Jet Engine Exhaust is Turned into Electricity to Power Dallas International Airport

An example of the pods at Dallas Love Field Airport – credit: JetWind CorporationAn intuitive piece of hardware is collecting days’ worth of renewable energy from airplane engine exhaust before take-off from a Dallas airport.“Boarding is completed” is a common refrain heard over the intercom system in the moments before taxiing to the runway.At that moment, the pilot will begin a series of engine tests and pre-flight checks during which time the turbine engines are idling with their ferocious noise and exhaust fumes.A company called JetWind has realized that all that idling force is like the strong winds needed to power a wind turbine, and has built a series of pods that can capture it during the 5-10 minutes the aircraft is sitting at the gate waiting for clearance to taxi.“The main goal of our project is to harness the consistent wind created by jets and convert it into an eco-friendly energy source,” JetWind’s founder and president Dr. T. O. Souryal told Interesting Engineering.“What was once considered wasted energy can now benefit energy grids, ultimately promoting smarter and more sustainable infrastructure across the globe.”Three years of testing between 2021 and 2024 have informed the official deployment of JetWind’s flagship product at Dallas Love Field airport. 13 sets of pods will sit beneath the gate hooked up to external...
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Indian American engineers discuss advancements in hot technologies

Debu Chatterjee, CEO Konfer and Mihir Shukla, CEO Automation Anywhere discussing responsible AI and engaging the audience. ALL PHOTOS: ASEIThe American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEIUSA.org), a non-profit founded in 1983, convened an AI Summit February 17, 2025, in Santa Clara, California, attended by a number of academics, researchers, authors, speakers and industry innovators.Held at the UCSC Silicon Valley campus, the event also marked the 10-year anniversary of ASEI’s Silicon Valley chapter.The Conference covered a wide variety of subjects in Artificial Intelligence.India’s Consul General in San Francisco Dr Srikar Reddy addressing the ASEI audience at AI meeting, Feb. 15, 2025. PHOTO: ASEIAfter a warm welcome by co-hosts UCSC Dean P.K. Agarwal,and ASEI Silicon Valley President Piyush Malik, setting the stage for the event, the Consul General (CG) of India in San Francisco Dr. Srikar Reddy, shared his perspectives on India’s digital economy, the strength of Silicon Valley Indian community and how the Indian government is investing in and leveraging AI for improving lives and livelihoods of citizens. Reddy alluded to Prime Minister Modi’s recent speeches at AI Action Summit in Paris and recent visit to the US.Opening the program with a classical Indian music performance by a young high school STEM student Sohum Gupta,...
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Supersonic jets are making a comeback – but despite the hype, don’t expect to book yet

Rendering of Boom Supersonic’s proposed Overture supersonic airliner. Boom Supersonic Chris James, The University of QueenslandLate last week, American company Boom Supersonic flew faster than the speed of sound with its XB-1 supersonic demonstrator aircraft. It’s now the first piloted non-military aircraft to break the sound barrier since the Concorde was retired from service in 2003. It’s the first step in Boom’s ambitious goal to have supersonic airliners carry passengers by 2029. But what exactly is supersonic travel? There are good reasons why it’s not more common, despite the hype. Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 supersonic demonstrator aircraft during its 11th test flight where it became the first civilian aircraft to fly supersonically since the Concorde. Boom SupersonicWhat is supersonic flight? The Mach number is defined as a plane’s speed divided by the speed that sound waves move through the air. To “break the sound barrier” means to fly faster than the speed of sound, with Mach numbers greater than 1. The Mach number is an important ratio: as a plane flies, it disturbs the air in front of it. These disturbances move at the speed of sound. In supersonic flight these disturbances combine to form shock waves around the vehicle. When people say you can see a fighter jet before you hear it, they’re referring to supersonic...
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Scientists Turn Industrial Waste into Batteries for Storing Renewable Energy

Emily Mahoney, the new paper’s first author, in the lab – courtesy Malapit LabA team at Northwestern University has transformed an industrial waste product into a battery for storing sustainable energy.While many iterations of these batteries are in production or being researched for grid-scale applications, using a waste molecule, in this case, triphenylphosphine oxide, (TPPO) has never been done before.The batteries used in our phones, devices, and even cars rely on metals like lithium and cobalt, sourced through intensive and sometimes exploitative mining operations. Demand for these critical minerals is expected to skyrocket over the next few decades.At the same time, thousands of tons of the well-known chemical byproduct TPPO are produced each year by many organic industrial synthesis processes, including the production of vitamin supplements, but it is rendered useless and must be carefully discarded following production.In a paper published last week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a ‘one-pot’ reaction allows chemists to turn TPPO into a usable product with the powerful potential to store energy, opening the door for the future viability of a long-imagined battery type called “redox flow” batteries.“Battery research has traditionally been dominated by engineers and materials scientists,” said Northwestern...
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Weight-loss drugs draw Americans back to the doctor

FILE PHOTO: Injection pens and boxes of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy are shown in this photo illustration in Oslo, Norway, November 21, 2023. REUTERS/Victoria Klesty/IllustrationBy Deena Beasley(Reuters) -Powerful weight-loss drugs are expanding use of U.S. health care as patients starting prescriptions are diagnosed with obesity-related conditions or take the drugs to become eligible for other services, health records and discussions with doctors show.An exclusive analysis of hundreds of thousands of electronic patient records by health data firm Truveta found slight, but measurable, increases in first-time diagnoses of sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes within 15 days of an initial prescription for a GLP-1 weight-loss drug between 2020 and 2024.In addition to obesity-related conditions, some patients are being prescribed the drugs to lose weight and become eligible for services, including organ transplants, fertility treatments or knee replacements, according to interviews with seven doctors and five other health experts.Lung transplant patient Bensabio Guajardo and the team at UChicago Medicine’s ACTNOW weight loss clinic pose for a picture at the clinic, in Chicago, March 2023. Mark Black/UChicago Medicine/Handout via REUTERS“This is a population that previously felt stigmatized by health care...
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Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava

LOS ANGELES - One of the world's most active volcanoes sprang into life again Monday, spewing columns of lava 80 meters (260 feet) above Hawaii, US vulcanologists said.Images showed enormous fissures in the caldera of Kilauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, spraying jets of molten rock into the air.The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the eruption began just after 2:00 am local time (1200 GMT) in the southwestern section of the caldera."At 4:30 am, lava fountains were observed with heights up to 80 meters (262 feet)," the agency said."Molten material, including lava bombs, is being ejected from the vents on the caldera floor up onto the west caldera rim."The eruption was also sending matter much higher into the atmosphere."The plume of volcanic gas and fine volcanic particles is reaching elevations of 6,000-8,000 feet above sea level... and winds are transporting it to the southwest.""The eruption is occurring within a closed area" of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the observatory said, adding that lava flows "are currently confined to Halema'uma'u and the eastern part of Kilauea caldera."However, it warned that sulphur dioxide emanating from the fissure would react with other gases in the atmosphere.So-called vog -- volcanic smog -- can affect people and animals, as well as crops.Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts...
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South Asian Americans win Lifesciences Technology Award at Innovation Challenge

Meghna Sharma, and Tseten Gurung,pose with Loudoun Economic Development officials. PHOTO: Loudoun Economic DevelopmentSouth Asian Americans, Meghna Sharma, of Indian origin, and Tseten Gurung, of Nepali origin, won the 2024 Loudoun Innovation Challenge award in the Life Sciences Technology category for their company, VascRisk.The Loudoun Economic Development team announced the winners during an awards gala held on December 5, 2024, at the Belmont Country Club in Ashburn, Virginia.VascRisk, a Loudoun County firm, redefines “cardiovascular health management by integrating advanced scientific methods, and generative-AI with the power of personalized care.” Other winning companies of the Innovation Challenge included Emtel Energy in the Clean Technology Innovation category, Measured Risk in the Cyber and Defense Innovation category, SkyRFID in the Highly Specialized Innovation category, and noHack in the Industry Transformation Innovation category.Sharma and Gurung were supported by two other Indian-origin women on VascRisk’s management team, Kavya Krishnan and Yashwini Krishnan, whose collective efforts played a key role in achieving this recognition. Sharma and Gurung were awarded a $15,000 cash prize, and a crystal trophy for their achievement.Sharma told South Asian Herald, “We are incredibly grateful and honored to be chosen as...
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US leads call to triple nuclear power at COP28

DUBAI - More than 20 nations including the United States called for a tripling of nuclear energy to drive down emissions on Saturday as world leaders assembled for a second day at UN climate talks in Dubai.With smoggy skies in Dubai highlighting the challenges facing the world, other pledges are expected at the COP28 conference, including stepping up the deployment of renewable energy and cutting methane emissions.The use of nuclear power as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is highly controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.But more than 20 nations ranging from the US to Ghana, Japan and several European countries said in a declaration that it plays a "key role" in the global goal of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century.They called for the tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels."We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source," US climate envoy John Kerry said at the COP28 conference in Dubai."But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can't get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear," he said.The other signatories include Britain, France, South Korea, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, but nuclear powers Russia and...
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Scientists find potential treatment target for leading cause of blindness

New Delhi, (IANS) US scientists have found answers to why treatment for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- a leading cause of blindness -- does not benefit all; and also developed a potential antibody treatment.AMD is a condition characterised by abnormal blood vessel growth in the back of the eye.Older age, diabetes, obesity, and many other chronic metabolic diseases lead to excessive vascular growth and damage to the macula -- the part of the eye that translates light into image signals.The first line of defence is usually the Anti-VEGF therapy, which blocks vascular endothelial growth factor and keeps excessive blood vessel growth at bay. However, it only works well for around a third of patients, said the team from the Medical College of Georgia (MCG)."Fibroblast cells" are the reason, they found."Collagen and many other proteins produced by these fibroblast cells accumulate outside of the vascular cells and eventually lead to fibrosis or scarring in the eye. This keeps the excess vasculature from being suppressed by anti-VEGF treatments," revealed the study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine."We show, for the first time in this study, that many fibroblast cells are actually produced by these excessive endothelial cells," said Yuqing Huo, the Director of the Vascular Inflammation Programme...
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Researchers find connection between Alzheimer's & night time light pollution

New Delhi, September : A team of US researchers on Friday said that they have found a connection between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and night time light pollution from the outdoors.Researchers at Rush University Medical Center, US have found that night time light pollution is more strongly correlated with the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in people aged under 65, than other risk factors like alcohol abuse, chronic kidney disease, depression, and obesity.“We show that there is a positive association between AD prevalence and exposure to light at night, particularly in those under the age of 65. Nightly light pollution – a modifiable environmental factor, may be an important risk factor for AD,” said Dr Robin Voigt-Zuwala, Associate Professor at Rush University Medical Center.Other risk factors, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke, were more strongly associated with AD than light pollution.However, for people under 65, higher night time light intensity was associated with a greater AD prevalence than any other risk factor.This could be due to individual differences in light sensitivity and lifestyles in urban areas.“Awareness of the association should empower people – particularly those with risk factors for AD – to make easy lifestyle changes. Easy to implement changes include using blackout curtains or sleeping...
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US study examines feasibility of coal-to-nuclear conversion

A study by researchers at the University of Michigan ranks the feasibility of converting 245 operational coal power plants in the USA into advanced nuclear reactors, providing valuable insights for policymakers and utilities to meet decarbonisation goals.The Petersburg coal plant in Indiana was found to be the most feasible large plant to convert to nuclear (Image: AES Indiana)In 2022, coal-fired power plants accounted for nearly 20% of total energy generation in the USA, resulting in the emission of 847 million metric tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 55% of the country's total CO2 emissions from the power sector.Coal power plants (CPPs) are being phased out in many countries, including the USA. Utilities across the nation have incorporated the transition from coal-fired generation to cleaner energy resources into their Integrated Resource Plans. Furthermore, several utilities have set a goal to retire all CPPs within the next 15 years.As part of this transition, there is a need to repurpose retired CPPs to alternative clean sources - one possibility is nuclear energy, which can generate the same stable base load of energy as coal but with zero carbon emissions, the study says.Rather than establishing new sites, transitioning operational CPPs to nuclear plants can save time and money by using existing equipment like transmission lines...
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Study shows how obesity affects brain and leads to low sperm count

New Delhi, (IANS) Obesity causes chronic changes in the brain, leading to lower sperm count, according to a study in mice.The study led by University of California-Riverside researchers used mice fed a high-fat diet to imitate human obesity.Their findings showed that the mice's brains had fewer connections between neurons and fewer receptors, which ordinarily alert the brain that enough energy is available and to stop eating."This could explain why we don't cut back on our calorie intake," said Djurdjica Coss, a biomedical sciences professor at the School of Medicine and lead author of the study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.Coss added that reproductive function is regulated by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis, which is disrupted by obesity, primarily affecting the brain rather than the testes or pituitary.In obesity, lower hormone levels from the pituitary result in reduced testosterone and sperm production.The research found fewer synaptic connections in neurons regulating reproduction in high-fat diet-fed mice, which parallels human mechanisms.Obesity impacts millions worldwide and is linked to health issues like cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Study shows how obesity affects brain and leads to low sperm count | MorungExpress | morungexpress....
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Oklo demonstrates fuel recycling process

Engineers in Argonne’s Chemical and Fuel Cycle Technologies division (Image: Argonne National Laboratory)California-based liquid metal fast reactor developer Oklo Inc, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory, has successfully completed the first end-to-end demonstration of the key stages of its advanced fuel recycling process.Oklo said the completion of the demonstration "marks a significant step forward in Oklo's efforts to scale up its fuel recycling capabilities and deploy a commercial-scale recycling facility to increase advanced reactor fuel supplies, and enhance fuel cost effectiveness".Supported by a USD5 million cost-share award from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) under the Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) Program, this project aims to facilitate the deployment of a commercial-scale advanced fuel recycling facility.Oklo's fuel recycling technology is engineered to extract more than 90% of the remaining potential energy from used fuel, which is expected to be utilised in Oklo powerhouses to generate clean energy. It incorporates unique proliferation-resistant features, including maintaining the consolidation of transuranic materials.The company said the introduction of commercial fuel recycling...
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US company claims nuclear battery breakthrough : Corporate

A metal-encased coin-cell packaging is developed to guarantee sufficient shielding and no leakage (Image: Infinity Power)California-based Infinity Power says it has successfully developed a very powerful and long-lasting nuclear battery that uses electrochemical energy conversion.It says its nuclear battery - developed with support from the US Department of Defense - has been demonstrated to attain an overall efficiency of more than 60%."Compared to other radioisotope energy conversion methods with low efficiency (<10%), it marks the highest level of overall efficiency ever achieved," according to the company. "This shows that the upcoming commercial release of next-generation radioisotope power sources holds out huge hope."Nuclear batteries - also known as radioisotope batteries - work on the principle of utilising the energy released by the decay of nuclear isotopes and converting it into electrical energy through semiconductor converters. Unlike typical other converters, Infinity Power says its battery uses novel electrochemical energy conversion.The company claims its "tiny coin-cell-style device can provide tens of milliwatts of power for over 100 years".Infinity Power says its technology is scalable, enabling a wide range of power generation, from nanowatts to kilowatts or more."Because of its higher efficiency, it requires...
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Researchers use VR technology to measure brain activity, stress

Researchers use VR technology to measure brain activity, stress (Credit: University of Texas at Austin ) IANSNew York, (IANS) US researchers have modified a commercial virtual reality headset, giving it the ability to measure brain activity in order to examine how we react to hints, stressors and other outside forces.The team at The University of Texas at Austin created a noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor that they installed in a Meta VR headset that can be worn comfortably for long periods. The EEG measures the brain's electrical activity during the immersive VR interactions.The device, detailed in the journal Soft Science, could be used in many ways, from helping people with anxiety, to measuring the attention or mental stress of aviators using a flight simulator, to giving a human the chance to see through the eyes of a robot."Virtual reality is so much more immersive than just doing something on a big screen," said lead researcher Nanshu Lu, Professor at the varsity’s Cockrell School of Engineering."It gives the user a more realistic experience, and our technology enables us to get better measurements of how the brain is reacting to that environment," Lu added.The pairing of VR and EEG sensors has made its way into the commercial sphere already. However, the devices that exist today are costly, and the researchers...
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Light Therapy Can Help People Recover From Major Brain Injuries, Shows Study

Fotolia licensed imageLights of different wavelengths have been studied for years for their wound-healing properties.Now, low-level light therapy appears to positively affect healing in the brains of people who suffered significant brain injuries, according to a study published last month in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America.Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital conducted low-level light therapy on 38 patients who had suffered moderate traumatic brain injury—an injury to the head serious enough to alter cognition or be visible on a brain scan. They all received light therapy within 72 hours of their injuries through a helmet that emits near-infrared light.“The skull is quite transparent to near-infrared light,” said study co-lead author Rajiv Gupta, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Radiology at Mass General. “Once you put the helmet on, your whole brain is bathing in this light.”The researchers used an imaging technique called functional MRI to gauge the effects of the light therapy. They focused on the brain’s resting-state functional connectivity, the communication between brain regions that occurs when a person is at rest and not engaged in a specific task.The researchers compared MRI results during three recovery phases: the acute phase of within one week after injury, the subacute...
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Elephants Are the First Non-Human Animals Now Known to Use Names, AI Research Shows

credit – Glen Carrie, UnsplashIn a study as amazing as it is probably unsurprising, a team of biologists and researchers using machine learning tools discovered that elephants call each other by names.For an animal that is known to perform deeply social acts like grieving, raising children collectively, and communicating across miles of countryside using complex low-frequency vocalizations, the use of names seems to be natural for their societies, but being able to know an elephant’s name in ‘Elephantese’ offers the potential to dramatically reduce human-elephant conflict.The study was conducted at Colorado State University and was organized around simple observations that the matriarch of an elephant herd the researchers were following in Kenya would use a call that brought all the elephants together around her.However, sometimes a perfectly similar call would draw only a single elephant out of the group.To investigate if this had something to do with a naming custom, the scientists from CSU, Save the Elephants, and ElephantVoices used machine learning to analyze and group vocalizations into those they suspected were meant for multiple members of the herd, and those meant for an individual.When the researchers played recorded calls, CSU press reports, elephants responded affirmatively to calls that were addressed to them by calling...
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Medical Student’s Cardiology Research Earns AHA Award

Medical student Sarah Choudhury, right, has been awarded an American Heart Association scholarship to continue her cardiovascular disease research in the lab of Jennifer K. Lang, MD. PHOTO: Courtesy medicine.uffalbo.eduSarah Choudhury, a fourth-year medical student in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been awarded an American Heart Association (AHA) scholarship to continue her cardiovascular disease research at the University at Buffalo.Choudhury started her research project in the lab of Jennifer K. Lang, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, during the summer after her first year of medical school.She continued working in Lang’s lab during her second and third years of medical school, the results of which formed the preliminary data used in the scholarship application.Developing Tailored Therapies for Heart Failure and Ischemic InjuryThe AHA 2024 Student Scholarship in Cardiovascular Disease provides $2,000 that may be used as a stipend to support a summer 2024 research project.“I am really excited to receive this award from the AHA and to continue conducting research in Dr. Lang’s Lab,” Choudhury says. “Cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of death worldwide and with its evolving landscape, I am interested in finding ways to address its long-term...
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