Articles by Austin Weber

A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego have created a new type of battery that weaves two promising subfields into a single product.

Some birds, such as albatrosses and pelicans, skim over ocean waves and fly long distances, up to thousands of miles in a few days, without hardly flapping their wings. Using this dynamic soaring method, seabirds continually harness the power of air and wave currents to conserve energy as they glide along.

Most of the recent buzz surrounding electric vehicles has focused on cars, trucks and other land-based products. But, there's also a revolution occurring in the air with a new class of all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

America's newest national park recently opened on the South Side of Chicago. The Pullman National Monument celebrates the unique history of a company that mass-produced freight and passenger rail cars at the site from 1881 to 1981.

All-wheel drive (AWD) technology has taken the automotive world by storm in recent years, because of its ability to effectively transfer power to the ground. Today, many sport utility vehicles use AWD for better acceleration, performance, safety and traction in all kinds of driving conditions.

Additive manufacturing is a popular alternative to traditional plastic injection molding, metal casting and metal stamping, because it enables engineers to consolidate parts and produce components in complex shapes.

Today, gas stations are a ubiquitous part of the urban landscape. They are found at numerous intersections and off-ramps. But, once upon a time, service stations were few and far between. As a result, one of the biggest fears of early motorists was running out of gas while on a long-distance road trip.

"Are we there yet?" is an age-old question that back-seat passengers have been asking for decades. Automotive engineers on the lightweighting journey are faced with a similar quandary.

Over the past 120 years, the automotive industry has experienced several transformative paradigm shifts that have dramatically changed the process of mass-producing cars and light trucks.

The "D" word has become one of the hottest trends in the manufacturing world. State-of-the-art sensors attached to assembly tools and production equipment are capable of collecting a constant stream of data.