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Materials news articles

Viewing 1 to 15 of 19 articles

• Antarctic wind farm blows into life at Scott Base
  www.tvnz.co.nz video, 16 January
  Three wind turbines towering above New Zealand's Antarctic home have begun generating electricity.
  They will generate enough energy to completely power NZ's Antarctic programme, as well as providing some electricity to America's McMurdo station.
• Think Small
  idealog.co.nz, March/April
  What's so great about being small? At the nanoscale, the focus isn't on a piece of something as much as on an atom of something—and when matter gets down to that size, things behave differently than they do at human scale.
  Discussion starters:
  • Material properties
  • Nanotechnology
• Shock and Ore
  www.3news.co.nz video, 1 April
  Mining on conservation lands - what are the mining companies planning, and how rich could they really make us? Rod Vaughan investigates who benefits from mining in New Zealand and what will happen when they start looking for more gold in them there hills.
  Discussion starters:
  • Resource management
  • Production systems
  • Environmental impact
• Mad genius' Mentos and Coke-powered car actually works
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 2 June
  BUCKFIELD, Maine - The guys who became an online sensation by creating geysers from soda and Mentos candies have discovered it's not just entertainment. It can propel vehicles, as well.
  A contraption created by Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of Maine using a bike and a trailer is powered by piston mechanism using hundreds of pieces of Mentos candy and Coke Zero.
• Nokia launches bike-powered mobile
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 4 June
  HELSINKI - Want to talk more? Keep pedalling, says Nokia.
  The world's largest mobile phone maker launched four low-priced handsets and a recharger that can be connected to a bicycle's dynamo which charges when the wheels turn.
  The bicycle charger kit and handsets - some with a standby battery time of up to six weeks, FM radio and flashlights - are aimed at users with limited access to electricity.
• British scientists begin project to search for life on Mars
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 5 June
  British scientists have started an ambitious project aimed at searching for signs of extraterrestrial life on Mars, with the help of a sophisticated toolbox of instruments designed to drill deep under the surface of the Red Planet where life may once have thrived.
  They have been given the funding and the final go-ahead to design and develop the life-finding instruments that will be transported on board the European Space Agency's (ESA) ExoMars spacecraft, which is scheduled to land on the orange-red soil of our enigmatic planetary neighbour sometime in 2018.
• New Pedmow a cut above
  Stuff.co.nz, 21 August
  John Wilson has upped the ante in the Waikato "Pedmow" scene, unveiling an impressive new model.
  Mr Wilson, part-time panelbeater of Tokoroa, created a stir earlier this year when his original Pedmow was auctioned on Trade Me. The first model featured an old push mower attached to the front of a woman's 10-speed bicycle, but coverage of the creation brought to light numerous other Pedmows around the region, some of them pre-dating Mr Wilson's model.
• Mars technology creates self-dusting solar panels
  www.bbc.co.uk, 23 August
  Self-cleaning technology developed for lunar and Mars missions could be used to keep terrestrial solar panels dust free.
  Dust deposits can reduce the efficiency of electricity generating solar panels by as much as 80%.
  The self cleaning technology can repel dust when sensors detect concentrations on the panel's surface have reached a critical level.
• Brolly brand to weather all markets
  NZ Herald article, 23 August
  A New Zealand umbrella-maker has just broken into the lucrative Japanese market with a distribution agreement that takes its innovative product into big-name malls.
  Discussion starters:
  • Product development: fitness for purpose; material sustainability
  • Technological modeling: functional modelling and prototyping
  • Contract manufacturing
• Kiwi inventor turns household waste into blocks of rubbish
  TV3 News video, 26 August
  Ten years ago a Kiwi man found a brilliant solution - he invented a basic machine which can reprocess the entire domestic waste stream, turning it into building blocks of rubbish. Back then the world wasn't ready for his idea - but is it now?
  Discussion starters:
  • Techonological Products: material manipulation/transformation/formulation
  • Process design
  • Socio-cultural influences
• It's cool to recycle
  TV3 News video, 3 September
  Thirty thousand children from all over the world regularly click on the minimonos site where kids are encouraged to think about sustainability and have fun at the same time. The New Zealand website looks to make it cool to recycle.
  Discussion starters:
  • Nature of technology : sustainability – socio-cultural influences
  • Digital Technologies: web site design
• US military eyeing NZ made Jetpack
  New Zealand Herald, 4 September
  Two years after unveiling the Jetpack at the Oshkosh Airshow in the United States, Christchurch's Martin Aircraft Company is discussing possible military uses for its flying machine with the US Department of Defence.
  The firm's chief executive says possible applications include a remote-controlled, unmanned version of the propeller-powered aircraft - which has the potential to fly at heights of up to 10,000 feet (3048m) - being used as an "airborne missile platform".
• New uses for earthquake rubble
  TV3 News video, 7 September
  Demolition createws plenty of concrete rubble. Every year around 160,000 tonnes of it ends up in NZ landfills, so finding ways to reuse it is now a priority.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological products: material sustainability.
  • Processing Technologies: formulating processed products
• Latest money saving gadgets prove to be big money makers
  New Zealand Herald, 7 September
  Demand is rising in the US for gadgets that squeeze out that last blob of toothpaste and help get the suds out of tiny slivers of soap.
  Marketers of these gizmos tout how the pennies they save by reducing waste can add up. Cheapskate gadgets may be a sign of the times, but they're also a sign of how product makers and retailers are trying to get people back in the spending habit.
• Kiwi rocket man flies high
  Stuff.co.nz, 16 September
  It's the stuff boyhood dreams are made of and one made real by a determined Kiwi inventor.
  Glenn Martin, inventor of the world's first practical jetpack, gave his account of turning the dream into reality during a lunchtime presentation in Timaru yesterday.
  The presentation, hosted by the South Canterbury branch of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, was a chronicle of his 30-year endeavour to design and build a personal jetpack.