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Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Not layered like an onion

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 by dean

From what I can get out of this, if you take a 10-layer thick piece of graphene layers, it spontaneously rearranges itself into a ramified thing with a fractal feel to it.

Mechanical entanglement

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 by SecureCare

“Physicists…have demonstrated entanglement—a phenomenon peculiar to the atomic-scale quantum world—in a mechanical system similar to those in the macroscopic everyday world. The work extends the boundaries of the arena where quantum behavior can be observed and shows how laboratory technology might be scaled up to build a functional quantum computer….” Full Slice

Wiring virus batteries

Friday, April 3rd, 2009 by SecureCare

“…researchers have developed a strategy for using genetically engineered multifunctional viruses as scaffolds for the synthesis and assembly of cathode materials for high-power lithium-ion batteries. By manipulating two genes of the M13 virus (a bacteriophage), the viruses were equipped with peptide groups with affinity for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on one end and peptides capable of nucleating amorphous iron phosphate (a-FePO4) fused to the viral major coat protein to create a iron phosphate cathode material…The synthesis takes place at and below room temperature, requires no harmful organic solvents, and the materials that go into the battery are non-toxic….” Full Slice

Another pathway

Monday, March 30th, 2009 by SecureCare

“Researchers…have found that methane can be directly produced using a biocathode containing methanogens in electrochemical systems (abiotic anode) or microbial electrolysis cells (MECs; biotic anode) by a process called electromethanogenesis.

The results show that electromethanogenesis can be used to convert electrical current produced from renewable energy sources (such as wind, solar, or biomass) into a biofuel (methane) as well as serving as a method for the capture of carbon dioxide…“We were studying making hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells and we kept getting all this methane…Perhaps where we assumed hydrogen is being made, it is not..” Full Slice

Not up to the task or ?

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 by SecureCare

“…researchers claimed to have experimentally confirmed cold fusion in a presentation at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting.

“We have compelling evidence that fusion reactions are occurring” at room temperature…The results are “the first scientific report of highly energetic neutrons from low-energy nuclear reactions,”…scientists were unable to duplicate the 1989 results, thereby discrediting the work…researchers claim that the problem was instrumentation, which was not up to the task…Other presenters at the conference also presented evidence supporting cold fusion…reported both excess heat and helium gas.

“We now have very convincing experimental evidence,”…also reported excess heat generation and gamma-ray emissions.

All three research groups are currently exploring both experimental and theoretical studies in hopes of better understanding the cold fusion process well enough to commercialize it.” Slice One

hmmm…

“Researchers are reporting compelling new scientific evidence for the existence of low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR), the process once called “cold fusion”…One group of scientists…describes what it terms the first clear visual evidence that LENR devices can produce neutrons…”To our knowledge, this is the first scientific report of the production of highly energetic neutrons from an LENR device.”…The first report on “cold fusion,” presented in 1989…could not reproduce their results, and the whole field of research declined…used a special plastic, CR-39, to capture and track any high-energy particles that may have been emitted during reactions…discovered patterns of “triple tracks,” tiny-clusters of three adjacent pits that appear to split apart from a single point…other evidence for nuclear reactions including X-rays, tritium (another form of hydrogen), and excess heat…reported the production of excess heat generation and gamma ray emissions from an unconventional LENR device that uses phenanthrene, a type of hydrocarbon, as a reactant…evidence supporting the existence of low energy nuclear reactions…lab experiments demonstrating the simultaneous production of both excess heat and helium gas…” Slice Two

Fast optical multiplexing

Sunday, March 15th, 2009 by SecureCare

“…”We have combined the two approaches,” he says. “We start from a silicon waveguide designed to guide the light between two silicon ridges. Then we use molecular beam deposition to fill the space between the ridges with the organic material [DDMEBT], creating a dense plastic with high optical quality and high nonlinearity where the light propagates.

“We combine the best of both technologies.”…” Full Slice

No chemistry involved

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 by SecureCare

“Researchers…have been able to prove the existence of a “spin battery,” a battery that is “charged” by applying a large magnetic field to nano-magnets in a device called a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)…The device…can store energy in magnets rather than through chemical reactions. Like a winding up toy car, the spin battery is “wound up” by applying a large magnetic field –no chemistry involved…”We had anticipated the effect, but the device produced a voltage over a hundred times too big and for tens of minutes, rather than for milliseconds as we had expected,”…” Full Slice

Hybrid electrodes are better

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 by SecureCare

“Researchers…have fabricated hybrid coaxial metal-oxide/carbon nanotube arrays as cathode material for high performance lithium-ion batteries. The coax tubes consist of a manganese oxide (MnO2) shell and a highly conductive nanotube (CNT) core…The team…found that stronger cyclic stability and capacity of MnO2/CNT coaxial nanotube electrodes resulted from the hybrid nature of the electrodes with improved electronic conductivity and a dual mechanism of lithium storage. The reversible capacity of the battery was increased by an order compared to template grown MnO2 nanotubes, making them suitable electrodes for advanced Li-ion batteries…” Full Slice

One of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells

Monday, January 26th, 2009 by SecureCare

“A team of scientists…has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions….” Full Slice

Depends on geometric structure

Saturday, January 24th, 2009 by SecureCare

“Scientists…have discovered that the reactivity of aluminum cluster anions with water—which results in the dissociative chemisorption of water and the production of hydrogen—depends on the geometric structure of the cluster rather than its electronic properties….” Full Slice

An opportunity to preserve

Monday, January 5th, 2009 by SecureCare

“Cloning animals by nuclear transfer provides an opportunity to preserve endangered mammalian species…Here we report production of cloned mice from bodies kept frozen at −20 °C for up to 16 years without any cryoprotection…Thus, nuclear transfer techniques could be used to “resurrect” animals or maintain valuable genomic stocks from tissues frozen for prolonged periods without any cryopreservation.” Full Slice

One of the fundamental challenges

Thursday, January 1st, 2009 by SecureCare

“…Scientists in the field of structural DNA nanotechnology, including [researcher]’s team, have previously demonstrated that pre-fab DNA elements could be induced to self-assemble, forming useful nanostructural platforms or “tiles.” Such tiles are able to snap together—with jigsaw puzzle-piece specificity—through base pairing, forming larger arrays.

[researcher]’s work…responds to one of the fundamental challenges in nanotechnology and materials science, the construction of molecular-level forms in three dimensions. To do so, the team uses gold nanoparticles, which can be placed on single-stranded DNA, compelling these flexible molecular tile arrays to bend away from the nanoparticles, curling into closed loops or forming spring-like spirals or nested rings, roughly 30 to 180 nanometers in diameter….” Full Slice includes video

Impact of Beijing Olympic pollution controls

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 by SecureCare

“…Some scientists have questioned whether Beijing’s highly publicized air quality restrictions actually had an impact. This new data shows clearly that they did. “After the authorities lifted the traffic restrictions, the levels of these pollutants shot right back up,”…The steep decline in certain pollutants surprised the researchers. In a preliminary analysis of the data, the effect seemed to be minimal…The reductions only became noticeable when the investigators focused tightly on the Beijing area….” Full Slice

Unorthodox mechanisms

Friday, October 17th, 2008 by SecureCare

“…The researchers compared Phaeodactylum with the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, previously sequenced…revealing a wealth of information about diatom biology, particularly the rapid diversification among the hundreds of thousands of diatom species that exist today.

The researchers found that the genetic structures of the two diatoms were dramatically different: 40% of their genes were not shared. Interestingly, the researchers found that hundreds of genes from bacteria were present in the genomes of both diatom species….” Full Slice

It isn`t just the financial ones that are wrong

Sunday, October 12th, 2008 by SecureCare

I`m speaking about our mental models of how things function.

“…Already, the research has shown that the initial stages of heart development do not happen as scientists thought.” Full Slice