I assume many of my readers are either engineers, or interested in engineering and its effects on society, so what I am about to say may surprise you. It is simply this: engineers are playing a role in American society that may end American society as we have known it up to now. Let me […]
Automotive/Transportation
Miss. Part of $29M Agreement with Toyota
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says Mississippi will receive about $561,288 in a multi-state settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. over problems with accelerator pedals. Hood says Mississippi will be getting part of a $29 million pot split among 29 different states and American Samoa. State attorney generals claimed Toyota failed to disclose dangerous safety defects […]
Duke Energy Sues Ohio City Over Streetcar Plans
A power company has sued Cincinnati, saying the company should not have to pay to relocate utility lines for a streetcar project. Duke Energy Corp.’s lawsuit filed last week in a Hamilton County court says a city ordinance requiring Duke to pay to relocate the lines is unconstitutional. Duke wants the estimated $15 million cost […]
BMW Recalls Nearly 570,000 Cars to Fix Cables
BMW is recalling almost 570,000 cars in the U.S. and Canada because a battery cable connector can fail and cause the engines to stall. The recall affects popular 3-Series sedans, wagons, convertibles and coupes from the 2007 through 2011 model years. Also included are 1-Series coupes and convertibles from 2008 through 2012, and the Z4 […]
Turning Waste Heat into Electricity on the Nanoscale
A new type of nanoscale engine has been proposed that would use quantum dots to generate electricity from waste heat, potentially making microcircuits more efficient. “The system is really a simple one, which exploits certain properties of quantum dots to harvest heat,” Professor Andrew Jordan of the University of Rochester said. “Despite this simplicity, the […]
A Dual Look at Photosystem II Using the World’s Most Powerful X-Ray Laser
From providing living cells with energy, to nitrogen fixation, to the splitting of water molecules, the catalytic activities of metalloenzymes – proteins that contain a metal ion – are vital to life on Earth. A better understanding of the chemistry behind these catalytic activities could pave the way for exciting new technologies, most prominently artificial […]
VA Part of $29M Agreement with Toyota
Virginia has joined 28 other states in a $29 million agreement with Toyota Motor Corp. over allegations the company concealed safety issues related to unintended acceleration. In a complaint filed along with the agreement, the states allege Toyota engaged in unfair and deceptive practices when it failed to timely disclose known safety defects with accelerator […]
Playing Quantum Tricks with Measurements
A team of physicists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, performed an experiment that seems to contradict the foundations of quantum theory – at first glance. The team led by Rainer Blatt reversed a quantum measurement in a prototype quantum information processor. The experiment is enabled by a technique that has been developed for quantum […]
Passengers Slog Home After Engine Fire on Gulf Cruise
Passengers finally escaped the disabled Carnival cruise ship Triumph and were on the move Friday: some checked into hotels while others hopped on buses or jumped on charter flights home after five numbing days at sea on a cruise liner paralyzed by an engine-room fire. The vacation ship carrying some 4,200 people docked late […]
U.S. Unaware of Fraud as It Gives Egypt Co Tax Break
State and local officials promised an Egyptian company $200 million in tax breaks to build a fertilizer plant in southeast Iowa without knowledge of a pending lawsuit alleging one of the company’s subsidiaries defrauded U.S. taxpayers out of millions of dollars, officials told The Associated Press. The Iowa Economic Development Authority and Lee County approved […]