The Vulcan 2 3D printer can print a house in just 24 hours of print time. This technology is currently being put to the test in rural Mexico, where it’s being used to build the world’s first 3D-printed community, designed for residents living on less than $3 a day.
The conical 3 blade Archimedes turbine channels air or water from up to 60 degrees of the central axis, making it far more efficient than traditional turbine designs, ideal for natural power generation when out in the wilderness.
Robotic construction company Apis Cor has used its technology to build the world’s largest 3D-printed building, a two-storey administrative office in Dubai.
Measuring 9.5 metres high with a floor area of 640 square metres, Apis Cor built the record-breaking structure for the Dubai Municipality. Apis Cor developed a gypsum-based material to run through the printer and sourced a local producer. The printing took place out in the open, to prove that the technology could handle a harsh environment without humidity and temperature control.
During this decade, as in previous decades, Caltech scientists and engineers reinvented the landscape of scientific endeavor: from the first detection of gravitational waves and the discovery of evidence for a ninth planet in the solar system; to bold missions to explore and understand the solar system; to the development of new methods to see inside the body and the brain and understand the universe around us; to the invention of devices to improve human health, some taking inspiration from nature; to the initiation of a transformative new effort to support research into the most pressing challenges in environmental sustainability.
Though the brain orchestrates how we experience the world, many questions remain about its complex workings. During the past 10 years, Caltech scientists have discovered how the brain recognizes faces and drives and quenches thirst, and learned about the pathways that govern sleep. A major focus has been on understanding the experience of non-neurotypical individuals, such as those who have autism or those who are missing a brain hemisphere. New realms of neuroscience research were made possible in 2016, when philanthropists Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen announced a gift to establish the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.
Cruise ships are getting larger and the activities on board more extreme. WSJ’s Scott McCartney visits a shipyard in Finland to see how the cruise operator Carnival is able to pack so much on a ship — including a rollercoaster — and still have it float.
Rolls-Royce has rolled out to the public for the first time its Accel aeroplane which it hopes will earn the blue-chip engineer a place in history by smashing the current speed record for an electrically-powered aircraft. The battery-powered Accel is targeting a top speed in excess of 300mph over four 3,000-metre runs during a single flight when goes for the record off the Welsh coast in the summer.
“We are modernizing Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and its six sites for the future. A comprehensive Facilities Master Plan is an essential element in developing a blueprint for the future of our Center. Goddard recognizes the importance of fostering a work environment that is enjoyable, rewarding and aligned with meeting the challenges of tomorrow. The Master Plan will develop the infrastructure to support our business goals and missions, inform future investment decisions and respond to the growth and diversity of our mission and customer requirements. Its content will be informed by site visits, stakeholder interviews and workshops at all campuses, starting at the Greenbelt campus. This will be followed by similar efforts at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas, White Sands Complex in New Mexico, Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and Katherine Johnson Independent Verification & Validation Facility in West Virginia.Goddard’s master plan process is scheduled to continue through 2021.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a deeply interconnected ecosystem of billions of devices and systems that are transforming commerce, science, and society. As part of the 2019–2020 Fellows’ Presentation Series at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Francine Berman RI ’20 explores the larger social and environmental ecosystem needed to develop an IoT that maximizes benefits, minimizes risk, and promotes individual protections, the public good, and planetary responsibility.
Berman is the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She is the 2019–2020 Katherine Hampson Bessell Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
For seven years, Ikea has treated the smart home as a hobby. That’s changing now that Björn Block’s Home Smart division has been promoted to the same importance as Living Room, Bedroom, and all the other Ikea businesses that have come to define the company.
Ikea faces the challenge of teaming up with Google, Amazon, Apple, and other tech giants while also battling them for primacy in the home.