Looking closely at some of today's older lab buildings can give you a hint of the design philosophy when they were constructed. Labs in many older buildings consist of confined, small – sometimes windowless – spaces in which a lone researcher or two would toil away. Work was performed insularly, and technology changed only slowly, making [...]
In certain industries, successful research, product development or manufacturing depends on the maintenance of a contaminant-free environment. Work on pharmaceuticals, medical devices and electronics, for example, may be compromised by particulates or airborne microbes. To protect these critical processes, cleanrooms are used to control airflows to achieve extremely low particulate loads. Operating the equipment needed to [...]
Recently, several climbers have harnessed the power of vacuum to scale massive skyscrapers. Although we might not always realize it, vacuum plays a role in countless aspects of our everyday lives. In this series, we take a closer look at just how much we rely on vacuum, from the way we breathe to our bicycle [...]
