Betting On Hydrogen-Powered Cars


The automotive industry is taking another look at hydrogen fuel cells, but how they ultimately fare depends on a combination of consumer demand, automaker investment and infrastructure build-out. Hydrogen fuel cell technology has been steadily advancing over the past six decades since the first practical fuel cell system was demonstrated by Cambridge engineering professor Francis Bacon. The ... » read more

System Bits: Dec. 26


Adding learning to computer vision UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering and Stanford University are working on advanced computer vision technology, using artificial intelligence to help vision systems learn to identify faces, objects and other things on their own, without training by humans. The research team breaks up images into chunks they call “viewlets,” then they have the computer ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Jan. 2


Hydrogen from seawater Engineers at Columbia University are developing an ocean-based photovoltaic-powered electrolysis device that can operate as a stand-alone floating platform to split water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen. State-of-the-art electrolyzers use expensive membranes to maintain separation of the H2 and O2 gases produced by water electrolysis. The new device relies instead on an... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 8


Scrap metal batteries A research team at Vanderbilt University used scraps of steel and brass - two of the most commonly discarded materials - to create a steel-brass battery that can store energy at levels comparable to lead-acid batteries while charging and discharging at rates comparable to ultra-fast charging supercapacitors. The researchers found that when scraps of steel and brass a... » read more