Researchers from the University of Southern California and the La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.–based company Marine BioEnergy are looking to the ocean for a new biofuel source: seaweed. The team is deploying an innovative "kelp elevator," in which it raises and lowers plots of Macrocystis pyrifera (giant kelp) to different depths to maximize its rate of growth. The new aquaculture technique has produced four times the amount of seaweed as compared to naturally grown seaweed. Researchers envision the plant becoming an environmentally friendly, low-carbon source of biofuel. The environmental impact of growing corn and soybean, the current primary sources of biofuel, can include water pollution.
The researchers raise and lower the kelp elevator, made of fiberglass tubes and stainless steel cables, using an automated winch. “The good news is the farm system can be assembled from off-the-shelf products without new technology,” said Brian Wilcox, co-founder and chief engineer of Marine BioEnergy. “Once implemented, depth-cycling farms could lead to a new way to produce affordable, carbon-neutral fuel year-round.” [USC]
Inspired by mosquitoes, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the City University of Hong Kong have created a fleet of tiny drones with "unprecedented dexterity and resilience," according to an MIT press release. Powered by a soft actuator made of thin rubber cylinders and coated in carbon nanotubes, the little drone has wings that can flap up to 500 times a second, giving an insect-like ability to recover from collision. Potential applications for the durable flying robots include crop pollination and navigating complex and crowded environments. [MIT]
Dallas-based software company TestFit has partnered with international structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti to develop a time-saving, data-sharing application programming interface. The API connects TestFit's design and visualization platform with Thornton Tomasetti’s Asterisk tool, allowing AEC professionals to quickly solve questions such as how to optimize column sizes to maximize the number of spaces in a parking garage. “Using the API to link the knowledge represented by TestFit and Asterisk results in processes that are a hundred times faster than today’s standard,” said Thornton Tomasetti senior principal and chief technology officer Rob Otani in a TestFit press release. [TestFit]
With society transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, what will architecture and design look like in the post-vaccine era? ARCHITECT's 2021 "What's Next" series examines six building typologies with insights from Gensler, HKS Architects, Education Design International, The Lunz Group, Moody Nolan, and Weiss/Manfredi. [ARCHITECT]
Have you met the incoming head of MIT's Media Lab? MIT astronautics professor and spacesuit designer Dava Newman will assume the position in July. “I really see the MIT Media Lab as the best place in the world to bring together science, engineering, art, and design to creatively deal with the huge challenges humanity is facing,” Newman said in an interview with MIT Technology Review. "The magic of the Media Lab—which I hope to help build on—is to provide a trusted, open-minded, stimulating space where each person can contribute extraordinary expertise while being stretched beyond their comfort zone to collectively imagine a better, bolder future.” [MIT]
Studio Roosegaarde in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has developed an "Urban Sun" that rids 99.9% of coronavirus particles within a designated space, with the goal of resuming public gatherings. The Urban Sun emits a ring of amber-colored far-UVC light, with a wavelength of 222 nanometers, into a circular area, sanitizing the space within. “Suddenly our world is filled with plastic barriers and distance stickers, our family reduced to pixels on a computer screen," said Studio Roosegaarde founder Daan Roosegaarde in a studio press release. "Let’s be the architects of our new normal and create better places to meet and interact.” [Studio Roosegaarde]
How have construction tools and equipment evolved over the decades? Building Technology Heritage Library's collection of 19th- and 20th-century trade literature gives insight into the changes, tracing the rise of portable electric tools and construction materials. [ARCHITECT]
The economic recession resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has led to drastic losses for women in all economic sectors, including architecture. Christina Cho, AIA, and Ming Thompson, AIA, co-founders of Atelier Cho Thompson join other designers sharing the countless demands that the pandemic has placed on working mothers. Last May, Thompson penned an op-ed on this topic titled "Architecture Might Lose a Generation of Women in the Coronavirus Era". [AIA ARCHITECT]
Global BIM software company Graphisoft has become a software and technology partner for 400 Forward, aiming to empower the organization founded by NOMA executive director Tiffany Brown to help more Black female designers achieve licensure. [ARCHITECT]
This week, the U.S. Green Building Council expanded its LEED Earth campaign to include houses, communities, and cities, aiming to makes its LEED standard more accessible and further encourage green building practices. [ARCHITECT]
