Word: construction
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...wonder the prospect of artificial muscles has NASA, well, pumped. Traditional robots, even in today's miniature sizes, draw heavily from the limited power supplies on a space probe, and their weight translates into higher launch costs. Bar-Cohen says the components required to construct each strip of artificial muscle cost a total of $200, need just four volts of power and weigh only a fraction of an ounce. Says Rob Manning, chief engineer for nasa's Mars Lander missions: "With all of our basketball-sized spacecraft, we're going to need this kind of technology...
...International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials in Newport Beach, Calif. "It's clear that if we're going to build little robots that do things, then they've got to have muscles," says Paul Calvert, a materials scientist at the University of Arizona. He uses polymer gels to construct "Jell-O jacks," which resemble the wobbly dessert but are capable of raising and lowering small objects. Agrees Qiming Zhang, an electrical engineer at Pennsylvania State University: "The only bottleneck is that we haven't found the perfect muscle materials...
...world view. To judge the true academic merit of X, Y statements, we need only look to our professors. An academic who introduced the argument of his book or article with "As an X, I feel Y" would surely be judged a lightweight by his colleagues. Instead, our professors construct their arguments using careful interpretation and close analysis of evidence...
...confided over hot cider at a neighborhood lounge. "I almost walk through stores like one would walk through museums." After graduating from U.C.L.A. in 1997 with a dual degree in history and art history, she apprenticed at a lingerie company, where she learned that "it takes 38 pieces to construct a bra." Then her father Zach, who has a computer business, lent her money to help form a company. "We never thought she'd work so hard. She even stayed home last Saturday night, which she didn't used to do during school exams," says Zach, who often talks shop...
...culture, we venerate symmetrical faces, women with perky breasts, men with V-shaped torsos. But is it the fault of Vogue editors and Aaron Spelling that we do so? Skewering the popular wisdom that beauty is a social construct, this Harvard psychologist argues that we ogle such features because they radiate the health and fertility our species needs to survive. Avoiding ideological rant, Etcoff employs rigorous scientific research and amusing detail to create a great read, albeit one that won't become Naomi Wolf's favorite...