#Heriot-Watt University

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Fresh air and cold plasma could break down hospital PPE waste

The COVID-19 pandemic created an explosion in the use of disposable face masks around the globe. This added to the already significant amount of PPE waste generated by hospitals and in other medical settings.

Researchers from Heriot-Watt University have developed a process that degrades a common face mask using the power of fresh air and 200W of electricity—about the same as a small microwave.

The team's findings are reported in the journal npj Materials Degradation.

Dr. Humphrey Yiu, assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University, said, "PPE from the health care sector has always been a waste challenge. It's high-volume and must be treated as biohazardous waste, which means it is incinerated.

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[beststudyabroadconsultants]

What merit-based scholarships are available for international students at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK? What are the eligibility criteria and application process for these scholarships?

Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh offers several merit-based scholarships for international students, including:

Heriot-Watt University Scholarships: Up to £3,000 for undergraduate and postgraduate students based on academic excellence.

Global Scholarships: Available for students from specific countries, offering up to £5,000.

Eligibility Criteria:

Academic Excellence: Typically requires high academic performance (specific grades may vary by program).

International Status: Must be classified as an international student.

Application Process:

Apply for Admission: Submit an application for a relevant course at Heriot-Watt.

Scholarship Application: After receiving an offer, complete the scholarship application form (if required).

Supporting Documents: Provide transcripts, proof of achievements, and any additional required documents.

Check the university's official website for specific details and deadlines.

[kazifatagar]

Unlocking Youth Potential in Malaysia: Addressing the Skills Gap for Peace and Development

By Professor Mushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and CEO, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia The global issue of youth skills mismatch has profound effects on economies and communities worldwide. As technological advancements, globalisation, and shifting job market demands reshape industries, many young people find their skills misaligned with employers’ needs. This challenge is not unique to Malaysia but is…

[eduspiral]

Find Out How to Obtain a UK Top Ranked Mechanical Engineering Degree at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia

Top Ranked Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Mechanical Engineering Degree Students in Malaysia who are interested in obtaining top ranking UK degree in Mechanical Engineering without having to go overseas can choose to study at one of the best Foreign university branch campuses located in Malaysia. Heriot-Watt University Malaysia offers the same high-quality education provided in the UK.…

[biglisbonnews]

Heriot Watt launches ‘pioneering’ Energy Transition MSc Heriot-Watt University is launching a new Master of Science degree to provide support the “increasingly urgent” work of energy transition. The post Heriot Watt launches ‘pioneering’ Energy Transition MSc appeared first on Energy Voice. https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/524128/heriot-watt-launches-pioneering-energy-transition-msc/

[newsbites]

Kazakhstan plans to open 12 branches of foreign universities by 2029, said Kazakh Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek, as Kazinform reported on Feb. 7. Kazakh Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek. 

According to Nurbek, branches of Türkiye’s Gazi University in Shymkent, the Michigan State University (the United States) in Astana, the Heriot-Watt University (Scotland) in Aktobe, Seoul National University of Science and Technology (South Korea) in Kyzylorda, Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (Uzbekistan) in Taraz, several German universities in Aktau and a branch of Canada’s Tech University are planned to be opened.

[mindblowingscience]

A new type of porous material that can store carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has been developed by a team of scientists jointly led by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. In a collaboration with the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, the University of Southampton, and East China University of Science and Technology in China, the team used computer modeling to accurately predict how molecules would assemble themselves into the new type of porous material.

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[scotianostra]

August 25th 1819 saw the death of the engineer and inventor James Watt.

Born in Greenock overlooking the Firth of Clyde, Watt suffered from poor health and did not attend school regularly. Instead, he spent time in his father’s workshop, learning engineering skills and making models. He trained as an instrument maker and in 1756 the University of Glasgow employed him as an instrument maker, providing him with lodgings and a workshop.

Watt styled himself as ‘Mathematical Instrument Maker to the University’. In this role Watt was exposed to the vibrant community of experimenters and theorists in Enlightenment Glasgow. The Professor of Natural Philosophy was John Anderson, who would later go on to found Anderson’s College, which ultimately became the University of Strathclyde asked Watt to repair the University’s Newcomen steam engine and he then identified how to improve the efficiency of this machine while out walking. But as it was a Sunday, and the strictures against working on the Sabbath were still very prevalent, he had to wait till the next day before he could write it down. His idea was to separate the condenser from the cylinder and enclose the cylinder in a steam jacket.

Although Watt patented his idea, his early business had production problems and he sold the patent to a Birmingham entrepreneur, Matthew Boulton, and went into partnership with him. This proved to be highly successful and Watt retired a wealthy man in 1800.

Watt never stopped inventing right up to his death and he created a steam locomotive, a chemical document copier, advised Josiah Wedgwood on pottery processes, surveyed the Caledonian and Forth and Clyde Canals and deepened both the rivers Clyde and Forth. He also gave his name to the Watt unit of power and introduced the term “horsepower”. But it is Watt’s development of the steam engine, which was the springboard for the Industrial Revolution for which he is rightly famous.

I never realised there were so many statues to Watt until now, they are, in order, at George Square, Glasgow, The Hunterian, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt’s University Edinburgh campus, William St, Greenock, Leeds, Yorkshire, and my fave with his partner, Matthew Boulton, and subject of my post last week William Murdock, at Broad Street, Birmingham, Birmingham also boasts a second statue at Chamberlain Square, there is another in front of the People’s Palace at Glasgow Green, and one in Edinburgh in the National Museums of Scotland .St. Paul’s Churchyard, London and Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester. Further afield we have another at Montevideo Railway Station, Uruguay.

There are also busts of Watt in The National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh and The National Wallace Monument. If I have missed any out please let me know!

You can read more of James Watt’s life here

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Five-mile asteroid impact crater below Atlantic captured in ‘exquisite’ detail by seismic data

New images of an asteroid impact crater buried deep below the floor of the Atlantic Ocean have been published by researchers at Heriot-Watt University.

The images confirm the 9km Nadir Crater, located 300m under the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, was caused by an asteroid smashing into Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period around 66 million years ago. 

That’s the same age as the dinosaur-killing 200 km wide, Chicxulub impact crater in Mexico. 

The images have helped the researchers determine what happened in the minutes following impact: the formation of an initial bowl-shaped crater, rocks turned to a fluid-like state and flowing upwards to the crater floor, the creation of a damage zone covering thousands of square kilometres beyond the crater, and an 800-metre-plus high tsunami that would have travelled across the Atlantic ocean. 

The findings are reported in Nature Communications Earth & Environment. 

66 million-year-old underwater imprint 

Dr Uisdean Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University discovered the Nadir Crater in 2022 when studying seismic reflection data of the Atlantic Ocean’s seabed, off the coast of Guinea in west Africa. 

The data revealed a depression over 8.5km wide, which Dr Nicholson suspected could be an asteroid impact crater. 

He worked with planetary scientists and geologists in the UK and the USA to classify the crater: the data suggested it was from an asteroid hundreds of metres wide hitting the planet around 66 million years ago, but they couldn’t state that definitively. 

Now they can. 

From a grainy ultrasound to a 3D image 

High-resolution, 3D seismic data was captured by TGS, a global geophysical company and shared with Dr Nicholson, a geologist. The data proves that an asteroid caused the Nadir Crater. 

Dr Nicholson said: “There are around 20 confirmed marine craters worldwide, and none of them has been captured in anything close to this level of detail. It’s exquisite. 

“Craters on the surface are usually heavily eroded and we can only see what is exposed, whereas craters on other planetary bodies usually only show the surface expression. 

“These data allow us to image this fully in three dimensions and peel back the layers of sedimentary rock to look at the crater at all levels.

“One way to understand it is to think about a pregnancy ultrasound. A few generations ago, the ultrasound would show a grainy blob. Now you can see the baby’s features in 3D, in incredible detail - including all the internal organs. 

“We’ve gone from 2D, fuzzy imaging to amazing high-resolution imaging of the Nadir Crater.” 

Data reveals minute-by-minute chaos after collision 

Dr Nicholson said: “The new images paint a picture of the catastrophic event. 

“We originally thought the asteroid would have been around 400m wide. We now think it was 450-500m wide, because of the larger crater size as shown by the 3D data. 

“We can tell it came from about 20-40 degrees to the northeast, because of spiralling thrust-generated ridges surrounding the crater's central peak - those are only formed following a low-angle oblique impact. 

“And we think it would have hit Earth at about 20 km per second, or 72,000 km per hour, although we still need to confirm this with a new set of impact models.” 

Using the data, the scientists created a timeline of what happened in the seconds and minutes after impact. 

Dr Nicholson said: “After the impact and the central uplift forming, the soft sediments surrounding the crater flowed inwards towards the evacuated crater floor, creating a visible ‘brim’. 

“The earthquake shaking caused by the impact appears to have liquefied the sediments below the seabed across the entire plateau, causing faults to form below the seabed. 

“The impact was also associated with large landslides as the plateau margin collapsed below the ocean. 

“As well as this, we see evidence for a train of tsunami waves going away from, then back towards the crater, with large resurge scars preserving evidence of this catastrophic event.” 

A natural laboratory for asteroid impact research 

Dr Nicholson points out that humans have never witnessed an asteroid of this size crashing into Earth. 

“The closest humans have come to seeing something like this is the 1908 Tunguska event, when a 50-metre asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere and exploded in the skies above Siberia.” 

“The new 3D seismic data across the whole Nadir Crater is an unprecedented opportunity to test impact crater hypotheses, develop new models of crater formation in the marine environment and understand the consequences of such an event. 

“We’ve applied to IODP3, which is a new international drilling program, to drill into the seabed and recover cores from the crater. These will give us more information about the shock pressures experienced during impact, and the precise age and sequence of events that occurred after this event.”

Unlike the moon, Earth’s craters erode 

Collaborator Dr Sean Gulick of the University of Texas at Austin, USA, a geophysicist and expert on impact processes, noted: “3D seismic images of a fully-preserved impact crater are a fantastic research opportunity that can allow us to consider how impact processes and craters scale with the size of the impactor both for understand the evolution of the Earth, and other worlds.”

Collaborator Dr Veronica Bray of the University of Arizona, an expert in impact cratering across the solar system, commented: “We see pristine impact craters on airless bodies like the Moon, but don’t have subsurface structural information. 

“On the Earth, that is reversed:  we have structural data from seismics, field mapping and drill cores, but the craters are usually very eroded at the surface.  

“The new 3D seismic imaging of Nadir gives us both.  It’s a startlingly good look at an impact crater!”  

Could an asteroid this size hit Earth soon?

The rubble pile asteroid Bennu is around 400m in diameter. It is considered the most hazardous object in near-Earth orbit. According to NASA scientists, its total impact probability through the year 2300 is about 1 in 1,750 (or 0.057%). The researchers were also able to identify 24 September 2182 as the most significant single date in terms of a potential impact, with an impact probability of 1 in 2,700 (or about 0.037%)

IMAGE: Dr Uisdean Nicholson presenting his findings to scientists on board a drilling ship. Credit Heriot-Watt University

[wtffacts]

According to a joint study conducted by the University of Birmingham, the University of Edinburgh, and Heriot-Watt University, people who post more selfies tend to have shallow relationships with people.

[thoughtlessarse]

Scientists have hailed the “exciting” discovery of a type of porous material that can store carbon dioxide. The research, published in the journal Nature Synthesis, saw a team led by scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh create hollow, cage-like molecules with high storage capacities for greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and sulphur hexafluoride. Sulphur hexafluoride is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and can last thousands of years in the atmosphere. Dr Marc Little, who jointly led the research, said: “This is an exciting discovery because we need new porous materials to help solve society’s biggest challenges. “For example, direct air capture of carbon dioxide is increasingly important because even when we stop emitting carbon dioxide, there’s still going to be a huge need to capture previous emissions that are already in the environment.

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[materialsscienceandengineering]

Scientists discover a new type of porous material that can store greenhouse gases

A new type of porous material that can store carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has been developed by a team of scientists jointly led by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. In a collaboration with the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, the University of Southampton, and East China University of Science and Technology in China, the team used computer modeling to accurately predict how molecules would assemble themselves into the new type of porous material. The research, published in the journal Nature Synthesis, details how the scientists created hollow, cage-like molecules with high storage capacities for greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and sulfur hexafluoride. Sulfur hexafluoride is more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and can last thousands of years in the atmosphere.

Read more.

[akosuaexe]

📍Heriot Watt University

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Ross Ferguson | While attending Heriot Watt University I took a public speaking class. The course led students to produce and effectively deliver a public speech on any given subject. A well-crafted and excellently delivered speech can certainly produce results; at the very least an applause would be warranted. Although a response is given it is usually short lived and even the best of speeches will soon be forgotten. These emotional responses rely on a rousing speech. Therein lies the problem: when we apply the principles of a public speaking class to preaching, we can expect short lived emotional responses but no real transformation in the lives of our hearers. When it comes to…

[eduspiral]

What is the Ranking for Heriot-Watt University Mechanical Engineering Programme?

Find Out How to Obtain a UK Top Ranked Mechanical Engineering Degree at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Students in Malaysia who are interested in obtaining top ranking UK degree in Mechanical Engineering without having to go overseas can choose to study at one of the best Foreign university branch campuses located in Malaysia. Heriot-Watt University Malaysia offers the same high-quality…

[wayti-blog]

"Scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, have found a powerful new way to program optical circuits that are critical to the delivery of future technologies such as unhackable communications networks and ultrafast quantum computers.

"Light can carry a lot of information, and optical circuits that compute with light—instead of electricity—are seen as the next big leap in computing technology," explains Professor Mehul Malik, an experimental physicist and Professor of Physics at Heriot-Watt's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

"But as optical circuits get bigger and more complex, they're harder to control and make—and this can affect their performance. Our research shows an alternative—and more versatile—way of engineering optical circuits, using a process that occurs naturally in nature.""

"Professor Malik said the power of light was in its multiple dimensions.

"We can encode a lot of information on a single particle of light," he explained. "On its spatial structure, on its temporal structure, on its color. And if you can compute with all of those properties at once, that unlocks a massive amount of processing power.""

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