Technology

These well-regarded universities from around the world have shown strength in producing research related to a variety of engineering topics. They include aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and civil engineering. All rely on the basic engineering concept of using math and science to solve problems. These are the world's best universities for engineering. #1 Tsinghua University China Beijing #64 – Best Global Universities Subject Score – 94.5 #2 National University of Singapore Singapore #43 – Best Global Universities Subject Score - 93.2 #3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States Cambridge, MA #2 – Best Global Universities Subject Score - 93 #4 Nanyang Technological University Singapore #55 (tied) – Best Global Universities Subject Score - 92.3 #5 University of California--Berkeley United States Berkeley, CA #4 – Best Global Universities Subject Score - 91.2 #...

Cockroaches may be unwelcome house guests, but their hard-to-kill nature could help save humans trapped in buildings destroyed by storms, earthquakes or terrorism.As part of the research, the University of California, Berkeley, scientists have also revealed why it takes so much force to squash the pesky insect and therefore, they have studied how cockroaches infiltrate our homes and used the findings to develop a soft-bodied robot that can compress itself and crawl into confined spaces. As Dr Robert Full, from the university's Department of Integrative Biology, said "soft-bodied animals, such as worms, had inspired a new field of soft robotics but  there were clear disadvantages in the functionality of these robots, including speed of travel and their ability to support weight. 'This discovery not only has far-reaching implications regarding the behaviour and ecology of insects and other arthropodes', says Weihmann. 'Our results can also c...

This week’s video could mark something of a changing of the guard, with the all-electric NIO EP9 setting a lap record of 6:45.9 at the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife. Having taken the EV record on the 20.8 km circuit back in October , the world’s fastest electric car returned to the ‘Green Hell’ this month in pursuit of the overall record. The EP9’s 1 Megawatt of power (equivalent to 1342 bhp) delivers a top speed of 313kph (194mph). But it’s the lightning fast acceleration that really sets it apart, capable of going from 0-200kph (0-124mph) in just 7.1 seconds. That acceleration was key to breaking the previous Nürburgring record, set by the Pagani Zonda R in 2010. The EP9 was able to shave nearly two seconds off the Zonda’s record of 6:47.5, and petrolheads will be watching keenly to see if the internal combustion engine can strike back. At just over seven minutes, the video is a little on the lengthy side, but it’s seven minutes that we may look back on i...

Because of a Reddit post and the loose interpretation of subsequent benchmark tests posted by Primate Labs ’ John Poole, the “Apple throttles old iPhones” meme has reared its ugly head again. The gist, as it always is, is that Apple is being super petty and trying to force customers to upgrade their phones by making their old phones run slower. As always, the answer is no. It would be beyond stupid and incredibly short-sighted for Apple to do this and, if it was actually true, would likely lead to tangles of a governmental and legal nature that no company like Apple would ever want to happen. Instead, Apple is focusing attention on smoothing out the very high and quick peaks of power draw that can cause problems with older batteries. Here’s a statement that Apple provided when I inquired about the power profile that people were seeing when testing iPhones with older batteries: Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which inclu...

Charlie Lee, the former director of engineering at Coinbase, is selling almost all of his holdings in Litecoin (LTC), the cryptocurrency that he founded in 2011. Lee explained in a post on Reddit  that he is selling all of his LTC coins — bar a number of physical coins he keeps as collectibles — to avoid the conflict of interest that comes with his influence and position as LTC founder. Thanks to his time at Coinbase and LTC, Lee is regarded as a key influencer in the crypto space and he has accumulated more than 378,000 followers on Twitter, where his handle is @SatoshiLite . While he said he has stayed away from tweeting about LTC prices directly, he acknowledged his tweets have been criticized in some quarters as manipulating the price despite whatever his best interest. Lee readily admits that his position represented a conflict of interest, hence the unload. “Whenever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bad news, I get accused of doing...

Elon Musk made a bet to build the world's biggest battery in 100 days or he'd pay for it. And he's done. Tesla has completed installing its colossal lithium ion battery in South Australia, a Powerpack system with 100 megawatts of capacity. But now comes the test. SEE ALSO: This isn’t the first time Elon Musk made big promises Regulatory testing will begin in the next few days to ensure the battery is optimised and meets AEMO and South Australian Government requirements, before operation commences on Dec. 1. Tesla's Australian Powerpack, now the world's biggest lithium ion battery. Image: Timothy Artman/tesla Representatives from Tesla, French renewable energy company Neoen and Adelaide engineering firm Consolidated Power Projects will join South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill next week to officially launch the battery. Connected to Neoen's Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, three hours’ drive from Adelaide, the Powe...