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Daily Innovation News

May 11^th 2024

💻 Technology

🇿🇦 South African father and son develop the world’s fastest quadcopter drone, reaching speeds of 298 mph

Luke and Mike Bell set a new Guinness World Record with their quadcopter drone, Peregrine 2, reaching speeds of nearly 300 mph. The design process involved overcoming significant challenges, including multiple failures and redesigns due to issues like battery fires and excessive heat from electrical currents. Their innovative adjustments led to the drone not only breaking the speed record but also setting a record for the fastest camera drone. Their success followed rigorous testing and multiple iterations of their design.

⚡️ Energy

🇳🇱 Dutch company tests new eco-friendly US-made lithium-sulfur batteries

Stellantis is testing the first production-line lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries developed by Lyten, marking a significant step in evaluating this technology for automotive use. Lyten's innovative batteries incorporate a 3D graphene structure in the cathode and a lithium metal composite anode, enhancing stability and energy density while reducing degradation issues. These batteries are expected to have a 65% lower carbon footprint than traditional lithium-ion batteries, with materials that can be fully sourced in the US or EU. Chrysler's Halcyon concept EV will feature these batteries, and Lyten has secured significant investment and government grants to further their development.

🚀 Space

🇺🇸 US researchers to produce solar reflectors to light up the Moon’s permanently dark craters

Researchers at Texas A&M University are collaborating with NASA Langley Research Center to design solar reflectors for lighting up the Moon's permanently shadowed craters. These reflectors will harness and redirect solar power to facilitate access to potential resources within these dark regions. Challenges include designing reflectors that are both lightweight for transport and sufficiently large to capture enough solar energy. Additionally, the reflectors must withstand extreme lunar temperatures, prompting the development of self-morphing materials to adapt to these conditions.

🦾 Robotics

🇺🇸 US researchers develop new technique to control shape-shifting soft robots

MIT researchers have developed a machine-learning technique to control a reconfigurable soft robot that changes shape dynamically to accomplish tasks. The technique, which trains the robot to move and morph effectively, was tested using a simulator built by the team. This simulator allowed them to evaluate the robot's performance on challenging shape-changing tasks, with the new method showing superior results compared to existing algorithms. This advancement could lead to versatile robots that adapt their forms to various functions. The research will be presented at an upcoming international conference.

🌎 Environment

🇮🇸 World’s largest direct air capture plant opens in Iceland

The world’s largest direct air capture plant, called Mammoth, has recently started operations in Iceland, significantly increasing the global carbon capture capacity. Developed by Climeworks, this facility can extract 36,000 tons of CO2 annually, which is nearly four times the current global capacity. Mammoth utilizes a series of collector units to absorb and then release CO2, which is permanently stored as solid carbonate through a process developed by Carbfix. This new plant marks a significant step toward large-scale carbon removal, aiming for a gigaton-scale by 2050.

💊 Healthcare

🇳🇿 New Zealand scientists discover new potential anti-aging drug

Scientists at the University of Auckland have discovered that the cancer treatment drug alpelisib may also extend lifespan. In their study, mice treated with alpelisib lived about 10% longer and exhibited signs of healthier aging, such as better coordination and strength. However, the drug also led to some negative aging markers like reduced bone mass and is known to have side effects that may not be suitable for long-term use in aging treatments. Further research is needed to understand alpelisib's effects on aging fully and its potential adverse effects with long-term use. The study was published in Nature Ageing.

🇨🇳 Chinese researchers develop new smart contact lenses that can detect early-stage glaucoma

Researchers have developed a new smart contact lens that can wirelessly monitor intraocular pressure (IOP), crucial for detecting glaucoma early. This lens incorporates a dual inductor-capacity-resistor (LCR) system for accurate IOP measurement, compensating for temperature changes. Traditional IOP tests can be invasive and uncomfortable, but this wireless lens offers a non-intrusive alternative, potentially improving glaucoma management and reducing vision loss risks. The technology was tested successfully on pig eye specimens, showing reliable performance across various temperatures. The work was published in ACS Materials & Interfaces.

🔋 Electronics

🇺🇸 US researchers develop new ground-breaking material that could lead to smaller, improved phones

Researchers at the University of Arizona and Sandia National Laboratories have developed a groundbreaking material in phononics, which deals with vibrations too high for human ears to hear, called phonons. This advancement in "nonlinear phononics" allows phonons to change each other’s frequencies, potentially enabling much smaller and more efficient wireless devices. This new technology could integrate multiple device functions into a single chip, drastically reducing size and improving performance in devices like smartphones. The study, demonstrating these capabilities, was published in Nature Materials.

🇰🇷 South Korean researchers develop a method to convert chicken fat into electrodes for energy storage devices

Researchers have developed a method to convert chicken fat into carbon-based electrodes for supercapacitors, as reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. This process involves rendering chicken fat, burning the melted oil, and collecting the resulting soot to create carbon nanoparticles. These nanoparticles, especially when treated with thiourea, show potential for high-capacity energy storage. This innovative approach could lead to more sustainable energy solutions by utilizing food waste as a resource for energy storage devices.

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