The research project SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), funded by the Seventh Framework Program of the European Union, could change the way we travel on the highways of Europe, extending the concept of 'road train' or a road train car with driver.

Originally, a road train is a convoy that carries a sequence of three or more cargo trailers. The aim is to develop and test SARTRE technology on current cars that would travel with this system coupled to a vehicle convoy led by a 'main vehicle'. Thus, the passengers of the cars using Road Train can sleep, read a book or watch television as they head to their destination.

Convenient and economic way to travel

The advantages of this idea are several: first, the road trains could help reduce traffic and thereby also the times of travel. On the other hand, it would be a very comfortable travel that would reduce the number of accidents per driver. Finally, they hope that this method will reduce fuel consumption by 20% and thereby CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.

The Kennedy Space Center is experiencing unusual activity. After the successful take off Monday morning, the shuttle Endeavor last part deliver large components of the International Space Station, NASA will launch on Wednesday afternoon (16 h 26 French time) on board a Atlas 5 rocket, satellite Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), to better understand the activity of our star and its impact on the Earth and its climate.

Scheduled to last five years, this mission will cost 848 million dollars (620 million euros), starts when the Sun finally gives signs of awakening after a long period of lethargy, "the famous Sun its way off of the SDO, "says astrophysicist Stephen Pariat who will participate with his team at the Paris Observatory (LESIA / CNRS-Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Université Paris Diderot), analysis and interpretation of data gathered by AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly), one of three scientific instruments SDO.

Natural rubber comes largely from the Hevea brasiliensis - A tree present in South-Eastern Asia. The production of this material become essential for modern society is still now threatened : A fungus infects indeed a growing number of Hevea brasiliensis on the planet and especially in South-Eastern Asia. To continue to reap the precious substance, a team of scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute of Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) of Aix-la-Chapelle is currently working on obtaining natural rubber from dandelions. By preventing the spontaneous polymerization of rubber from dandelion, researchers have just taken a big step toward industrial production of natural rubber from this plant.

Every second, 50 to 100 lightning discharges develop in the atmosphere. Much of this electrical activity takes the form of lightning "intra-cloud" that spread inside the cumulonimbus, usually between 5 and 10 km altitude.
They indicate a risk potential for civil and military aircraft and space launchers. This risk is far from being marginal, since a commercial airliner is struck by lightning on average every 1500 hours of flight.

Nanotechnologies are the design and manufacture of structures at the atomic scale, measured in nanometers. At this scale, the laws of quantum physics take over and, combined with the size of nanostructures and nanomaterials, give them specific properties.

Nanotechnologies involve many areas such as electronics, mechanics, optics, computer science but also medicine, biology, environment, manufacturing, textile ... Many applications are already part of daily life: textiles insalissables, smart windows, toothpastes that fill cracks in teeth, cosmetic ...

The brake discs in composite carbon provide substantial improvements in performance and weight reduction compared with conventional steel discs, but their costs are so far not competitive for most applications. A consortium of companies specializing British had developed hard carbon made from manufacturing waste, offering both a lower cost and a sustainable development solution.

The R & D department of General Motors received a reward of 2.7 million federal dollars to build a prototype device that uses an alloy with shape memory, or SMA (Shape Memory Alloy), in order to produce the Electricity from the exhaust heat. The power output would be sufficient to fuel such as heated seats and air conditioning. " A strained SMA wire contracts when heated and becomes less steep and returns to original shape when it cools "Said Jan Aase, director of vehicle development at GM Research Laboratory. " This wire loop placed could be used in an electric generator to recharge a battery . The prototype is composed of winding SMA son in a generator, the passage of exhaust gas by reacting the alloy with shape memory to create a mechanical rotation of the camera.

The biomaterials are derived from non-fossil resources, that is to say not produced from oil, gas or coal. The development of these materials is only in its infancy. Currently, Faurecia already producing composite materials based on natural fibers of plant origin associated with a polymer-based oil. The share of natural fibers varies between 50 and 85% depending on the applications in the market today.

At the Copenhagen Summit, the researchers SENSEable City Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a bicycle wheel that can recover energy, used to support the push, to record your journey. Good Thing: It can be installed on our good old bicycle.

Roll, you are tracked! The researchers Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Of laboratory SENSEable CityHave designed a new type of bicycle wheel based hybrid systems of automobiles. It is not an electric bike but a system of energy recovery. "When you brake, your kinetic energy is recovered by an electric motor and then stored in batteries in the wheel, so you can use it again when you need it" says Carlo Ratti director of this project called "the wheel of Copenhagen" In a nod to the summit last December.

The Copenhagen Conference will conclude this Friday. Facing the climate challenge, Emmanuel Kerrand, Technology Director for GE Energy, notes that new energy will not mature in time.

Question : The Copenhagen conference concludes with a feeling of incompleteness. Final agreement or not, it was the technological response to climate challenge?

The Pole European Plastics and Autodesk Sign Joint R & D over 3 years to optimize solutions for simulation and visualization at all levels of the injection process of plastic.

Autodesk. The publisher of design tools and simulation for among others the world of mechanics, has signed a research agreement with the development and Pole European Plastics (PEP) to optimize its software suite MoldflowDedicated to the rheology. This is the realization of a longstanding collaboration between the publisher and the competence center dedicated to research and innovation in the field of plastics.

The new Audi A8 will be in dealerships in April 2010. It retains the earlier concept of the aluminum hull ASF (Audi Space Frame), which provides a weight saving of approximately 40% compared to a steel construction. Initially, it will be sold with two engines, a 4.2 FSI 273 kW (372 hp) and 4.2 TDI 258 kW (350 hp) and shortly after, with a 3.0 TDI with 184 kW (250 hp) . Thereafter, it follows a second version of the 3.0 TDI with an output of 150 kW (204 hp). Consumption NEDC combined cycle is 6.0 l/100 km (159 g CO2 / km). The new Audi A8 will present some particular technological innovations.

Aluminum is the material that dominates the construction of the pistons of diesel engines. However, these pistons are approaching their limits in mechanical applications that deliver more effective powers of about 80 kW per liter displacement. The combustion chamber may reach 400 ° C and 200 bars.

" For applications in severe condition, we are now ready to provide steel pistons for diesel motors "Said Rainer Fluhr, board of directors of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg. Indeed, until now the steel piston seemed to be heavy in order to be competitive with aluminum, new developments have allowed to optimize its geometry and make it more competitive.

This development engines doesn't need spark plugs or a head gasket. Presented at the last Geneva Motor Show, Lotus Omnivore engine now starts its test bench. This engine two-stroke cycle, direct injection and turbocharger should optimize the combustion of fuels including a wide range of octane (gasoline, biofuels, alcohol, etc..) Thanks to a change in its compression ratio.

Unlike MCE-5 modifying the high position of the piston, the Lotus Omnivore slide is part of the breech with a cam system controlled by a stepper motor-step. This part supports the sliding injector and spark plug. The compression ratio can vary theoretically 8:1 to almost 50:1.

This engine would have a very small effect of pumping through a high internal EGR rate controlled by a valve in the exhaust. The direct injection system is the Orbital FlexDI compressed air.

British billionaire Richard Branson unveiled the spaceship "SpaceShipTwo" in the California desert of the Mojave on Monday. The commercial trips to the space will start in 2011. The first "space tourists" from the earth will be taken to the space with spaceship "SpaceShipTwo" under the banner of his company Virgin Galactic.

In the hangar of the airbase and spatial Mojave, 130 miles northeast of Los Angeles (California, western United States), Richard Branson made the space shuttle SpaceShipTwo and its mother ship, "The White Knight ", ensuring that they represented" the future of human transportation.

After ten years of research and experimentation, the Finnish company Enfucell said it is ready for commercialization of their battery paper, ultra-thin, flexible and printable. The basic technique is currently used in ordinary batteries, but it is possible to use the paper batteries during a day with full of energy stored.

The basic technique is, therefore, to convert chemical energy into electrical energy. It has impregnated paper which serves as an electrolyte between anode and cathode. One of its sides is covered with a metal such as aluminum, nickel and zinc, the other side with a thin layer of magnesium oxide.

The manufacturer of ecological wooden houses uses SolidWorks models to standardize and define the alternatives that will suit the needs of customers. Using a digital chain from design to manufacturing, will deliver the house keys in hand a month after the customer's order.

The company Breton Domespace Forerunner in the design and construction of wooden houses stamped sustainable development, chooses SolidWorks as 3D CAD solution as a basis to support its growth strategy. Indeed, SolidWorks Premium and COSMOS will be the''cornerstone''of a concept class that will, ultimately, the company set up a 100% digital chain, from customer order to achieve its''home'' through its manufacture. A 3D indispensable tool not only for optimization and standardization of Domespace products , but also a collaborative solution to secure all digital process.

A French researcher recovers CO2 from the exhaust gas to convert CO usable as fuel. With the key, reducing consumption and emissions of internal combustion engines. This process can be extended to boilers.

At a time when all manufacturers of internal combustion engines are trying to limit CO2 emissions, it may be a technology of the late nineteenth century, the gasifier, which will come to their rescue. But in the process developed by ReCO2, No bulky wood boiler and other scrubber the CO2 is collected in the exhaust gas, concentrated, converted to CO (gas to water our good old gasifiers) in a catalyst and sent to the air intake of the engine, whether a gasoline or diesel version. As a result, fuel consumption down 25% and CO2 emissions are reduced by 30%, while the engine output does fall by 3%. One can truly speak of CO2 recycling.

W2E uses the simulation software MSC.Software to innovate in highly competitive sector of wind energy.

The German firm Wind to Energy GmbH (W2E), leader in advanced technologies applied to the sector of wind power, will use software Marc, MD Nastran, Adams and SimXpert of MSC.SoftwareIn a process of significant improvement of quality within the company.

Wind to Energy was founded in 2003 by six industry experts from the wind and currently has 21 employees. Rather than create its own production line, the company focused on the development and certification of wind turbines and their preparation stage into production. Its current range consists of three wind turbines: W100, W90 and W80. Designed for different types of wind, all three has a power of 2.5 MW. Turbines developed by W2E are manufactured and distributed by Fuhrländer AG. A 2 MW turbine with a rotor diameter of 93 m is in the final stages of certification.

The 20th Anniversary Trophy Andros, famous racing on snow and ice, has a genuine serial electric propulsion. The first race took place this weekend in Val Thorens.

After two years in 2007 and 2008 trials and media coverage around the electric propulsion, with Andros Car Sprint Car 01 and 02 the famous Trophée Andros launching this year a real power series in its various races on snow and ice.

In the kingdom of the blind, the electronic eyes are kings. Researchers at the laboratory of neurotechnology Polystim at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, apply to this maxim a reality. Their invention, a "third eye" with a tiny camera connected directly to the brain promises to restore sight to blind people, even from birth, without passing through the eye or the optic nerve.

When stimulating the region of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information using very small electrical currents, the patient emerging bright spots called phosphenes in his field of vision. You can control the intensity of the sensations of light by modulating the power of electric shocks. Professor Mohamad Sawan, laboratory director, had the idea to exploit this phenomenon to recreate the images in the mind of blind people.

Fuel cells perform the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy with very low emissions and expected returns (electrical conversion) high.
Unlike conventional batteries, reagents and products are not stored in the stack but introduced and evacuated continuously. The cell polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) are, in particular, the subject of more research for use in transport.

These cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into electrical energy and water, it is generally used for the transport of ions (protons). This last point requires an operation of such batteries to temperatures below 90 ° C, just below the boiling point of water.

The car of tomorrow will have many smart devices in your control panel aiding the driver in parking the vehicle tasks such as recognizing traffic signs and warn of the perils perceived by it.


Many driver assistance systems already incorporate high-tech cameras that have to meet a wide range of requirements. Should be able to withstand high ambient temperatures and very small, lightweight and robust. Moreover, they have to grasp with maximum reliability all required images and be as cheap as possible.

Researchers from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) have developed a new silicon-air battery, environmentally friendly and able to consistently provide energy for thousands of hours.


Created oxygen and silicon (the second most abundant element in Earth's crust), such batteries, in its final commercial version will be lighter, have a virtually unlimited shelf life, and a high tolerance to high humidity so as to extreme dryness .

The first morning of this year's show Los Angeles auto, general director of General Motors' Fritz Henderson is expected to give the keynote address. Last night he was fired. (Excuse me: "resigned"). That, however, was the only real drama in the show this year, and for the good of the auto industry, which is a good thing.

In last year's show, the world economy is teetering on the brink, and the presidents of Detroit's Big Three were scolded in Congress to skip three private jets to Washington to explain in person the catastrophic failure of their business. The show this year there was an industry slowly recovering and tentatively, cautiously conservative deployment, sensible cars.

MIT researchers say the carbon nanotubes could be a more durable, energy storage reliable alternative to traditional batteries. The best thing about this carbon nanotubes is there is no leakage.

It is one of the simplest energy storage devices known to man: The spring. Think how a cat in the box keeps hold of the mechanical energy needed to compress the clown in the box, releasing only when the song reaches its climax weasel. And energy storage is a long-term proposal. The clown probably could sit, ready on the box in the attic of her grandmother 100 years, even until some joker, cranks the handle and, POP! Now imagine millions of carbon nanotubes - tube-shaped molecules of pure carbon - all store much energy, pound for pound than a similar amount of lithium ion battery, then the release of that energy to power a lunar explorer , a silent leaf blower or even a car.

USB is probably the closest we get to a universal device charger standard. But to charge something without taking up precious free port on your computer, you need a power adapter brick. Not with these wall sockets $ 10 True Power.

These shall comply with the wiring already in your house, giving two USB ports for each wall socket. Available next year.

The company Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has just given notice of its strategic plan to become the largest manufacturer of solar energy Japanese territory before 2012. What can not be a doubt is that their solar cells come to be those of improved energy efficiency in the international market and thus being considered.

This time, Japan's company today announced that was responsible for developing a solar cell that is even thinner than a hair of man, Which only barely measuring 58 micrometers thick and is designed to optimize the conversion efficiency to 22 percent, considered unbelievable thing so far. Making use of two types of silicon. These cells are flexible and the paper itself will cost 25 percent less than solar cells that are available at this time on the market.

Anyway, even if it is a very good news so that it can draw power from the sun all necessary power, still have to wait a while, since Sanyo does not think it possible to market before 2020.

The science is now considered as the boom among others, we reported that the robotics technology, Shocked people by large devices that can perform, some that were created for productive purposes to improve the life of man, that's why we say the robot is the replacement for this in the future, they will be used in work that many times a common man can not perform, submitting to the dismissal of many people in many of the companies future.

A group of European scientists have recently succeeded in connecting a robotic hand to a man(Pierpaolo Petruzziello) of 26 who had lost his arm in an accident. The device has an array of electrodes that allow "feel"Artificial hand, while providing a way to control it with your mind. During the experiment, which lasted about four weeks, scientists from the University Campus Bio-Medico, Rome (Italy) succeeded for the first time in history an amputee is able to perform complex movements with prosthesis controlled by your thoughts.