Car engines could soon be fired by lasers instead of spark plugs, researchers say. The approach would increase efficiency of engines, and reduce their pollution, by igniting more of the mixture. The team has been developing a new approach to the problem: lasers made of ceramic powders that are pressed into spark-plug sized cylinders. The …
April 24, 2011 archive
Apr 24
LED Lightbulb
Historically, LEDs have faced three challenges. They cast a bluish hue rather than the pleasing yellowish light of incandescent bulbs, they ran hot, and they were too expensive. The new bulbs emit a more attractive light (around 2,700 Kelvin) and have space-age cooling fins reminiscent of those used to cool computer CPUs. The result is …