The science of knitting, unpicked

Dating back more than 3,000 years, knitting is an ancient form of manufacturing, but Elisabetta Matsumoto of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta believes that understanding how stitch types govern shape and stretchiness will be invaluable for designing new "tunable" materials. For instance, tissuelike flexible material could be manufactured to replace biological tissues, such as torn ligaments, with stretchiness and sizing personalized to fit each individual.

Physicists make collimated atomic beam smaller, more precise

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have managed to build a cascading silicon peashooter -- a smaller, more precise atomic beam collimator. The technology could be used to produce exotic quantum phenomena for scientists to study or to improve devices like atomic clocks or accelerometers, a smartphone component. "A typical device you might make out of this is a next-generation gyroscope for a precision navigation system that is independent of GPS and can be used when you're out of satellite range in a remote region or traveling in space,"

The Science of Knitting

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to receive a handmade sweater as a gift...you may never have thought of your crafty relative as the engineering type. Knitters actually spend a huge amount of time planning out the structure of their creations. After all, it isn’t easy to create a three-dimensional, highly structured object from a one-dimensional strand of yarn. Textile engineers contend with dozens of competing factors like strength, elasticity, texture, and cost. While these have traditionally been relegated to the fashion industry, Dr.

Finalist named for Georgia Institute of Technology presidency

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) today announced Dr. Ángel Cabrera as finalist for the Georgia Tech presidency. Cabrera is currently president of George Mason University, a top-tier research institution and the largest public university in Virginia. Cabrera is an alumnus of the School of Psychology.

Georgia Tech graduate voted to be school’s next president

A graduate of Georgia Tech has been named its next president. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the Georgia Board of Regents voted Thursday to hire Ángel Cabrera to lead the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees. Cabrera is to start in his new post by Sept. 15. Cabrera had been president of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, since 2012. He and his wife met while both were enrolled at Georgia Tech School of Psychology. Their son recently graduated from the school.

Planets in multiple-star systems may be habitable

In a finding that’s great news for fans of Luke Skywalker’s fictional home planet Tatooine, scientists say planets in multiple-star systems may be habitable – though in keeping with Tatooine’s hardscrabble image, it may be an uphill battle. Astronomers have long known that multiple-star systems are common. “Most stars are members of binaries [other than the coolest dwarf stars],” Manfred Cuntz, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Fire ants form ‘rafts’ to float in Barry’s floodwaters

Fire ants in Louisiana were caught on camera saving themselves from Tropical Storm Barry's floodwaters by banding together to form a raft. Jonathan Petralama, a weather reporter for Accuweather.com, was monitoring floodwaters from an overtopped levee in Plaquemines Parish when he captured video of "fire ant balls" floating in the water. ... Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology said in a 2013 study that fire ants use their jaws, small claws and adhesive pads on their legs to form into floating structures.

Mitchell Feigenbaum, Physicist, Dies at 74; He Made Sense of Chaos

Mitchell J. Feigenbaum, a pioneer in the field of mathematical physics known as chaos, died on June 30 in Manhattan. He was 74. ... During a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell, Dr. Feigenbaum was already allowing his focus to wander. “He was not very happy with the physics he was doing at that time,” said Predrag Cvitanovic, a theoretical physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics, who was a graduate student at Cornell at the time. “The main thing he did is he solved the New York Times crossword puzzle every morning,” Dr. Cvitanovic said.

Physicists Show That Hackers Could Connect To Cars And Gridlock Entire Cities

More and more self-driving and internet-connected vehicles are making its way to the market, which is endlessly exciting to autophiles. However, new research demonstrates how the rise of connected cars could make entire cities vulnerable to hackers. In a new study published in the journal Physical Review E, physicists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, led by Peter Yunker, and from Multiscale Systems, Inc. used physics to analyze the future of automative cybersecurity. The team focused on potential hacks on vehicles, including potential mass destruction.

Legless, Leaping Larvae

Jump, little maggot, jump! Show the world that not only the finely muscled and strong-boned can defy gravity, but also the soft-bodied and wormy.... David Hu, a mechanical engineer at Georgia Tech who often studies animal movements but was not involved in this research, said the paper was “full of surprises,” such as the latch: “It’s a soft latch, composed of thousands of microscopic parts, that can shoot a soft larva like its being shot out of a cannon.” Hu also has appointments in the Georgia Tech Schools of Physics and of Biological Sciences.

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