The UK’s new Engineering Diploma for 14-19-year-olds is being taught from this September. Rupal Mehta explores its development, and what it means for education in the country and a sector dominated by an ageing workforce.
Scientists at the ISIS neutron research centre in Didcot, UK, are developing a bioactive glass that releases calcium into the body as it dissolves. This could enable patients to regrow bones and may signal an alternative to bone transplants.
Implantable medical devices must possess sufficient corrosion resistance to the human body’s saline environment to maintain structural and functional integrity, as well as minimise the release of leachable substances which might otherwise react adversely with the surrounding tissue. In vitro corrosion testing is crucial to achieve effective materials selection for these devices.
Materials selection can affect tennis racket and player performance. The stiffness-related vibration of the frame and shock transmission to the player are common complaints that manufacturers are addressing through applications such as piezo materials.
New Zealand has maximised its advantage of being small but well connected, in the field of biopolymers and biocomposites. Scientists are testing the potential of electrospun proteins and polysaccharides as industrial raw materials. These spun materials have exceptional mechanical properties and high specific surface areas that can be exploited to make low-pressure-drop selective active filtration elements.
Sophisticated technologies are used to discover new drugs, which result in a broad variety of active compounds with high specificity and potency. These drugs need to reach the right place (cell or tissue) in the body, in an adequate concentration and for a specific time period, to have the desired therapeutic effect.
Nanotechnology development in the UK is at a critical phase. The Chairman of the Institute's Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Group takes a look at the industry and its goals for the future.
Research into the magnetic properties of nanostructures, and the application of nanomagnetism on hard disc drive (HDD) magnetic information storage systems, diagnostics, controlled drug delivery. Methods used include magnetic imaging and modelling as well as characterisation.
