Batteries represent half of the value of electric cars. Yet, until recently, no one could clearly assess a battery’s state of health.

Helping people find their way around in a city or at an exhibition involves more than just placing sign posts. Or so says Anne Streef, who recently defended her graduation thesis: ‘Breathing Signposting’, about a way-finding system for Dutch Design Week.

Bioprocess engineer Leonie Marang receives the Unilever research prize today for her Master’s thesis on plastic-producing bacteria that thrive on waste streams.

Next year will see the construction of the first European solar power plant in Africa, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The 500-megawatt solar power tower is the first concrete step taken by the Desertec consortium – a German industrial alliance that aims to develop large-scale solar power installations in North-Africa, which will provide 15 percent of Europe’s power needs by 2050.

He can run, hop on one leg, recognize voices when people talk at the same time, and even pour you a drink. Meet the next generation Asimo robot, introduced by Honda.

Storing CO2 in unminable coal seams could be useful to mitigate global warming, Elisa Battistutta believes. But first the behavior of CO2 must be better understood.

For his PhD thesis, Dr Rogier Ellenbroek (3mE faculty) developed a control system for deformable mirrors in telescopes.
For centuries astronomers have been polishing the large mirrors inside their telescopes in order to obtain higher resolution images of the stars and planets.

TU physicists are building terahertz sensors for Nasa’s ballooning mission, Gussto, set for launch in 2017. The mission will study interstellar dust and gas clouds where stars are born.

The coloured rectangles on the cover of Dr Cleber Biasotto’s thesis are fields with holes in the silicon wafer, he says by telephone from Brazil.