London Olympics sets the blueprint for the sustainable future of the games
When London won the rights to stage the 2012 Olympics it based its presentation on the sustainable legacy.
There is more to sports clothing than a winning look as Tony James discovers with Team GB's Olympic sportswear.
The challenge for the broadcast industry this summer is to televise the Olympics to four billion viewers around the world.
Social media has introduced a whole new dimension of engagement between all parties involved in the Games, from spectators and sponsors to athletes and their supporters.
E&T limbers up for a sensational summer sporting spectacular with its Olympics special: the engineering legacy; keeping the Olympics moving; how Heathrow airport plans to cope with Olympic traffic; the role social media will play in the Games; a look inside the Olympic Torch; the sustainable future after the Games; how technology is engineering athletes; Stella McCartney's Adidas collection for Team GB; the broadcast challenge of bringing the Games to everyone's front room; and much more besides.
The E&T podcast: download episode 19
In this edition of the E&T podcast, we talk to LOCOG chief executive about the main press centre in the Olympic Park; to Bullfinch Gas, about the design and manufacture of the burner used in the torch; to Professor Steven Yearley about genetically modified athletes; to Dermot Turing and Google’s Peter Baron about the London Science Museum’s new exhibition, Alan Turing's Life & Legacy'; to Dan Lewis about the likelihood of establishing a UK spaceport; and to Jonathon Rossiter and Peter Walters at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory about their soft robotics projects.
Efficiency drive forces change in computing power buses
The drive for energy efficiency in servers is leading to an overhaul in the way that electrical power is distributed through them. The new power-delivery architecture is conceptually simpler, but relies on not just incorporating more complex voltage converters but integrating them into microprocessors and other high-power logic chips.
CCTV at the 2012 Olympics: the great zoom boom
The London Olympics authorities have rerouted existing CCTV services in a bid to boost security at the Games, but not everyone is happy about it.
Turing Test 2012: friend or faux
What relevance does Alan Turing's controversial proposed method for testing a computer system's ability to behave 'intelligently' have in a world of ever-smarter interactive applications, robotic companions and artificial intelligence?
IPv6: a hero to save the Internet?
No one likes change, but there are compelling reasons why Internet market leaders are leading the migration to the latest iteration of the 'great enabler'Internet Protocol.
Telstar-1 at 50
In the summer of 1962 Telstar-1 helped ignite the white heat of technology that burned throughout the rest of the decade. Fifty years on, how well deserved is its reputation as a global comms game changer?
Powering the games
The first work at the Olympic site was developing the power infrastructure, and as the games approach we look back at the projects involved.
Feel the burn: designing the London 2012 Olympic Torch
As a symbol of sporting excellence the Olympic Torch has few equals, but what lies behind the design and operation of its most recent incarnation?
Olympics logistics
Logistics may not grab all the Olympic headlines but without this most prosaic of disciplines the Games would grind to a halt.
Olympic velodrome one of the most energy efficient buildings
Thanks to its unique shape and beautifully architected curves, the Velodrome has become a favourite in the Olympic village. We investigate the challenges overcome in building one of the most efficient buildings in the history of the games.
Motor control: the real source of energy efficiency
Better control over component-level electric motors could yield massive energy savings, and a two-pronged attack is yielding results across a range of products.
In search of the internet: Travelling on the tubes
During the Olympics we'll be relying on the Internet more than ever. But most of us don't really understand its physical reality.
The Inventors' Inbox
Our resident inventors discuss what innovations they might foist upon the world of cycling.
Sports technology aids athletes quest for gold medals
Athletes chasing gold medals are turning to sports technology to give them an advantage.
The end of the world as we know it?
Thanks to our dependency on interconnected complex systems the world we live in is teetering on the brink of catastrophe. Nick Smith talks to author John Casti, whose new book analyses our technology-dependent 'house of cards'.
Photo Essay: Making the world’s largest turbine blades
Building ever more powerful wind turbines creates severe engineering challenges as Anne Harris discovers with the world's largest turbine blades.
Terminal Velocity
With 140,000 extra travellers expected to be passing through its gates during the Olympics, Heathrow Airport turns to technology to give its increasingly overburdened infrastructure a sporting chance.
How realistic are genetically modified athletes?
Will genetically enhanced athletes be competing in the Olympics of the future?
For and Against: will London 2012 leave a lasting engineering legacy?
For
London 2012 will leave a lasting engineering legacy for the UK
Chairman
Profile: Sir John Armitt
IET Honorary Fellow Sir John Armitt is chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority. He was previously chief executive of Network Rail and chief executive of Railtrack
Against
London 2012 will not leave a lasting engineering legacy for the UK
Radio presenter and lecturer
Profile: Gareth Mitchell
Gareth Mitchell is the presenter of the science and technology radio programme ‘Click’ on BBC World Service. He is also a lecturer in science communication at Imperial College, London.
London 2012 will leave a lasting engineering legacy for the UK
Berghaus’ BIOFLEX system v2 improves on the 2005 original with more hip and back mobility
Nokia’s latest, the Windows phone, increases screen size, and adds better battery and front-facing camera
High-tech Bluetooth headphones that can fine-tune DSP effects, featuring a bone-conduction sensor
All the features of a dSLR but a bit more rugged: the K-30 is weather-resistant, dustproof and cold-proof
The SUB adds woof to Sonos’ wireless multiroom system and it’s designed to be positioned vertically or horizontally
Fix an iPad next to your monitor with this flexible-armed stand
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