia's dreams?

This week's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns global warming is headed for dangerous levels unless greenhouse gas emissions halve this decade. This cannot be achieved without a huge effort from China, the world's biggest emitter.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/china-is-gunning-for-supremacy-in-the-global-green-hydrogen-race-will-it-shatter-australias-dreams

Edmunds picks 5 SUVs to help you save at the pump

As of this writing, the national average fuel price is $4.24 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. Up 20% from a month ago, gas prices aren't likely to taper or deflate unless crude oil supply improves or consumer demand softens. Until that happens, costly fill-ups are hitting Americans who are already grappling with inflation.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/edmunds-picks-5-suvs-to-help-you-save-at-the-pump

An alternative low-cost technique to produce metal powders for 3D printing

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as metal 3D printing, creates objects by addition of material, layer by layer. A major source material for AM is metal powder, which is predominantly produced using a technique called atomization, in which a molten metal stream is broken up into fine droplets using air or water jets. However, despite its widespread use, atomization returns poor yield, is expensive, and is inflexible in the types of materials it can handle. A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) led by Koushik Viswanathan, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has identified an alternative technique to produce metal powders that side-steps these problems. This has interesting implications for AM processes in general, including areas such as the manufacture of biomedical implants.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/an-alternative-low-cost-technique-to-produce-metal-powders-for-3d-printing

New method compares machine-learning model's reasoning to that of a human

In machine learning, understanding why a model makes certain decisions is often just as important as whether those decisions are correct. For instance, a machine-learning model might correctly predict that a skin lesion is cancerous, but it could have done so using an unrelated blip on a clinical photo.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/new-method-compares-machine-learning-models-reasoning-to-that-of-a-human

Giant grass miscanthus is a bioethanol source with negative CO2 balance

A significant reduction in greenhouse gas is feasible. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. The trick: A combination of bioethanol production from renewable resources with carbon capture and storage technologies. Depending on the calculation approach used, a reduction of more than 100 percent compared to the EU benchmark for fossil fuels is thus likely—meaning there can even be a negative CO2 balance. The processes uses the giant grass miscanthus, which has successfully proven its suitability for this form of biofuel production within the European EU joint project GRACE.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/giant-grass-miscanthus-is-a-bioethanol-source-with-negative-co2-balance

Clean and sustainable fuels could be derived by combining ammonia with complementary combustion-modifying additives

A low-carbon sustainable fuel mixture, derived primarily from renewably generated ammonia, could power next-generation internal combustion engines (ICEs). Blending ammonia with a small amount of dimethyl ether (DME) gives a liquid fuel with low-temperature combustion properties very similar to gasoline, researchers at KAUST have shown. The development of such fuels could provide an option—in addition to electric cars—for "clean" power for the transportation sector.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/clean-and-sustainable-fuels-could-be-derived-by-combining-ammonia-with-complementary-combustion-modifying-additives

On-the-fly reconfigurable magnetic slime used as a robot

A team of researchers affiliated with a host of entities in China has created a type of magnetic slime that can be configured on the fly to perform a variety of robotic tasks. In their paper published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the group describes their slime, possible uses for it and the actions they have taken to make it less toxic.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/on-the-fly-reconfigurable-magnetic-slime-used-as-a-robot

Could a computer ever learn the same way people and animals do?

Whether a computer could ever pass for a living thing is one of the key challenges for researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. There have been vast advancements in AI since Alan Turing first created what is now called the Turing Test—whether a machine could exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. However, machines still struggle with one of the fundamental skills that is second nature for humans and other life forms: lifelong learning. That is, learning and adapting while we're doing a task without forgetting previous tasks, or intuitively transferring knowledge gleaned from one task to a different area.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/could-a-computer-ever-learn-the-same-way-people-and-animals-do