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Coffee Time Challenge - January |
05/01/2010
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| Making life easier for people and coming up with new and improved ways of doing things is broadly what engineering is about. |
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Re-inventing the wheelchair |
07/12/2009
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| Although wheelchair designs have progressed greatly in recent years there are two common areas where they are still lacking. |
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Coffee time challenge: The point of the matter |
09/11/2009
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| Getting stabbed with a hypodermic needle is not just something that happens to heroes and heroines in movies; it is something that is suffered by healthcare professionals every day. |
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Going through walls |
06/10/2009
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| Sometimes it is necessary to be able to go through walls, locked doors or ceilings in a real hurry. |
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Making it hotter |
15/07/2009
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| Can you come up with a cooker that harnesses the power of the Sun and which delivers hot food towards the end of the day? |
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Getting it right |
09/06/2009
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| Quality has to be the obsession of any manufacturing operation but to err is human, according to Alexander Pope. |
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Sinking railways |
14/05/2009
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| Subsiding railway tracks have been a problem ever since George Stephenson had to face up to the problem of how to build the Liverpool and Manchester railway across the Chat Moss peat bog in 1826 |
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Pouring with safety |
08/04/2009
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| Tea remains a favourite beverage throughout with UK, even if an increasing number of people prefer coffee |
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Harnessing the cork |
13/03/2009
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| While Formula One champions famously spray champagne over everyone within reach, there remains the minor hazard of the cork. |
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Herding cats |
17/02/2009
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| Cats, although much loved, are most difficult creatures to manage, especially in the modern era of the cat flap, when owners who are often out at work all day, but wish to allow their pets to enter and leave the house as they please |
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Having a field day |
07/01/2009
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| Whether you’re a professional or a DIY-er, most maintenance work calls for the use of a number of tools and the indispensable ‘magic’ bench on which to conjure up the finished articles. |
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The lighter side of life |
10/12/2008
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| Looking for a light in the dark is an experience all of us have to go through from time to time, but it’s something we could no doubt do without. |
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Warming to a tough task |
14/11/2008
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| Now that winter is setting in, we are entering the season when many people suffer from cold hands |
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From astronomic to gastronomic |
10/10/2008
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| In this age of astronomical gas prices, it’s remarkable how crude the design of the average gas cooker remains and how similar it is to what was used by our primitive ancestors when cooking on open fires |
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Battle of the bulge |
15/09/2008
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| UK three-pin power plugs are a masterpiece of safety. Solid, chunky items with an integral fuse, they are almost impossible to render dangerous – unless stuck in a socket and struck heavily with a sledgehammer! |
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Opening without hands |
19/08/2008
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| If you have ever had to open a door with your arms full, you will have appreciated that there is a problem with door handles |
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Poring over water solutions |
10/07/2008
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| Apart from air to breathe and food to eat, there’s nothing more vital than pure, potable water. It’s possible to survive only about three days without water, while the benefits of drinking water are well documented |
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Doing the knowledge, staying safe |
12/06/2008
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| Taxi driving is a job often undertaken by newly arrived immigrants, being relatively easy to get into – but it’s a hazardous business |
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Time for some deep thinking |
12/05/2008
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| It’s hard enough to dig a trench on land, but how on earth (no pun intended!) do you go about it when it’s underwater? |
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Doing the right thing intuitively |
10/04/2008
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| With ever-greater pressures to manufacture products at maximum speed – and with high quality – it is increasingly important not to make mistakes. Machines can be automated, but what about the workers? |
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Beauty and the beastly |
13/03/2008
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| One of the most unsightly aspects of many beauty spots in the UK is overflowing rubbish bins |
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The door to success |
08/02/2008
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| Any engineer who has had teenage children may well have wondered if there wasn’t some way of usefully harnessing the energy from a slammed door |
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Mountainous problem |
25/01/2008
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| Men have rescued injured friends and comrades since the dawn of humankind. And yet, while the wish may be strong, the logistical problems of getting somebody else to safety can be daunting. |
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Climbing high |
17/12/2007
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| Ever since its closure in 1983, Battersea Power Station has slowly deteriorated into an increasingly melancholy ruin |
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