A Stirling engine is a heat engine operating by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas, the working fluid, at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work.
[Sawerrt]
From Engadget: Tel Aviv University develops biodegradable transistor, literally man made
Blood sweat and tears go into many projects, and in this case almost literally — although technically it’s blood, milk and mucus. Yep, researchers at Tel Aviv University have created biodegradable transistors from proteins found in the aforementioned organic substances. When the proteins are mixed with base materials in the right combinations, it seems they self-assemble into a semi-conducting film. Why blood, milk and mucus? Apparently, the different proteins each have unique properties. Blood’s oxygen storing ability, for example, helps mix chemicals with semi-conductors to give them specific properties, while milk and mucus (the only time we want to see them together) have fiber forming, and light-creating properties respectively. The hope is that this can lead to flexible and biodegradable technology. The team at Tel Aviv says it’s already working on a biodegradable display, with other electronic devices to follow — which should help stem the flowof waste.
from Engadget
From Discover Magazine: Superfast 3D Printing Yields Tiny Racecar, Church, Bridges | 80beats
This tiny speed racer measures 285 microns long and was 3D printed using a new technique developed at Vienna University of Technology. The printer pumps out thin lines and layers of resin, which harden when hit with a pair of photons from a laser, a kind of 3D printing called two-photon lithography. By adjusting the way the laser is produced and tweaking the formula for the resin, the team managed to make the hardening process much faster, so that what used to take hours can now take seconds. The printer can now shoot out five-meters’ worth of resin—in an extremely fine line, of course—per second. Conventional 3D printers of this sort, on the other hand, produce in millimeters per second. You can watch the racecar being made here:
To strut their printer’s stuff, the team also made miniature models of a church in Vienna and a local bridge:
Images courtesy of Klaus Cicha / Vienna University of Technology
from Discover Magazine
From Discover Magazine: How Mosquitoes Survive 
in a Downpour
David Hu was sitting on the porch with his infant son when a large mosquito bite appeared on the baby’s forehead. It was pouring out, and Hu began wondering how the insect survived the impact of the drops. “A mosquito weighs only a couple milligrams, and the drops are up to 50 times heavier,†he says. “It’s like a person being hit by a bus 
Image: iStockphoto
from Discover Magazine
From Discover Magazine: The Science Behind Why Airline Food Tastes Bad | 80beats
Airplane food is notoriously bad. But airlines, in financial free fall over the last decade, have been trying to bring back the luxe food of early flight in business class and first class, to lure in more high-end travelers. Biology is working against them, though. As Jad Mouawad reports for the NYTimes, part of why plane food lacks subtlety is that we can’t actually taste as well when we’re at altitude:
Even before a plane takes off, the atmosphere inside the cabin dries out the nose. As the plane ascends, the change in air pressure numbs about a third of the taste buds. And as the plane reaches a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, cabin humidity levels are kept low by design, to reduce the risk of fuselage corrosion. Soon, the nose no longer knows. Taste buds are M.I.A. Cotton mouth sets in.
All of which helps explain why, for instance, a lot of tomato juice is consumed on airliners: it tastes far less acidic up in the air than it does down on the ground. It also helps explain why airlines tend to salt and spice food heavily and serve wines that are full-bodied …
from Discover Magazine
From Ars Technica: New 3D printer could create nano-devices in minutes
Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have developed a 3D printing technology that can quickly print detailed objects in nanoscale using a process called two-photon lithography. It’s fast, too: the precision required to print objects with features measured in hundreds of nanometers in width meant the speed of previous attempts at printing nanoscale objects were measured in millimeters per second. In contrast, the TU Vienna team’s 3D printer is capable of printing lines of resin at a rate of five meters per second. In a demonstration shown in the video below, the team was able to print a nanoscale model of a 300-micrometer long Formula 1 racecar—made from 100 layers of resin, each consisting of approximately 200 individual lines—in four minutes.
from Ars Technica
From Autoblog: Video: Translogic visits Switzerland to interview Jetman
Filed under: Etc., Technology, Videos
While we’re a little obsessed with cars here at Autoblog, our sister publication Translogic has a good habit of dispensing with terrestrial transportation entirely from time to time. This is one of those weeks, where the video crew has traveled to Switzerland – not to Geneva, but to Bex – to interview the Jetman, Yves Rossy.
Rossy is the first human to fly by means of a jet-powered wing. The Swiss pilot developed the wing over five years ago, and has since flown over the Alps, crossed the English Channel, and last year flew across the Grand Canyon.
Translogic has some great aerial footage of the Jetman, who proves to be a pretty funny interview as well. See the video belowto view all of it, in full HD.
Continue reading Translogic visits Switzerland to interview Jetman
from Autoblog