A federal panel Monday sided with environmentalists who have called for lengthy hearings on a plan to restart the ailing San Onofre nuclear power plant — a decision that further clouds the future of the twin reactors. The plant between San Diego and Los Angeles hasn’t produced electricity since January 2012, after a small radiation […]
Automotive/Transportation
Combo MEMS inertial sensors motor their way to brisk growth in the automotive market
El Segundo, Calif. (May 13, 2013)—Combo microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors for automotive applications are off to another exhilarating ride this year as revenue continues to climb, spurred by rapidly accelerating use in car safety systems, according to an IHS iSuppli MEMS & Sensors Report from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS). Global revenue in […]
Kickstarter of the Week: 128 Miles Per Gallon
Today on PD&D’s Kickstarter of the Week, we’re exploring the northern reaches of Wisconsin on a gas-powered, DC Lowrider bicycle from Sunny Hill Cycles. Read the full story here, and don’t forget to support the Kickstarter campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1926355577/sunny-hill-cycles-project.
Team Observes Real-Time Charging of a Lithium-Air Battery
One of the most promising new kinds of battery to power electric cars is called a lithium-air battery, which could store up to four times as much energy per pound as today’s best lithium-ion batteries. But progress has been slow: The nature of the electrochemical reactions as these batteries are charged remains poorly understood. Researchers […]
Custom-Designed, Gas-Powered Bicycle
In the quiet reaches of Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay, Sunny Hill Cycles is turning heads and making bike aficionados drool. The Sunny Hill Cycles Signature Series bike is a gas-powered, custom designed, DC Lowrider bicycle. Check out the PD&D Kickstarter of the Week video. This motorized bike features a sleek, retro design and […]
One by One, Homes in Calif. Subdivision Sinking
Scott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March. Read: The Earth is Eating People The cracks soon turned into gaping fractures, and within two weeks their 600-square-foot garage broke from the house and the entire property — manicured lawn […]
America’s Cup Fatality Raises Safety Questions
Sailors know the risks and rewards that come with these new space-age America’s Cup boats that speed like race cars across the waves. Still, the death of British Olympic champion Andrew “Bart” Simpson during a training session on San Francisco Bay gives fresh urgency as they chase the oldest trophy in international sports this summer. […]
Amtrak Unveils Locomotives to Replace Aging Fleet
When Amtrak unveils the first of 70 new locomotives Monday at a plant in California, it will mark what the national passenger railroad service hopes will be a new era of better reliability, streamlined maintenance and better energy efficiency. On a broader scale, the new engines could well be viewed as emblematic of the improving […]
Photos of the Day: Tracking Carbon Footprints
Riley Duren, the chief systems engineer for the Earth Science and Technology Directorate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL), shows the global map of carbon dioxide at Mount Wilson, Calif., Friday, April 12, 2013. A mile above this city, sensors gaze down on the basin from atop Mount Wilson the way a satellite fixates on Earth, […]
Graphene Joins the Race to Redefine the Ampere
A new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world’s first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in a paper today in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a […]