Archive for April, 2009

Space junk

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

 
Image: European Space Agency (ESA)

 
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We’re going to talk trash like you’ve never seen — space junk. Today, on Engineering Works!
The next time you go outdoors, stop a minute and look straight up in the air. You can’t see it from here, but there’s a whole junkyard floating up above your head. It’s the stuff we’ve [...]

Plastic and steel

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

 
Image: Library of Congress

 
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That’s the sound of iron turning into steel. With some help from your plastic water bottle. We’ll explain. Today, on Engineering Works!
Steel makes possible a lot of things we take for granted. Cars. Girders for big buildings. Knives that keep a sharp edge. Useful stuff, steel.
To make steel from iron, you mix [...]

Extreme fabrics

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

 

 
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Photo: G&A Scholiers/stock.xchng
Everybody knows about cloth. Fabric. It’s that stuff your jeans are made of. Engineers are turning fabric into stuff Levi Strauss never dreamed of. We’ll do more than dream. Today. On Engineering Works!
Cloth. Fabric. Textiles. Whatever you call it, it’s been around a long time. As long as civilization, probably. Mostly it’s been [...]

Autonomous lawnmower

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

 

 
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Photo: Husqvarna
Be honest. Nobody likes to cut the grass. But what if your lawnmower did the lawn by itself? We’ll take a look. Today, on Engineering Works!
Everybody likes their lawn to be green and neat. But if your lawn is a big one, you can spend hours keeping the grass trimmed to the height you [...]

A brighter future

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

 

 
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Photo: Jesper Noer/stock.xchng
How many engineers does it take to make a better light bulb? We’ll find out, today on Engineering Works.
The round incandescent light bulb we all know hasn’t changed much since Thomas Edison invented it 125 years ago. Thin wires, called filaments, inside the glass bulb glow when electricity zips through them. That glow [...]