Media Watch Archives
Golf club sparked Orange County brush fire
NBC 4 -
A 2014 UC Irvine study determined that titanium alloy clubs caused sparks that generated a small brush fire at Irvine's Shady Canyon in 2010 and another a few years earlier at Arroyo Trabuco. … Chemical engineering and materials science Professor James Earthman, lead author on the study, said: "When the club strikes a ball, nearby rocks can tear particles of titanium from the sole of the head. Bits of the particle surfaces will react violently with oxygen or nitrogen in the air, and a tremendous amount of heat is produced. The foliage ignites in flames."
Report from Maker Faire: Wrist Band Takes Blood Pressure
Science & Enterprise -
Taking blood pressure, a routine task in clinics, gives a one-time snapshot of an individual’s condition, but people who need frequent monitoring of blood pressure must return continuously to the clinic or take their blood pressure at home. In addition, devices that measure blood pressure, known as blood pressure cuffs, can be uncomfortable for some individuals. Two engineering students invented a device that makes possible continuous blood pressure monitoring.
Here's what Hyperloop pods could one day look like
Business Insider -
HyperXite, which hails from University of California, Irvine, is focused mainly on solving rush hour challenges. The team’s design can fit 28 people and will be able to withstand harsh weather conditions. HyperXite was one of three teams who won the Pod Technical Excellence Award at Design Weekend.
Kimberly and Nicole - Slapband (Video)
America’s Greatest Makers -
University of California, Irvine biomedical engineering students Nicole Mendoza and Kimberly Veliz are featured on America's Greatest Makers. "We are both first generation college students ... and we are biomedical engineers at the University of California, Irvine ... we are passionate about finding solutions to medical problems. ... So we made the slapband. ... The future of medicine is not in curing all disease but preventing it in the first place. The slapband will be a tool that can help prevent heart disease."
3-D printers' sounds hold secrets that can be stolen, UCI researchers find
Los Angeles Times -
"The key is small, but the implication is huge," said Mohammad Al Faruque, director of UCI's Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems Lab. "It means that valuable processing information can be lost" to hackers who, for example, might capture audio from the printing process to make parts for cars and planes.
Nanopillared surface inspired by insect wings counteracts bacteria
Gizmag -
"Other research groups have also created antibacterial nanopillar surfaces, but none of their approaches can be used on ordinary polymer surfaces or be scaled up easily," says Albert F. Yee, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of California, Irvine.
UC grad students drive innovation, merit state aid
The Sacramento Bee -
On Wednesday, I’m taking a break my from chemical engineering research to join other UC graduate students in Sacramento. Our message to lawmakers: Graduate students are the engines that drive California innovation – think Tesla, but a whole lot cheaper.
Acoustic Thievery: Researchers Find a Way to “Hack” 3-D Printers Using Sound
Futurism -
Mohammad Al Faruque, the director of UCI’s Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems Lab, led the team which showed that a simple device, such as a smartphone, can capture acoustic signals that carry information about the precise movements of the printer’s nozzle. These recordings can then be used to reverse engineer whatever object is being printed and re-create it somewhere else. Basically, this poses a huge security risk due to how easily detailed and confidential processes can be deciphered using common, everyday gadgets.
Spies can steal objects by recording the sound of a 3D printer
Wired.co.uk -
Industrial spies could accurately 'steal' 3D objects by recording the sound of them being produced on a 3D printer. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have demonstrated a method by which a 3D design could be reverse-engineered by analysing the vibrations picked up from a common 3D printer.
A Smartphone Can Copy a 3D Model By Just Recording the Sounds of a 3D Printer
Gizmodo -
The team of researchers at UCI's Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems Lab, led by Mohammad Al Faruque, were able to recreate a 3D-printed key-shaped object with 90 percent accuracy using the sound copying and processing technique they developed.