The amazing and complex worlds of high-tech engineering, technology, and medicine are coming together in ways that could never have been predicted years ago! Eons removed from the simplicity of the basic printer and copy machines, 3D printers were originally developed as a form of additive manufacturing technology, where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material, such as plastics or metals.

Comment by Allen G. Taylor
A few days ago there was a report of an experiment in Europe where it appeared that neutrinos generated at the CERN laboratory arrived at the Grand Sasso detector in Italy sooner than a pulse of light would have arrived if it could have traveled between CERN and Grand Sasso through a vacuum. If true, this could be the most significant change in 95 years in our understanding of how the universe works.

When we were kids, we all had to clean our room. Well, this takes it to a whole new level! As the amount of junk in space increases (see article below), NASA is actively seeking engineering ideas on how to clean it up. In Oregon, we have engineers with the required background and diversity to benefit NASA and ourselves. Needed, in particular, are electrical engineers that can work on all aspects of surveillance, retrieval, and design of control systems for the destruction (primarily through forcing debris into a lower orbit where it will burn up in the atmosphere). If you find this type creativity exciting, either contact NASA directly, or fill in the outline of your plan in the comment box below. As member, Peter Pendleton stated, “I would find it exciting to be a space age high garbage man!!”

THE WHITE HOUSE
Prize Platform Invites Citizens to Solve Nation’s Challenges – In search of novel solutions to the tricky problem of how to keep astronauts fit during prolonged periods of weightlessness, NASA found an unlikely ally in Alex Altshuler.  Altshuler works for a mechanical engineering firm in Foxboro, MA. He had never before responded to [...]