Pontoon Log Boat Float Tubes | W/ Strakes 22 Ft X 25 Inch (pair) on 2040-parts.com

Boris planning war on diesel car drivers – London Mayor wants drivers of diesel cars to pay more

Boris wants to charge diesel cars an extra £10 to enter London We’ve long banged on about the nonsense of basing the cost of motoring on the Co2 emissions of cars, and it seems the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, also realises that Co2-based taxation has led to a real pollution problem. As we reported as far back as 2010, petrol cars – certainly before the introduction of Euro 6 emissions recently – are far cleaner than diesel cars when it comes to the sort of stuff that really matters – NoX and particulates. And the problem has been exacerbated by basing car taxation on Co2 emissions as lower Co2 levels have been much easier for car makers to achieve on diesel engines, which is why diesel-engined cars now account for around 50 per cent of all cars sold in the UK.

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.

Land Rover Range_e – Hybrid test-bed

The Range Rover Sport based Land Rover Range_e Pragmatically, Land Rover are working hard to change the world’s perception of its products by shouting as loudly as they can about the ‘Green’ credentials they have, from off-setting carbon emissions to 45k miles on every car they sell to adding stop-start to the Freelander 2. But long-term Land Rover are looking to introduce new, lightweight cars in 2012/2013 with the same aluminium underpinnings as Jaguar, and introducing some hybrid technology on the way. With that in mind they’ve put together a Range Rover Sport based Range_e to trial the tech ahead of its use in the next generation of Land Rover’s cars and are planning on running five cars as test-beds this year.