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Articles on Electrical engineering

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This experimental setup shows an ultra-low-power wireless communications device that could one day be used in tiny remote sensors. Zerina Kapetanovic

Device transmits radio waves with almost no power – without violating the laws of physics

A wireless transmitter uses almost no power and at first glance appears to violate the laws of physics. It’s actually a clever use of physics that could one day transmit data from tiny remote sensors.
Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the Earth’s magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic. Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia

Solar storm knocks out farmers’ high-tech tractors – an electrical engineer explains how a larger storm could take down the power grid and the internet

Every few centuries the Sun blasts the Earth with a huge amount of high-energy particles. If it were to happen today, it would wreak havoc on technology.
An engineer demonstrates a car phone five months before the historic first call on a competing company’s commercial mobile telephone service in 1946. Bettmann via Getty Images

The first mobile phone call was 75 years ago – what it takes for technologies to go from breakthrough to big time

The ubiquity of mobile phones is a defining feature of the 21st century, but it’s been possible to place a phone call on the go since shortly after World War II.
Engineering education needs to keep up with technological advances. Shutterstock

How to train 21st century engineers for tech discoveries

Technological advances and discoveries are moving at a rate faster than engineering education can keep up with. The solution is a revised approach to teaching engineering.
Static electricity can cause more than just a bad hair day. Ken Bosma

Static electricity’s tiny sparks

These mini lightning bolts have been known for millennia. Understanding static electricity at the atomic level opens the door for new technologies – as well as ways to cut down on the tiny zaps.
It won’t look quite like that, though. Josef Stuefer

Bioengineers go retro to build a calculator from living cells

Scientists in the US have developed a calculator from living cells, using old-fashioned analog programming. Their hope is that the technology could be used in the future to program cells to kill cancer…

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