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Listen to features highlighting engineering innovations and stories that add technical context to issues in the news — part of a National Academy of Engineering project with the Washington, D.C. region's only all-news radio station, WTOP Radio.

4/17/2009
NY Times
Hubble repair man John Grunsfeld talks about his mission to repair the telescope

4/16/2009
Science Daily
Implementing Sustainable Technology To Monitor The Integrity Of U.S. Bridges
Today, humans perform visual inspections every two years of most of the nation's older bridges. But with a scarcity of inspectors and tens of thousands of bridges, that process can be long and laborious.

4/14/2009
Science Daily
Engineers Create DNA Sensors That Could Identify Cancer Using Material Only One Atom Thick
Kansas State University engineers think the possibilities are deep for a very thin material.

4/11/2009
NY Times
Tech Recruiting Clashes With Immigration Rules
Immigrants like Mr. Mavinkurve are the lifeblood of Google and Silicon Valley, where half the engineers were born overseas, up from 10 percent in 1970.

4/10/2009
CNN
Seals and robotic subs monitor Antarctic climate change
Elephant seals equipped with electronic tags and robotic mini submarines using sonar were just two projects during the International Polar Year (IPY) that aimed to investigate the effects of global warming in polar regions.

4/9/2009
CNN
Inventor turns cardboard boxes into eco-friendly oven
When Jon Bohmer sat down with his two little girls for a simple project they could work on together, he didn't realize they'd hit upon a solution to one of the world's biggest problems for just $5: A solar-powered oven.



4/3/2009
LA Times
Wind turbines could more than meet U.S. electricity needs
The Interior Department report, which looks at the potential of wind turbines off the U.S. coast, is part of the government's process to chart a course for offshore energy development.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-energy3-2009apr03,0,7532220.story

4/3/2009
EurekAlert
University of Kansas engineers use composite materials to extend life of existing bridges
A team of University of Kansas engineers is testing a new class of devices that could double the life of America's existing bridges using composite materials.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/uok-uok033109.php

4/2/2009
Federal Computer Week
U.S., Switzerland sign technology agreement
The United States and Switzerland have entered into an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation designed to foster joint research programs, State Department officials announced today.
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/04/02/swiss-agreement.aspx

3/31/2009
CNN
Can 'biochar' save the planet?
Over the railroad tracks, near Agriculture Drive on the University of Georgia campus, sits a unique machine that may hold one of the solutions to big environmental problems like energy, food production and even global climate change.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/30/biochar.warming.energy/index.html

3/30/2009
NY Times
Concrete Is Remixed With Environment in Mind
Soaring above the Mississippi River just east of downtown Minneapolis is one remarkable concrete job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/science/earth/31conc.html?_r=1&ref=science

3/27/2009
Times Higher Education
Policymaking ‘requires engineering advisers’
The Government should appoint a Chief Engineer as well as a Chief Social Scientist and Chief Scientist, MPs have recommended, after warning that ministers are failing to listen to expert advice when making and delivering policy.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405958&c=1

3/19/2009
CNN
Artist uses optical tricks to create 'moving' murals
But as young men in sweats and sneakers make their way into the gym, something strange happens. The mural comes alive. The photo of a beaming Lewis in formal attire transforms into Lewis the basketball player, streaking down the court.

3/19/2009
LA Times
Discovery astronauts install solar wings
The pieces will bring the International Space Station to full power, crucial for boosting science research and doubling its crew.

3/18/2009
Science Daily
Engineer Devises Ways To Improve Gas Mileage
A mechanical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis is developing techniques that will lessen our monetary pain at the pump by reducing the drag of vehicles

3/18/2009
NY Times
Computer Experts Unite to Hunt Worm
An extraordinary behind-the-scenes struggle is taking place between computer security groups around the world and the brazen author of a malicious software program called Conficker.

3/16/2009
Science Daily
Student-designed Device Provides New Way To Track Calorie Burning
A group of Georgia Tech students has crafted a device that allows individuals to constantly compute the amount of calories they burn – even as they sleep.

3/12/2009
Science Daily
Wag The Robot? Robot Responds To Human Gestures
Imagine a day when you turn to your own personal robot, give it a task and then sit down and relax, confident that your robot is doing exactly what you wanted it to do.

3/10/2009
NY Times
Vacuuming the reef
In the Hawaiian Islands, researchers have developed the "Supersucker," a machine for removing a type of reef-damaging algae, which poses a problem for reefs worldwide.



3/6/2009
CNN
Winged luxury submarines 'fly' underwater
Most people have had dreams of flying. Graham Hawkes had dreams of flying -- underwater.

3/6/2009
LA Times
Cancer threat removed from stem cells
Skin cells are reprogrammed into iPS cells and purged of cancer-causing viruses and genes need to create them, researchers report. An iPS cell is key to regenerative medicine.

3/6/2009
CNN
Spacecraft to blast off in search of 'Earths'
Calling it a mission that may fundamentally change humanity's view of itself, NASA on Friday prepared to launch a telescope that will search our corner of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-like planets.

3/5/2009
Science Daily
Simple Device Can Ensure Food Gets To The Store Bacteria Free
A Purdue University researcher has found a way to eliminate bacteria in packaged foods such as spinach and tomatoes, a process that could eliminate worries concerning some food-borne illnesses.

3/5/2009
LA Times
AIDS researchers turn attention to microbicides
With AIDS vaccine efforts at an impasse, microbicides -- virus-blocking gels inserted into the vagina before sexual intercourse -- have risen from their own string of setbacks to once again offer hope of preventing HIV infections, at least in women.

3/5/2009
CNN
Energy-gobbling city home to biggest solar roof
With its energy-gobbling casinos, Atlantic City, New Jersey, isn't exactly known as a city that conserves electricity. Its motto: "Always turned on."

3/4/2009
CMU
Carnegie Mellon Engineers Create Innovative Mobile Video Service to Give Sports Fans Unprecedented Access to Key Plays
Carnegie Mellon University engineering faculty, Priya Narasimhan and Rajeev Gandhi, and their students have created a new, unique large-scale mobile wireless video service designed to enhance sports fans' experience at games.

2/26/2009
The National Academies
Loss of Satellite to Monitor CO2 a Setback for Research
The rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory did not reach orbit due to the payload’s failure to separate, sending the satellite into the ocean near Antarctica. The observatory was to be NASA’s first effort to map carbon dioxide emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere from space.


2/10/09
IHT
Google taking a step into power metering
Google will announce its entry Tuesday into the small but growing business of "smart grid," digital technologies that seek to both keep the electrical system on an even keel and reduce electrical energy consumption.


2/5/2009
Science Daily
Bone Marrow Cells Can Heal Nerves In Diabetes Model
Transplanting cells that replenish blood vessels can also restore nerve function in an animal model of diabetic neuropathy, Emory researchers have found.

2/5/2009
CNN
Fighting hunger with flood-tolerant rice
If every scientist hopes to make at least one important discovery in her career, then University of California-Davis professor Pamela Ronald and her colleagues may have hit the jackpot.

2/2/2009
NY Times
Google Earth Fills Its Watery Gaps
Two and a half years ago, the software engineers behind Google Earth, the searchable online replica of the planet, were poised to fill an enormous data gap, adding the two-thirds of the globe that is covered by water in reality and was blue, and blank, online.

2/2/2009
NY Times
Quantum Teleportation
Researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute have teleported quantum information between two distant atoms for the first time.

2/2/2009
Chemical and Engineering News
NASA's soon-to-be-launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory will help map sources and sinks of the greenhouse gas
After months of delays, a satellite designed to help generate the first detailed, time-resolved global maps of carbon dioxide sources and sinks is slated for launch on Feb. 23.

1/30/2009
Science Daily
Robots To Clean Your Kitchen And Play A Game Of Hockey?
Alexander Stoytchev and his three graduate students recently presented one of their robot's long and shiny arms to a visitor.

1/29/2009
New York Times
Mars Rover Doing Well After Memory Glitch
NASA’s Mars Spirit rover may be rolling again as soon as this weekend, although engineers remain perplexed as to what caused it to lose memory and abort an attempted drive last Sunday.

1/26/2009
New York Times
A Tool to Verify Digital Records, Even as Technology Shifts
Simple-to-use digital technology will make it more difficult to distort history in the future.

1/26/2009
Science Daily
Baby Beetles Inspire Scientists To Build 'Mini Boat' Powered By Surface Tension
Inspired by the aquatic wriggling of beetle larvae, a University of Pittsburgh research team has designed a propulsion system that strips away paddles, sails, and motors and harnesses the energy within the water's surface.


1/21/2009
Science Daily
Sailboat to Sail Autonomously Across the Atlantic
Eight mechanical engineering students have taken on something big: in the context of their focus project, they are designing a sailing boat to sail autonomously across the Atlantic.

1/20/2009
New York Times
Cell Networks Survive Inaugural Crush
The nation’s major wireless carriers spent millions of dollars to temporarily upgrade their networks in Washington for the inauguration. The hope was that inauguration goers would leave feeling good about the country and not lousy about their cell service.

1/16/2009
Science Daily
Next Generation Cloaking Device Demonstrated
A device that can bestow invisibility to an object by "cloaking" it from visual light is closer to reality.

1/16/2009
Science Daily
Microscopic 'Hands' For Building Tomorrow’s Machines
In a finding straight out of science fiction, chemical and biomolecular engineers in Maryland are describing development of microscopic, chemically triggered robotic “hands” that can pick up and move small objects.

1/15/2009
Science Daily
Could Ice-like Cages Be Used To Trap Carbon Dioxide Underground?
Ice-like “cages” of gas trapped underground may offer a safe and efficient way to reduce global warming.

1/12/2009
NY Times
Mapping the Sea and Its Mysteries
In 1953, when Sylvia A. Earle began studying algae, the marine plants and related microbes were often considered weeds or worse. Boaters ridiculed them as scum that turned patches of sea into pea soup.

1/12/2009
NY Times
A Breakthrough in Imaging: A New Way to See a Virus
Researchers at an I.B.M. laboratory have captured a three-dimensional image of a biological virus using, for the first time, a technique that has some similarity to magnetic resonance imaging, a tool routinely used by physicians to peer inside the human body.


1/9/2009
Science Daily
New Power Line De-icing System Developed
Dartmouth engineering professor and entrepreneur Victor Petrenko—along with his colleagues at Dartmouth and at Ice Engineering LLC in Lebanon, N.H.—have invented a way to cheaply and effectively keep ice off power lines.

1/9/2009
CNN
Stem cell discovery could mean faster healing
Researchers have found a way to prompt bone marrow to release a flood of certain stem cells which could help heart attack patients recover faster.

1/08/2009
Science Daily
Tilting At Wind Farms
A way to make wind power smoother and more efficient that exploits the inertia of a wind turbine rotor could help solve the problem of wind speed variation, according to research published in the International Journal of Power Electronics.

1/6/2009
NY Times
In China, Growth Still Trumping Green?
Despite the recent dive in China’s electricity generation in the recession, it’s clear the country’s drive to urbanize and industrialize is going to require ever more energy, and coal remains the fuel of first and last resort.

12/31/2008
LA Times
NASA report details last moments of Columbia crew
Poor design of their pressure suits led the seven astronauts aboard the Columbia space shuttle to black out almost immediately as the craft started breaking apart during reentry in 2003, and they were probably killed by the violent contortions, a NASA panel said Tuesday.

12/22/2008
Chemical and Engineering News
High-Sensitivity Imaging
A new, high-sensitivity Raman microscopy method allows researchers to distinguish different types of lipids in living cells and monitor drug delivery through the skin. Ultimately, it could become a new method of biomedical imaging.

12/22/2008
NY Times
Mapping Celestial Terrains, in All Their 3-D Glory
When space engineers made a map of a planet or a distant moon back in the old days, they made an 8-by-10 picture of part of the surface, identified a couple of landmarks — a crater and an outcrop, say — and measured the distance between them with a straightedge and a crayon.

12/15/2008
NY Times
A Cheap Diagnostic Tool From Paper and Tape
Most microfluidic devices pack a lot of complexity in a small space. Sandwiches of polymers or glass, they contain microscopic channels, valves and pumps, all designed to deliver minuscule volumes of liquid for multiple assays — a “lab on a chip,” for instance, that can test a blood sample for signs of disease.

12/15/2008
NY Times
Diesel, Made Simply From Coffee Grounds (Ah, the Exhaust Aroma)
In research that touches on two of Americans’ great obsessions — coffee and cars — scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, have made diesel fuel from used coffee grounds.

12/15/2008
NY Times
Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator
The heat source is a pair of headlights. A car door alarm signals emergencies. An auto air filter and fan provide climate control.

12/10/2008
CNN
Coming to a store near you: chainless bicycles
If you've ever been riding down the street and had your pants cuff ripped asunder, there may be a revolution at hand.

12/10/2008
Cambodian Times
Scientists design first see-through computer chip
Korean scientists have fabricated a functional computer chip that is almost completely clear - the first of its kind.

12/3/2008
NY Times
New Products Bring Side Effect: Nanophobia
IT sounds like a plot straight out of a science-fiction novel by Michael Crichton. Toiletry companies formulate new cutting-edge creams and lotions that contain tiny components designed to work more effectively. But those minuscule building blocks have an unexpected drawback: the ability to penetrate the skin, swarm through the body and overwhelm organs like the liver.

12/2/2008
LA Times
New drug may put jet lag to rest
An experimental drug that mimics the effects of the hormone melatonin can reset the body's circadian rhythms, bringing relief to jet-lagged travelers and night-shift workers, researchers reported Monday.

12/01/2008
Chemical and Engineering News
Mars's Watery Mysteries
Debate over history of water on the red planet intensifies with new spacecraft data

12/01/2008
NY Times
Carbon Detectives Are Tracking Gases in Colorado
As she squeezed herself into a telephone-booth-size elevator to ascend a 984-foot tower in Colorado’s eastern plains, Arlyn Andrews said with a grin, “This makes me want to go rock climbing.”

12/01/2008
CNN
Robots that fetch: Device could help disabled at home
It took Norma Margeson a few minutes to learn to control the skinny metal robot. But instead of viewing it as a machine, she soon warmed up to it as a companion.


11/25/2008
LA Times
Tracing a crime suspect through a relative
California's familial searching policy, the most extensive in the nation, looks for genetic ties between culprits and kin. Privacy advocates and legal experts are nervous.

11/25/2008
LA Times
GPS technology doubles as crime-fighting tool
The units can place a suspect at a crime scene, undermine an alibi or prove fault in an accident. And though privacy rights advocates don't like the intrusion, courts tend to side with authorities.

11/24/2008
NY Times
In an Age of Robots, One to Clean the House? Still but a Dream
In Nicholas Roy’s robotics laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, fake things looked real and real things looked fake.

11/23/2008
AP
Astronauts tinker with urine-to-water machine
Astronauts tinkered Sunday with a troublesome piece of equipment designed to help convert urine and sweat into drinkable water, which is vital to allowing the international space station crew to double to six.

11/21/2008
CNN
Agriculture goes urban and high-tech
Terry Fujimoto sees the future of agriculture in the exposed roots of the leafy greens he and his students grow in thin streams of water at a campus greenhouse.

11/21/2008
CNN
Soil study hints at climate model revision
A new study investigating the amount of carbon in Australian soil has cast doubt over the accuracy of current climate models in predicting future levels of global warming.

11/20/2008
The Telegraph
Scientists take a step closer to an elixir of youth
Researchers believe boosting the amount of a naturally forming enzyme in the body could prevent cells dying and so lead to extended, healthier, lifespans.

11/18/2008
LA Times
Astronauts step outside international space station for unprecedented clean and lube job
Two astronauts are out on a spacewalk for an unprecedented cleaning and lube job at the international space station.

11/14/2008
CNN
Virtuous Cycles
New technology devised by a Connecticut firm, The Green Revolution Inc is turning sessions at the gym into clean renewable electricity.

11/11/2008
Science Daily
New Imaging Technology Accurately Identifies A Broad Spectrum Of Liver Disease
A new study shows that an imaging technology developed by Mayo Clinic researchers can identify liver fibrosis with high accuracy and help eliminate the need for liver biopsies.

11/11/2008
Wall Street Journal
New System Makes Air-Traffic Control Cheaper and Safer
A new air-traffic-control system about to be deployed has the potential to save fuel, shave time off long flights and enhance safety.

11/10/2008
Shuttle mission to focus on comfort in space
The international space station is about to get all the comforts of a modern, high-end, "green" home: a fancy recycling water filter, a new fridge, extra bedrooms, workout equipment and the essential half-bath.

11/10/2008
CNN
Honda unveils wearable robotic walker
Imagine a bicycle seat connected by mechanical frames to a pair of shoes for an idea of how the new wearable assisted-walking gadget from Honda works.

11/7/2008
CNN
New nano coating boosts solar efficiency
Researchers have developed a new anti-reflective coating that boosts the efficiency of solar panels and allow sunlight to be absorbed from almost any angle.

11/6/2008
Reuters
Scientists say a rock can soak up carbon dioxide
A rock found mostly in Oman can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists say.

11/4/2008
CNN
The inventor behind CNN's election 'Magic Wall'
On the 16th floor of a nondescript building in lower Manhattan, a group of tech-savvy staffers clad mostly in jeans and T-shirts is changing the way Americans watch TV election coverage.

11/3/2008
Los Angeles Times
Utilities putting new energy into geothermal sources
Reporting from Reno -- Not far from the blinking casinos of this gambler's paradise lies what could be called the Biggest Little Power Plant in the World.

11/3/2008
CNN
Should we alter human genes?
Ever since scientists began seriously exploring the possibilities of human genetic alteration, the term "designer baby" has been discussed.

11/3/2008
Time
Time announces its 50 best inventions of 2008

11/3/2008
Washington Post
Extra-Nutritious Bioengineered Foods Still Years Away
For years, advocates of agricultural biotechnology have promised a future in which foods will be genetically engineered to give more nutrition and to prevent chronic diseases, in which crops will be modified to thrive in salty soil or hot or dry climates and in which consumers will benefit directly from science's ability to tweak other characteristics of plants.

11/2/2008
San Francisco Chronicle
Astronomers hunt for Earth-bound killer rocks
Giant rocks from space are hurtling toward us, on track to clobber our planet. But don't panic. Scientists say the next killer asteroid - unlike those that pummeled us in the past - can be deflected if we know about it far enough in advance.

11/1/2008
Blame the human brain for bad calls in tennis
UC Davis scientists have confirmed what tennis great John McEnroe so colorfully alleged on the court: Wimbledon referees make bad calls when judging balls hit close to the line.

11/1/2008
New York Times
Flights of Fancy Delight, Even Those of Paper Wings
On Saturday, the Great Hall again became a testing ground for paper airplanes, as dozens of children and a few adults flung their creations into the air in preparation for a public arts event and contest inspired by the 1967 competition.


10/29/2008
CNN
New communications tools help emergency responders
It is a problem that scientists and engineers have been grappling with since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: How can emergency responders' communication tools be improved?

10/28/2008
London Times
Scientists develop artificial heart that beats like the real thing
An artificial heart that beats almost exactly like the real thing is to be implanted in patients within three years in a trial that may offer hope to heart disease sufferers unable to receive a transplant.

10/27/2008
Washington Post
Technology helps restore Raphael masterpiece
After 10 years of painstaking study and restoration that tested both cutting edge technology and human patience, one of the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance is returning to the public.

10/27/2008
CNN
Futuristic fashion gets smart
Is that your dress ringing? It could be, if you're wearing an M-Dress -- a silk garment that doubles as a mobile phone.

10/26/2008
Washington Post
One man's garbage becomes another's power plant
Standing atop the 400-acre 1-E landfill, you get a panoramic view of the Meadowlands sports complex to the north and the New York City skyline to the east. You're also standing on a critical part of New Jersey's, and the nation's, energy future.

10/25/2008
LA Times
Scientists erase scary memories in mice
Scientists have succeeded in permanently erasing frightening memories in mice, an early step toward the development of treatments for people haunted by traumas they can't forget.

10/24/2008
New York Times
Nuclear power may be in early stages of revival
After three decades without starting a single new plant, the American nuclear power industry is getting ready to build again.

10/23/2008
Associated Press
Scientists try to stop hunger with retooled foods
Want to lose weight? Try eating. That's one of the strategies being developed by scientists experimenting with foods that trick the body into feeling full.

10/22/2008
CNN
Google swamped with 'great idea' submissions
A $10 million call by Google Inc. for beneficial, world-changing ideas has generated more than 150,000 online submissions.

10/20/2008
CNN
Revolutionary paper is stronger than steel
It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.

10/19/2008
CNN
Spacecraft blasts off to probe edge of solar system
A NASA spacecraft circled the Earth on Monday at the start of a project to study the edges of the solar system.

10/19/2008
New York Times
Taking a peek at the experts' genetic secrets
The Personal Genome Project goes online with scientists making their own genetic information available.

10/17/2008
Time
Shutdown atom smasher to be back running
Damage to the world's largest atom smasher caused by a bad electrical connection will take much of the planned winter shutdown to repair, but it will be back in action as planned next spring, a spokesman for the operator said Friday.


10/16/2008
New York Times
Presidential rivals’ vision differ on unleashing innovation
With quote from NAE president Chuck Vest
For decades, the United States dominated the technological revolution sweeping the globe.

10/16/2008
LA Times
Rerouting brain signals to paralyzed limbs causes movement, study shows
Aided by external wires that rerouted signals from their brains, two monkeys regained control of their paralyzed wrists and played a simple video game, scientists said Wednesday.

10/14/2008
New York Times
NASA ready to reboot Hubble
Satisfied that they know what caused the Hubble Space Telescope to shut down two weeks ago, NASA engineers will begin to reboot it Wednesday morning, the space agency said Tuesday.

10/12/2008
CNN
Text from elephant warns rangers of trouble
The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message.

10/9/2008
Washington Post
The $700 Billion Man With an Engineer's Mind
Many of the complicated securities at the center of the subprime mortgage crisis were designed by mathematicians and physicists, and now the U.S. government has tapped an aerospace engineer who used to design NASA satellites to start unraveling them.

10/3/2008
CNN
Space elevator gets another look
The project is a "space elevator," and some experts now believe that the concept is well within the bounds of possibility -- maybe even within our lifetimes.