GE Research

The Amazing Origin of Silly Putty

Sometimes everyday items have extraordinary origins. Take Silly Putty: What became one of the most popular toys of all time started in a mislabeled bottle of what scientists thought was boron nitride, at a GE research lab in New Haven, Connecticut.
The year was 1943, World War II was raging, [...]

The GE Genius Series: Breakthroughs from butterflies

Contributor Vivek Kemp is GE’s Reporter at Large
Today, GE’s Global Research Centers in Niskayuna, NY; Munich; Bangalore and Shanghai are kicking off their annual “TECHfest” celebrations in which hundreds of the company’s top scientists give their R&D colleagues a sneak peak into their latest discoveries. To mark the big day, [...]

GE targets eco hospitals; composites in Europe

Friday marked a major milestone in GE’s research efforts as the company’s global research center in Munich, Germany just reached its 5-year anniversary. In true lab-style, the scientists celebrated by announcing three new technology projects — including an eco-medical partnership designed to reduce the total environmental footprint of hospitals. As [...]

Good luck breaking through this “breakthrough”

In our story last week about the high-tech material being used in developing the GE-Rolls Royce F136 Joint Strike Fighter engine, we described the advanced ceramic matrix composite materials as “durable.” But it doesn’t really do it justice until you see what happens when the team [...]

Making hybrid technologies possible

With the Detroit Auto Show firing on all cylinders (pardon the pun), everyone seems to be enamored with hybrid vehicle technology. At GE we’ve been in with hybrids for quite some time now, and we thought this would be a great chance to share some of our cool hybrid technology [...]

Teaming up with Google on smart grid and renewables

Hi all, my name is Owen Schelenz and I work in the Smart Grid lab at GE Global Research. As we kick off 2009, I wanted to give you a quick update about an exciting collaboration we have with Google to explore research partnership opportunities in renewable energy and Smart [...]

Holiday cheer, our colorfully lit gift to you

Little known fact. Holiday lights were first created in 1880 when Thomas Edison decided to string a strand of electric lights outside of his Menlo Park Laboratory for the nearby railroad passengers. In what was surely a holiday miracle, the laboratory never caught on fire from the crude technology, and [...]