The Engineer articles from December 2006

The Engineer archives from December 2006

COMMENT: The question of energy won't go away.
December 11, 2006... 'Current events in the middle east provide a melancholy reminder of the inconveniences and dangers to which the UK is exposed as a result of depending strongly on conventional fuels.' Wise words indeed, but if the phraseology sounds a...

THE BIG PICTURE: Mazda goes with the flow.
December 11, 2006... Nagare concept car is designed to capture the idea of natural motion Mazda's US design team has launched a concept car at this month's Los Angeles International Auto Show that attempts to capture 'the emotion of motion'. The...

THE BIG PICTURE: Motorola makes a green energy call.
December 11, 2006... Mobile phone base stations are a step closer to being powered by green energy following Motorola's announcement this month that it has successfully completed feasibility trials. The tests concluded that a combination of solar cells and...

THE BIG PICTURE: Model shows it has real pulling power.
December 11, 2006... A Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI has proved its strength by towing a 155- tonne Boeing 747-200, on the auxiliary runway at Dunsfold Aerodrome, 40 miles south west of London. Engineers, VW personnel and bemused passers-by watched as the V10...

IN BRIEF: Energetic partnership.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... A new research institute launched at Nottingham University aims to bring together academics and industrial partners to develop sustainable, affordable, energy technologies. The Energy Technologies Research Institute will feature a...

IN BRIEF: Widening indoor security.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... South Korean engineers have designed and built an inexpensive low- distortion wide-angle lens that collects light from a large area and produces a virtually distortion-free, wide-angle image. This type of lens can potentially improve...

IN BRIEF: Sweden pushes the 3D limit.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... Researchers from Sweden's Umea University have proposed a new method for 3D imaging and quantification of biological preparations 10 times larger than the limit for the traditional confocal microscope. Traditional biological imaging...

NEWS: Waste not, want not.
December 11, 2006... Shell hopes ethanol produced from crop debris will be available commercially soon Shell Global Solutions plans to build a commercial-scale plant to produce ethanol from crop waste by 2008. It will use a process developed by Canadian...

NEWS: Deep-sea shuffle.
December 11, 2006... Unlike other systems, the weather-hardy C-Wave device uses waves' sideways movements to generate energy A low-cost wave energy technology is being developed that uses the unique hydrodynamics of waves and will be able to survive even the...

NEWS: Storage solution.
December 11, 2006... Technology that stores and releases hydrogen could help speed the introduction of fuel-cell cars A chance discovery has paved the way for devices that can store and release hydrogen at the flick of a switch, bringing practical, fuel- cell...

NEWS: Smoke signals.
December 11, 2006... A smart new technique from Oxford University spin-out tests users' saliva to detect cannabis The development of a quick and simple electrochemical test that can detect whether someone has been smoking cannabis has led to the spin- out of...

NEWS: Driving down the cost.
December 11, 2006... New generation of UK dual-mode brings affordable hybrid engines a step closer In line with the chancellor's low-carbon aspirations announced in his pre-Budget report, a UK-made diesel/electric engine that is claimed to provide all the...

NEWS: A little light detection.
December 11, 2006... UK biohazard monitoring technology claims more cost-effective operation over a wider range of frequencies A Southampton University spin-out has developed a sensor that can detect the presence of anthrax or other biological hazards by...

VIEWPOINT: A different line.
December 11, 2006... In his hotly-anticipated transport study, Rod Eddington disappointed many by outlining the case against, rather than for, high-speed rail in the UK In practice, there are a number of reasons to be more cautious about the likely...

LETTER: Weighs and means.(Letter to the editor)
December 11, 2006... I enjoyed your article 'truck Stop' (Feature, 27 November) on lorry safety. As with all vehicles, removal of some burdens from the driver can benefit safety. Sadly, the uncontrolled access of lorries from outside our own relatively...

LETTER: Cost of a green reality.(Letter to the editor)
December 11, 2006... At last month's Homebuilders Exhibition in Harrogate there was a fair range of solar collectors, insulation products and energy saving heating systems, but I was disappointed with the technical expertise of many exhibitors. The optimistic...

LETTER: Let's talk turkey.(Letter to the editor)
December 11, 2006... In reply to your editorial 'Who'll take on the turkey twizzlers?' (Comment, 13 November), I am 58, been a pattern maker since leaving school at 15 and cannot understand why successive governments in this country have not had the foresight to...

LEGACY 2156: The test of time.
December 11, 2006... Will any of our era's achievements in engineering and technology still have significance 150 years from now? Jon Excell examines 10 that might Take a walk through any UK city and beneath the flashing, bleeping veneer of modernity the past...

LEGACY 2156: The World Wide Web.
December 11, 2006... One of the hallmarks of a truly great innovation is that you cannot imagine how you would cope without it. For most of us the internet, or more specifically the World Wide Web, now fits into that category. Though the web and internet are...

LEGACY 2156: The new Wembley stadium.
December 11, 2006... The decision to include Wembley stadium in this list may raise a few eyebrows. Over the past few years Wembley has become something of a byword for project mismanagement, with a series of technical and commercial problems repeatedly putting...

LEGACY 2156: Channel Tunnel.
December 11, 2006... When it opened for business in 1994, the Channel Tunnel joined the English and French mainland for the first time since the end of the last ice age. It also bought to life a dream that had been repeatedly discussed and shelved since Napoleonic...

LEGACY 2156: Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
December 11, 2006... While a new refinancing deal announced last month has diminished this threat for the time being, the future of the tunnel itself has never really been under threat. It is simply too useful and its inherent usefulness will long outlive the...

LEGACY 2156: The nuclear legacy.
December 11, 2006... With the UK government's energy review paving the way for a new generation of nuclear reactors, our likely reliance on nuclear power in 150 years time may be traced directly back to decisions made today. The current generation of fission...

LEGACY 2156: DNA fingerprinting.
December 11, 2006... DNA fingerprinting has arguably become the most important tool in forensic science. The ability to match suspects to samples of blood, hair, saliva or semen has been crucial to many hundreds of cases, leading to convictions and several...

LEGACY 2156: Galileo and micro-satellites.
December 11, 2006... Trends in space technology are usually dictated by the huge budgets of a NASA or an ESA. But in the unlikely cosmic backwater of Guildford, Surrey, a small company's pioneering work on satellites has turned conventional thinking on its head...

LEGACY 2156: Robotic surgery.
December 11, 2006... The operating theatre is becoming home to a variety of systems that now complement but could replace the highly skilled human surgeon. Advances in surgical techniques, coupled with improvements in robotics and imaging technology, are...

LEGACY 2156: Renewable energy.
December 11, 2006... Within the last 20 years renewable energy has been firmly repositioned in the public consciousness. Not so long ago any mention of wind turbines or solar cells would be passed off as the ramblings of a tree-hugging hippie. But today's...

LEGACY 2156: Rapid manufacturing.
December 11, 2006... According to engineers and scientists involved in the growing field of rapid manufacturing (RM), we are standing on the brink of a manufacturing revolution. RM, a step on from the rapid prototyping techniques now commonplace throughout...

LEGACY 2156: ARCHIVE/WEBLINKS.
December 11, 2006... Built to last Many of the great engineering developments from the Victorian age of innovation are still with us today. Visit www.theengineer.co.uk/150years to view our original coverage of a few of the era's most enduring engineering...

INSIGHT: Walls have eyes.
December 11, 2006... Portable radar 'through-wall' sensor accurately detailing moving occupants' position in a room is a force to be reckoned with. Niall Firth reports On 5 May 1980 the eyes of the world's media were trained on the Iranian Embassy in...

MANAGING TECHNOLOGY: Military operation.
December 11, 2006... Technology transfer into and out of the defence sector can help SMEs, says Damien McDonnell The Defence Diversification Agency (DDA) was set up by the MoD in 1999 to promote the spread of technology between the civil and defence sectors....

MANAGING TECHNOLOGY: Get a grip.
December 11, 2006... It is important to have a well-researched plan of what type of company you want to create when you plan a takeover, advises Peter Knowles Any company pursuing an acquisition needs a tailored M&A team. It must include specialist technical...

INTERVIEW: Made to fit.(Interview)
December 11, 2006... Kimitaka Kato's job is to ensure that technology giant Fujitsu's new products are designed for usability by the widest variety of people. Stuart Nathan reports THE DEVELOPMENT of IT seems to be accelerating so fast that it risks...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING: Watching paint dry.
December 11, 2006... Sensor designed to measure thickness of paint while still wet and rubber uniformity on tyres could help car manufacturers reduce waste in the production of crucial components. Stuart Nathan reports A sensor that can measure the thickness of...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - POLYMERS: Shape of things to come.
December 11, 2006... US and German researchers team up to develop agile polymer that could herald new generation of surgical devices for cardiovascular treatment. Siobhan Wagner reports A German and US research collaboration has led to the invention of an...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - THIN FILM COATING: Pane-staking accuracy.
December 11, 2006... German software system takes the mystery out of plasma coating procedures, and should help engineers calculate applications of thin film systems more exactly. Siobhan Wagner reports The once-mysterious processes that take place inside...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - CONTROL & INSTRUMENTATION: In control.
December 11, 2006... As communication technologies become more powerful and widespread the world gets smaller, which can only be of benefit to business. Colin Carter explains Globalisation is affecting all industries, and control and instrumentation is no...

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING - MACHINE BUILDING: Remain flexible.
December 11, 2006... Even though machine building technologies are constantly developing, the challenge is still to cut costs, decrease time to market and create re-usable platforms. Mark Venables reports Like all engineering sectors, the technologies...

CAREERS: Just what the doctor ordered.
December 11, 2006... The pharmaceutical industry is the UK's third most profitable activity, while our medical device market is one of the world's largest. This means a healthy future for engineers in these sectors, says Julia Pierce The UK's pharmaceutical...