#biomimicry
Week in Brief (13–17 November)
Credit: Tesla/James King
Tesla has revealed its Tesla Semi – an articulated lorry that can travel 500 miles (804km) on a single charge, consuming less than two kilowatt-hours of energy per mile.
With a full 80,000-pound load, the lorry can do 0-60 mph in 20 seconds and can climb 5% gradients at 65mph. The electric vehicle’s battery is reinforced for safety and its windshield is made from impact resistant glass.
According to Chief Executive Elon Musk the Tesla Semi could travel 643km after 30 minutes of charging using one of Tesla’s new mega-chargers. While the lorry’s cost has not yet been revealed, Tesla claims that is will be cheaper than diesel equivalents per mile, considering fuel and maintenance.
The Tesla Semi is due to go into production in 2019.
Credit: Tesla/James King
To find out more visit, bit.ly/2zRx2Ko
In other news:
–The Norwegian Central bank has proposed ditching oil and gas companies
–Solar cells inspired by butterfly wings
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Engineers 3D print flexible mesh for ankle and knee braces
Techniques could lead to personalized wearable and implantable devices
Hearing aids, dental crowns, and limb prosthetics are some of the medical devices that can now be digitally designed and customized for individual patients, thanks to 3-D printing. However, these devices are typically designed to replace or support bones and other rigid parts of the body, and are often printed from solid, relatively inflexible material.
Now MIT engineers have designed pliable, 3-D-printed mesh materials whose flexibility and toughness they can tune to emulate and support softer tissues such as muscles and tendons. They can tailor the intricate structures in each mesh, and they envision the tough yet stretchy fabric-like material being used as personalized, wearable supports, including ankle or knee braces, and even implantable devices, such as hernia meshes, that better match to a person’s body.
As a demonstration, the team printed a flexible mesh for use in an ankle brace. They tailored the mesh’s structure to prevent the ankle from turning inward – a common cause of injury – while allowing the joint to move freely in other directions. The researchers also fabricated a knee brace design that could conform to the knee even as it bends. And, they produced a glove with a 3-D-printed mesh sewn into its top surface, which conforms to a wearer’s knuckles, providing resistance against involuntary clenching that can occur following a stroke.
“This work is new in that it focuses on the mechanical properties and geometries required to support soft tissues,” says Sebastian Pattinson, who conducted the research as a postdoc at MIT.