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FLYING FUEL CELLS:
Adding New Life to Aircraft Technology

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs, are aircraft that fly without a human pilot on board and are used in the field to keep soldiers out of harm's way. Raven UAVs are backpack-portable aircraft that can be launched simply by tossing them into the air. Like most, they get their energy from batteries, but a team of engineers at an Air Force Research Lab in Dayton, Ohio, has developed a smarter way to power them -- fuel cells.

A fuel cell resembles a small generator. Unlike a battery, which can keep the Raven in the air for an hour and a half, fuel cells can power it for more than twice that amount of time. They're also easy on the environment, quiet, and more efficient.

Chemical engineer Mark Roosz is part of the team that's busy thinking up new uses for their fuel cells. "My dream as a little kid was to be an astronaut and a fighter pilot," he says. "I'm not there right now but I actually think this is a better job than I was wishing for."

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Color Writing.flv[/flv]

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COLOR WRITING:
Analyzing Fuel to Keep Jets Flying High

Using a process called chromatography (or color writing), chemists are able to break out all the components in a mixture. Dye makers use this technique to separate the different pigments in their dyes, but the process also is valuable in crime and environmental research.

In an Air Force research lab in Dayton, Ohio, scientists are using chromatography to analyze the hundreds of different compounds in jet fuel. Most of these compounds are hydrocarbon chains -- carbons with hydrogens -- which jet fuels need to be a precise blend of these. Using chromatography, chemists are helping to develop more efficient fuels for the Air Force.

"I like what I do because I can see where my research goes," says research chemist Milissa Lawson. "I can look up in the sky and see a jet plane and you know that some of what you did is what is on that plane."

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Gimme Shelter.flv[/flv]

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GIMME SHELTER:
Army Develops Super Structures to Safeguard Troops

Shelters protect people from the sun and wind and help them stay warm. Army shelters must do more -- they shield soldiers from chemical and biological agents and the fragments from enemy mortar.

Engineers at an Army research lab in Natick, Mass., design shelters with even better capability. Their portable homes are energy-efficient, thanks to LED lighting and solar panels; easy to assemble with the use of inflatable tubes called air beams; and are invisible at night!

"It's wonderful to develop a technology ... and know that we are helping our soldiers," says mechanical engineer Claudia Quigley. "We want them to feel as close to home as we can, and that's really our goal."

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/eat up.flv[/flv]

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EAT UP!
Food Scientists Figure Out How to Feed the Troops

Soldiers in combat require massive amounts of energy to be able to endure the tough conditions. To fuel their bodies, they must consume about 3,600 calories (or units of energy) every day -- nearly twice the amount that teenagers back home need to stay healthy!

Each soldier carries his own food -- a portable meal (called an MRE, or Meal, Ready to Eat) that's lightweight, nonperishable, and tasty. These meals contain entrees and side dishes, snacks, and drinks as well as a flameless ration heater -- a plastic pouch that heats food when a soldier adds water.

Food scientists at an Army research lab in Natick, Mass., want soldiers to enjoy their menu selections. But more than that, they must ensure that the vitamins, minerals, and calories in each ration meet the required levels. Creating safe and tasty food is an art, but it's also a science!

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/GreenShips.flv[/flv]

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GREEN SHIPS:
Navy Scientists Help Sailors Keep the Ocean Blue

For centuries -- until about 30 years ago! -- sailors tossed their trash overboard into the sea. Now, Navy ships focus on protecting the environment as scientists at NAVSEA Carderock in Bethesda, MD., develop and evaluate ways to treat waste.

Every ship is like a small city, with 100 to 5,000 people aboard. They produce refuse ranging from garbage to water waste, sewage to shower water and eventually must dispose of it all. Dishwater, for example, could pollute the ocean if it's dumped, so the scientists have created methods to treat it onboard so it can be safely discharged overboard. Plastics are another story -- they can never go over the side. Instead, they are compressed into large disks and returned to shore, where they may be recycled.

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Light_Antenna.flv[/flv]

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LIGHT ANTENNAS:
Making the Connection Between Light and Electricity

Scientists at an Army research lab are creating tiny antennas inspired by a beautiful insect, the Luna moth. The female moth emits an infrared light wave to attract a faraway mate, whose antenna is specially designed to receive that signal. With this model in mind, these researchers in Natick, Mass., are designing even smaller antennas -- made from carbon nanotubes -- that can capture visible light waves.

In nanotechnology the best way to study light is with lasers, which make the light source very controllable. Using lasers and specially designed carbon nanotubes, they have been able to achieve almost 100% transfer of energy. The scientists' question is: How do we make something useful out of that energy?

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/making metals.flv[/flv]

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MAKING METAL:
Mixing and Matching for Strength and Versatility

Scientists and engineers at NAVSEA Carderock in Bethesda, MD., are working with the heaviest materials of all -- metals. Metals can transfer heat -- they're easy to mold and shape -- and they have conductivity, so electrons can move through them easily.

In nature metals usually occur as ores which are mined and then cleaned and refined. Metal elements can be combined to form useful materials called alloys. The scientists at NAVSEA Carderock have taken that innovation a step further, creating new ways to combine metals that improve performance and make them even more useful.

Metal is "the strongest stuff around," says engineering technician Stephen Szpara. "All your machinery -- your earth-moving equipment, bridges, your planes, cars, bicycles -- it's all made out of some sort of metal, and that's just awesome to me!"

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Ceramics.flv[/flv]

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CERAMICS:
This Material Won't Melt Away

We all have items in our homes that are made of ceramics: dinner plates, floor tiles, and toilets. In the technical world, ceramics are used in electrical devices, fiber-optic cables, and even the space shuttle tiles.

A ceramic is strong and hard, but its best quality -- the most important to scientists -- is its high melting temperature, which allows engineers to use it in places where even metals would melt. At the laboratory at NAVSEA Carderock in Bethesda, MD., engineers are creating ceramics that will improve engine performance.

"Everything we make here is very new," says materials engineer Jim Zaykoski, PhD. "It's never been done before, and that's the exciting part of what we do."

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Just add water.flv[/flv]

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JUST ADD WATER:
New Fuel from Aluminum Nanoparticles

Scientists at an Air Force Research Lab in Dayton, Ohio have developed an amazing new way to harness the hydrogen energy stored in ordinary tap water.

The secret is aluminum nanoparticles. By adding water to their specially-coated nanoparticles, the scientists can produce over a thousand liters of hydrogen gas from a single liter of water. This new fuel is being designed to provide power in emergency situations -- but it could also be used in rocket engines or airplanes.

According to research chemist, Dr. Christopher Bunker, "You have your palette of paints, the chemicals, and what you can do and where you can go is only limited by your own imagination."

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WAFER POWER - BUILDING CIRCUITS:
From Sand to Semiconductors

In one of the world's cleanest environments scientists and engineers at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Mass. turn sand into tomorrow's semiconductors.

It's an amazing process that takes silicon crystals, called boules, slices them into thin wafers and then builds millions of circuits -- that can run everything from computers to cell phones.

Engineer Jeremy Muldavin and his team also create even smaller components on these wafers -- called microelectromechanical systems or MEMS. MEMS move and they can sense things. So if semiconductors are the brains in a system - then MEMS are the hands and the eyes.