Engineering News

Researchers from the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin were inspired by a yellow-colored Ormia ochracea fly to develop a low-power device that could lead to the next generation of hypersensitive hearing aids.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the start of this year’s Energy Star Battle of Buildings. The competition theme this year is “Team Challenge,” and focuses on five or more buildings working together as a team to reduce their energy use collectively as much as possible throughout the year.

Utah State University researchers are exploring the feasibility of transmitting coils being installed below roads to wirelessly charge electric vehicles as they are in motion. According to one of the researchers on the project, range anxiety is a significant factor in why electric cars have not been popular with consumers.

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) and the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) have issued a Joint Public Notice to request comments on the development of a “model city” to test and evaluate techniques that would make more spectrum available for commercial mobile broadband applications.

The Faraday Café experiment closed its doors yesterday after two weeks as part of Vancouver’s Chinatown pop-up store project. Social artist Julien Thomas and Hughes Condor Marler Architects created the cell-phone free café by covering the building in a mesh that shields electromagnetic fields.