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Engineering Innovation Podcast and Radio Series (Print This)
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The National Academy of Engineering works with the Washington, D.C. region's only all-news radio station— WTOP Radio— and the nation's only all-news radio station for federal employees— WFED AM 1050— to provide weekly features highlighting engineering innovations and stories that add technical context to issues in the news. |  |
These features are now available as podcasts. Find out how to subscribe. Your comments and ideas are welcome. Please share them with Randy Atkins at atkins@nae.edu. |
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| Heart With No Beat |  Listen | A hundred thousand Americans die prematurely each year from heart failure. An experimental device may one day offer new — non-beating—hearts. 08/17/2008 | | |
Randy Atkins: Today’s artificial hearts are generally bigger, wear
out faster, and have more trouble adjusting to changing blood flow needs
than their natural counterparts. Bud Frazier, a prominent heart surgeon,
is working on a simple alternative.
O.H. “Bud” Frazier: A continuous flow pump pumps according to the
inlet pressure, which is like the natural heart. So the more blood
that comes to it, the more blood it will pump.
Randy Atkins: Frazier says with just one continuously spinning part,
the pumps are more durable and can be made to size.
O.H. “Bud” Frazier: They can be as small as your thumb.
Randy Atkins: He says such hearts are working fine in cows. Weird
thing is, though…the animals have no pulse. With the National Academy
of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103 point 5 F-M, WTOP Radio.
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| | Air Energy |  Listen | With today's fuel prices, the airlines will be interested in this. Local engineers are working on a remotely-controlled aircraft that may fly for weeks, even years, without fuel. 08/10/2008 | | |
Randy Atkins: The unmanned plane would take advantage of rising warm
air to get lift. Just like birds which…
James Hubbard: …turn in the direction where they experience that
lift and actually center themselves in the heat plume and then just float.
Minimum energy flying.
Randy Atkins: James
Hubbard, a University of Maryland
aerospace engineer, says laser radar could find such updrafts. The
sky-surfing plane would maneuver using wings made with smart materials
that feel the motion in waves of air.
James Hubbard: You want something that stays up like satellites do
and doesn’t really need to be attended to or require much maintenance.
Randy Atkins: Uses range from surveillance to atmospheric monitoring.
With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins, 103.5 FM,
WTOP Radio.
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| | Driver Distraction |  Listen | Driver distraction and inattention account for the vast majority of accidents. Cell phones, I-pods, TV, GPS, and even the Internet are on the road…and legislation can’t keep up.
08/03/2008 | | |
Randy Atkins: As laws restrict cell phone use in cars, newer technologies
like text messaging move in.
John Lee: Looking off the road for just a few seconds can dramatically
increase your crash risk.
Randy Atkins: John
Lee, an engineer at the University
of Iowa, says people are generally overconfident about the multi-tasking
they can do while driving. But, soon, you may get a reality check
through such technologies as eye-tracking that…
John Lee: …allow the car to know what the driver’s looking at or not
looking at and maybe even get a sense of whether driver’s lost in thought.
Randy Atkins: Your car could then warn you…or even take its own defensive
actions. With the National Academy of Engineering, Randy Atkins,
103.5 FM, WTOP Radio.
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