The Next Byte

Latest Episodes:

20. NASA’s New Moon Buggy, Rock Picking Robot, Super-Strong Concrete Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

Take a few seconds to leave us a review. It really helps! https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2 if you do it and send us proof, we’ll give you a shoutout on the show.

(0:41) - NASA's New Moon Buggy:

Lockheed Martin and GM have been chosen to develop the next iteration of lunar rovers for NASA’s Artemis missions. GM was a key partner in the development of the first Lunar Rovers and this time around, they hope to incorporate some autonomous driving features from their Cruise self-driving platform.

(8:50) - Rock Picking Robot:

Brent Frei is a tech CEO with a proven record who recently raised a large round of funding for his robotic rock picking startup, TerraClear. As someone who grew up working on a farm, Frei knows the frustration of removing rocks from farmland. Naturally, he built a robot to address the problem.

(19:10) - Super Strong Graphene Concrete:

The University of Manchester has been at the forefront of graphene research since they won the Nobel prize for graphene synthesis in 2010. Their collaboration with Nationwide Engineering aims to reduce CO2 emissions associated with concrete by making a stronger graphene-enhanced alternative.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

19. Injectable Microchips, 2D Transistors, AI For Spacecraft Diagnosis May 25, 2021

Show notes

Take a few seconds to leave us a review. It really helps! https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2 if you do it and send us proof, we’ll give you a shoutout on the show.

(0:42) - Injectable Microchips:

Researchers at Columbia University have developed a microchip the size of a grain of salt that can be injected into a patient and act as a wireless temperature sensor. The chip is powered by and communicates to a standard ultrasound probe from outside the body.

(9:00) - 2D Transistors:

Moore’s law has dictated the progress of computational power for the past few decades but lately, it seems like we’ve hit the physical limit of transistor development. There’s now an international effort led by MIT and UC Berkeley to explore 2D transistors which could pave the way for keeping up with Moore’s Law again.

(17:10) - AI For Spacecraft Diagnosis:

NASA Pathways intern Evanna Gizzi has been working on Research in Artificial Intelligence for Spacecraft Resilience (RAISR) which aims to autonomously detect the root cause of spacecraft failures. RAISR is like an AI engineer that lives in the brain of a spacecraft to identify and remedy spacecraft failures.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

18. Artificial Electronic Nose, Wastewater To Energy, Satellite Farm Monitoring May 18, 2021

Show notes

Take 10 seconds to leave us a review and help us grow! https://apple.co/2RIsbZ2
If you send us proof of review to thenextbyte@wevolver.com, we will give you a shoutout on the show :)

(0:42) - : Electronic Nose:

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are in need of a system capable of distinguishing different types of mint and researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology believe their newly developed artificial nose could be the answer. The system uses changes in resonance of a quartz crystal and a machine learning algorithm to distinguish between various mints with high specificity.

(6:15) - Wastewater Energy Harvesting:

Microbial fuel cells have been around for quite some time and their purpose is simple: turn the organic waste into bioelectricity. Professor Zhen He at Washington University in St. Louis decided to build on this platform and developed a fuel cell that can generate electricity while filtering water.

(12:35) - Farm Monitoring From Space:

Droughts can be disastrous for farmers and drought insurance is a tool that can help alleviate some of that burden; however, it is often riddled with bureaucracy and having to wait until your crops fail before a payout. Newly published research from ETH Zurich suggests that monitoring crops via satellites and creating insurance policies that payout automatically in response to real-time changes of drought parameters could be the future of agriculture.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

17. Tissue Printing During Surgery, Hair Brushing Robots, Smaller & Cheaper Batteries May 11, 2021

Show notes

Do us a favor and leave us a review on Apple podcasts: apple.co/2RIsbZ2

(0:50) - Bioprinting During Surgery:

Trauma to the head or face can be difficult to address and oftentimes requires bone grafts from the patient or cadaverous. Professor Ibrahim Ozbolat’s team at Penn State has addressed this by developing bio inks for hard and soft tissue enabling in situ bioprinting during surgery.

(7:40) - Hairbrush Robot :

Nurses spend 18-40% of their time on direct patient care which involves hygienic maintenance like brushing hair. A joint effort from MIT & Harvard aims to alleviate so of their workload by automating the hair brushing process using robots.

(13:10) - Anode Free Batteries:

Lithium ion batteries power almost all major electronic appliances that we use today; however the main ingredient is scarce and therefore ~25% of the cost we pay is just for the battery. Professor Pen Bai from Washington University wants to address this issue using their new anode free sodium based battery cells that were developed.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

16. Lobster Inspired Armor, Wireless EV Charging, Autonomous Solar Farm Setup May 04, 2021

Show notes

(0:45) Lobster Inspired Armor:

MIT’s mechanical engineering department faculty had a breakthrough caused by lobster dinner: lobster underbelly membrane is the strongest known natural hydrogel. The team wants to use synthetic forms of this membrane to create flexible body armor with many properties that surpass that of kevlars.

(5:50) Wireless EV Charging:

Research from Cornell University displays one of the first promising steps towards wireless charging of electric vehicles using electric fields. The team hopes to deploy this technology underneath roads to give drivers the ability to charge as they drive.

(13:15) Autonomous Solar Farm Setup:

Green energy is becoming increasingly more important with the United States goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2030 and the key is driving down the cost of these energy harvesting technologies. RE2 robotics hopes to contribute to this goal by creating robots that can set up solar farms autonomously and reduce setup time by 40%.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

15. Charm's Carbon Offsets, Fitness Trainer Drones, MIT Studies Sound Waves In The North Pole Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

(0:50) - A Charming Response To The Carbon Offsetting Controversy:

Approximately 85% of all carbon offsetting efforts do not actually remove any additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and Charm wants to change that by injecting bio oil into wells that stored crude oil at one point.

(8:10) - Drones As Personal Fitness Instructors :

Drones are finally making their debut in the fitness scene with a concept design from Hongik University that could serve as the first commercially viable fitness drone and pave the way for the future of the industry.

(14:20) - MIT & ONR’s Trip To The North Pole:

Acoustic signals get distorted in regions of the ocean where warm water meets cold water - especially in the Beaufort Sea - so MIT has collaborated with ONR to understand these distortions in hopes of allowing exploration in these regions without risking loss of communication.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

14. NASA’s Asteroid Mission, Organic Polymers in HVAC, Beer Factories with 3D Printers Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

(0:50) - NASA’s Spacecraft to Explore Psyche-16:

NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission will explore a large metal asteroid that may be the core of a former planet –– and is also worth quadrillions of dollars.

(5:50) - Improving HVAC Efficiency Using Organic Polymers:

A Texas A&M professor discovered a way to save you money on your next electric bill by improving HVAC systems using polyimide, a widely-available organic polymer.

(10:50) - Heineken Uses 3D Printing in Beer Factories:

Heineken partnered with Ultimaker to introduce 3D printing to ensure more uptime, create a more durable supply chain, and foster creativity in the development of factory equipment.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

13. AlphaFold Solves Protein Folding, NASA Protects Firefighters, Autonomous Shuttles Debut In Denmark Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

(0:45) - AlphaFold Solves Protein Folding

Researchers have struggled with the problem of protein folding for nearly 50 years but DeepMind - an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary - demonstrated the ability to detect protein folds using their AlphaFold AI algorithm at the biennial CASP competition in 2020.

(6:30) - NASA JPL Tracks Firefighters For Safety

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to develop a system capable of accurately monitoring the location of firefighters inside a building.

(10:40) - Autonomous Shuttles Debut In DTU

Nobina is the largest transport group in the nordic region and they recently got approval to begin their autonomous shuttle trial at Technical University of Denmark (DTU). This trial will provide some much needed information on viability, areas to improve, and some data on how the future of urban planning will be orchestrated to consider autonomous vehicles.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

12. Ford Trucks Made From Trash, NASA’s Ingenuity Drone, Snake-Inspired Nonslip Shoes Apr 06, 2021

Show notes

(0:45) - Ford & HP Partner To Upcycle 3D Printer Waste

Ford has partnered with HP to take the 3D printer waste from companies like SmileDirectClub and transform them into useful products such as the fuel-line clips for their F-250 truck line.

(5:45) - NASA Takes Flight On Mars With Ingenuity

The martian Perseverance rover has been carrying a drone - named Ingenuity - that will be getting deployed this week to test the waters for flight on other planets like Mars.

(11:55) - Snake Inspired No-Slip Shoes

A joint effort between MIT and Harvard to create no-slip shoes using the Japanese art of Kirigami in an effort to prevent eldery and occupational fall-related deaths.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

11. Neuralink, Airspeeder: The Flying Car, Carbon Footprint & Computer Chips Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

(0:46) - Neuralink

Neuralink wants to plant chips in people using a robotic and reversible operation with the goal of eliminating neural related illnesses.

(9:25) - Airspeeder: The Flying Car

Alauda is developing an electric flying race vehicle to display technical achievements and the viability of this form of transportation.

(15:20) - Carbon Footprint & Computer Chips

A joint effort between Harvard, Arizona State University, and Facebook revealed that manufacturing computer chips makes up a large portion of the total carbon footprint of electronic devices. With this in mind, the researchers hope to convince big technology companies to take this factor into account when designing devices that don’t even utilize the full performance that these chips offer.

Become a founding reader of our newsletter: http://read.thenextbyte.com/

As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected