This week’s Top 5 engineering technology articles boast some potential breakthroughs from faster computing techniques to custom footwear.
- FDA Approves Gunshot-Staunching XStat Invention For Civilian Use
- ‘Skyscraper’ Chips Promise Powerful Computing Boost
- Volkswagen Teases All-Electric Microbus Concept Ahead Of CES Debut
- Germany Just Switched On A Revolutionary Nuclear Fusion Machine
- New Balance’s New Shoe Has 3-D Printed Soles Customized To Your Stride
FDA Approves Gunshot-Staunching XStat Invention For Civilian Use
Popular Science
XStat isn’t quite a new technology, it was approved for use in a military capacity last year. Now it has been approved by the FDA for use in non-military situations. A gunshot is a serious wound to the body. Beyond the violation of skin, tissue, muscle, bone, etc. a bullet causes shock to the system and pulls in particulates of any fabric it may pass through. All of these items require critical care in a timely manner.
Enter XStat. XStat is a syringe that is used to fill a gunshot wound with small sponges that help staunch the bleeding as well as fighting potential infection. Though a single use product, it helps to seal the wound within fifteen seconds of application.
Once the patient arrives at a hospital, the temporary sponges can be removed and the wound can be treated as necessary, but within those first critical minutes the XStat can mean the line between life and death.
RevMedx, the company behind the XStat is also working on expanding this concept to other injuries or procedures that involve a substantial amount of blood with the potential for infection. As engineers are fond of saying, the possibilities are endless.
‘Skyscraper’ Chips Promise Powerful Computing Boost
ExtremeTech
In terms of housing, it’s pretty easy to see that a block wide skyscraper full of apartments will ultimately house more people than a block of contemporary single family homes along a tree lined street in a quiet neighborhood.
Now apply this concept to the manufacturing of computer chips. A circuit board with multiple stacked computer chips instead of a board layered with single chips is going to exponentially increase your computing power. And, that’s what the research team at Stanford is banking on these days.
The latest in chip technology can be leveraged to allow these chips to have the communication built directly into the stack rather than adding the connections from chip to chip on the board itself. These will increase computing power exponentially if done correctly.
Of course one of the inherent problems with multiple chips stacked on top of one another is the heat that will build between chips so the team is building cooling into the stack as part of the process. However, not all obstacles will be so easily overcome. Fundamentally changing the architecture of a computer’s inner workings would require substantial investments from major manufacturers, but the rewards could be just as substantial.
Volkswagen Teases All-Electric Microbus Concept Ahead Of CES Debut
Mashable
Volkswagen has had some memorable and recognizable cars over the years. And, one of those is certainly the VW Microbus. There have been many incarnations over the past 65 years since the introduction. It was even animated for the Pixar movie, Cars. This latest incarnation may be one to get really excited about in terms of going green.
An all-electric Microbus concept vehicle will be hitting the design floor at the 2016 CES. Currently Volkswagen is asserting that the vehicle will be in production for 2017 and with a range of 250-310 it will certainly compete with electric competitors as the Bolt and Tesla.
Germany Just Switched On A Revolutionary Nuclear Fusion Machine
Science Alert
December 11 turned out to be a pretty big day in terms of engineering technology and, if you’re like me, you almost missed hearing about it. Fortunately a friend of mine posted this article on social media and now I get to share it with you as part of this post.
Physicists in Germany turned on a nuclear fusion machine and were able to produce and contain plasma using a stellarator. Fusion, unlike fission, doesn’t produce nuclear waste. This makes it a clean and safer alternative. There are a significant number of hurdles to overcome before this is a commercially viable idea not the least of which is containing a plasma ball with a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius.
But, today the plasma was created and contained in an excellent proof of concept and they’ll continue to build from here.
New Balance’s New Shoe Has 3-D Printed Soles Customized To Your Stride
Wired
One size fits all has gone in and out of vogue in the world of consumerism. Manufacturing certainly favors a uniform design throughout, but everyone likes being a special snowflake sometimes. In terms of shoe design, there are variables such as size and width, but essentially most pieces of the shoe are identically created whether you’re 5’0” 100 lbs. or 6’4” 225 lbs.
One of these items is the midsole of the shoe. To customize this item requires considerable effort due to the fact that you need two separate molds for every variable. With the advent of 3-D printing, this could lead to a completely customized set of midsoles created to comfort your foot based on the pressure of your stride as well as reduce the number of manufacturing steps. That’s what you call a win-win on both sides of the coin. Consumers get a customized shoe that cushion based on their unique stride and manufactures reduce production steps to market and expend less waste and materials.
So, between nuclear fusion and customized shoes it’s been an interesting week in the engineering world. Until next time, keep your eyes wide open and set your stride to confident for the next amazing set of breakthroughs.
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