The Engineer articles from August 2008

The Engineer archives from August 2008

COMMENT: Innovation can be UK's golden edge.
August 18, 2008... To say that China has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at making its Olympic Games the greatest show on earth is an understatement. Rest assured the kitchen sink will be there somewhere too - gold-plated and the best that money can...

NEWS: Spy in the sky.
August 18, 2008... Deep space monitoring technology is adapted to track terrorist threats A TECHNIQUE astronomers use to search for gamma ray bursts in the depths of the Universe could be adapted to find terrorists responsible for car bombs in Iraq. UK...

NEWS: Robocopter to the rescue.
August 18, 2008... Academia/industry team develops wide-search UAVs A multi-disciplinary academic and industry team is developing semi- autonomous robotic helicopters for search and rescue operations. The UAVs will search for people in isolated regions,...

NEWS: Cut to the chase.
August 18, 2008... An enzyme that slices the duplex helical structure of DNA could revolutionise molecular detection Identifying the sequences of bases in DNA is among the most significant of scientific tasks. Yet, despite its importance to life science...

NEWS: Fuelled by fungus.
August 18, 2008... Researchers believe fungus extract could provide cheap, abundant fuel cell catalyst RESEARCH at Oxford University could lead to an enzyme extracted from fungus being used as a cheap, effective catalyst in fuel cells that could replace...

NEWS: Health scents.
August 18, 2008... A machine that detects gas molecules in breath can help diagnose medical conditions PHYSICIANS HAVE known for millennia that the smell of human breath can reveal certain medical conditions. Until now it has been a subjective assessment...

NEWS: Blood line.
August 18, 2008... Non-invasive probe combining light and ultrasound could make blood/oxygen readings in veins safer DOCTORS COULD non-invasively test the health of vital organs in critically ill patients using a technology that combines light and...

NEWS: Gas to go.
August 18, 2008... Chemisorption aims to remove impurities from CNG using new catalyst technology COMPRESSED natural gas (CNG) could become a cheaper transportation fuel option with a technology that promises to produce the gas more efficiently. ...

NEWS: High octane mix.
August 18, 2008... Lotus research engine could lead to improved biofuel efficiency Cars could run on biofuels more efficiently with a new research engine being developed by Lotus Engineering. The sports car manufacturer is teaming up with Queen's...

NEWS: Numbers add up for hydrogen.
August 18, 2008... The much-touted hydrogen economy depends on improving ways to create the element swiftly and affordably. Now scientists at Sheffield University have used mathematical models to show how bacteria could be pressed into service to achieve that...

VIEWPOINT: Seeing red on green taxes.
August 18, 2008... Government needs to back emission-reducing technology not pile taxes with a green label on aviation, says Giovanni Bisignani AIRLINES are in crisis. In five years fuel has gone from 14 per cent of operating costs to more than 34 per cent....

LETTER: Go with renewables.(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2008... The idea that the lights will go out unless we have Kent's Kingsnorth power station or nuclear power is not right. Nuclear power stations and 'clean' coal-fired power stations just cannot be built quickly enough to fill the supposed energy...

LETTER: Uniform infection.(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2008... Infection in some hospitals and medical environments is abominable. In most cases washing hands with alcohol gel will reduce the transfer of infection to a minimum. As David Hodgson highlighted (Letters, 28 July) staff moving around...

LETTER: Listen to the CBI.(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2008... Richard Lambert, the CBI director-general, was right to recently highlight the threat posed to the UK economy from the growing shortage of skilled engineers in the UK. I agree with him that changes to educational incentives at all levels are...

LETTER: Inflexible power.(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2008... The UK strongly promotes nuclear and wind power. These forms of generation have common features but make uncomfortable bedfellows. Both are inflexible. Nuclear is essentially base load, due to huge capital cost but low marginal cost, and...

LETTER: Let's be optimistic.(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2008... In 'Air-brained scheme' (Talking Point, 19 May) Chris Finn is unduly pessimistic about the possibilities of compressed air (CA) energy as the motive power for cars. His point, regarding the energy available from a 13A power socket, is...

LETTER: Exploit invention.(Letter to the editor)
August 18, 2008... Your article on the hovercraft (Backpage, 28 July) shows again how a brilliant UK invention has not been exploited or developed much beyond being a fast, short-trip sea ferry. To my knowledge both the US army and navy are investing...

SPACE EXPLORATION: Red-rock return.
August 18, 2008... A joint ESA/NASA mission to return rock samples from Mars will push both robotic and human collaboration skills to the limit. Jon Excell reports AS SCIENTISTS pore over the data gathered by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, and marvel at the...

INSIGHT: Ultra-small ultrasound.
August 18, 2008... A pocket-sized diagnostic probe is set to make its NHS debut. Stuart Nathan reports LISTENING HAS always been one of the most important tools for doctors. The sounds the body makes can give all sorts of information about what is going...

INTERVIEW: Power broker.(Interview)
August 18, 2008... From nuclear, to wind to clean coal, GE's Magued Eldaief is plotting the path to the UK's energy future. Stuart Nathan reports Magued Eldaief has good reason to be scanning the papers. As the managing director of GE Energy's UK business,...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - LARGE OPTIC: Mirror image.
August 18, 2008... A UK collaboration has produced machines to make superior, large-scale telescopic lenses in this country, rather than sell the technology abroad. Siobhan Wagner reports LARGE-SCALE telescopic lenses that allow us to see into the depths...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - INJECTION MOULDING: Joined-up thinking.
August 18, 2008... The principle behind Velcro-inspired development of an injection moulding tool aims to create a surface so that plastic car parts can bond. Siobhan Wagner reports PLASTIC CAR parts could one day be joined like Velcro with a new injection...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - MANAGING TECHNOLOGY: China's still gold.
August 18, 2008... The backlash against outsourcing to China is in full swing, but Colin Davidson argues it remains a good option A NEW China began to emerge towards the end of last year. After more than two decades of fairly predictable performance the...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - PROTOTYPING: Fresh approach.
August 18, 2008... A GOOD barometer for the state of manufacturing is how busy the design and prototyping houses are. Despite the doom and gloom about the economy Seymourpowell, one of the UK's leading design and prototyping houses, is reporting lots of...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - PUMPS & VALVES: Flow of ideas.
August 18, 2008... WORLD DEMAND for industrial valves is growing. The market earned revenues of more than #13bn in 2007 which, according to analyst Frost & Sullivan, will increase to just under #25bn in 2014. While much of this is from emerging economies...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - MARKING & TRACEABILITY: Healthy obsession.
August 18, 2008... CONFIRMING the traceability of products and components is increasingly becoming mandatory, so the issue of how to mark items without contamination is a big one for many industries. Traceability has grown in importance over the past few...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - CONDITION MONITORING: Good vibrations.
August 18, 2008... From wireless technology to mathematical modelling, there are monitoring systems to guard against expensive equipment failure in many industries. Colin Carter reports MONITORING the condition of equipment is big business. Think of the...

TECHNOLOGY UK: High fliers.
August 18, 2008... Aerospace investment gives further boost to Northern Ireland transportation sector. Berenice Baker reports WITH economic good news thin on the ground, Bombardier's decision to design and manufacture wings for its new CSeries mid-sized...

CAREERS: Class action.
August 18, 2008... Companies are calling on the government to help recruitment by encouraging more school students to study science subjects. Andrew Lee reports Employers have called for action to raise the profile of engineering and technology as a career...

CAREERS IN BRIEF: Power plant degrees.
August 18, 2008... Energy group Doosan Babcock has teamed up with Strathclyde University to offer its employees and graduate recruits Masters-level training in power plant engineering. The three-year scheme will give students from Doosan Babcock the option to...

CAREERS IN BRIEF: New skills for ex-services staff.
August 18, 2008... Ex-members of the armed forces are to be offered specialist training in Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) by marine engineering group Global Marine Systems. The Essex-based company will train former service personnel as ROV pilot-technicians...

CAREERS IN BRIEF: Training comments.
August 18, 2008... The government is consulting UK businesses about proposed regulations that would give employees a right to ask for appropriate training and skills development. Companies have until 10 September to comment on the plans, called Time to Train,...

CAREERS IN BRIEF: UAE campus for Bolton.
August 18, 2008... Bolton University is to offer engineering, design and built environment courses from a new branch campus in the United Arab Emirates from next month. The campus at Ras al Khaimah, a 45-minute drive from Dubai, will run undergraduate and...

CAREERS: Job generation.
August 18, 2008... As the UK prepares to increase energy capacity, plans for new generators and a clean-up of existing facilities promise a jobs bonanza for engineers. Julia Pierce reports DESPITE environmental pressure on companies and individuals to use...