An engine that is 30 per cent more efficient than a conventional gasoline engine has been designed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They developed a way to inject ethanol into the combustion chamber during acceleration. This cools the air-fuel mixture, making it possible to increase the compression ratio and add a turbo charger without causing damaging engine knock. That meant they were able to build a smaller, more fuel-efficient engine with the power of a larger one.
An intelligent switchboard that monitors workers鈥� activity and only lets calls through when they are free to talk is being developed by researchers at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. The Connector system tracks how busy a person is by monitoring their computer use and analysing video footage captured by cameras in their office.
