May 17, 2012
T-ray madness: Scientists score wireless data record
Wednesday headlines trumpeted how "Japanese researchers smash Wi-Fi records" and "Scientists show off the future of Wi-Fi." The excitement is for good reason. A team of scientists have broken the record for wireless data transmission. They showed that they were capable of transmitting data at 3Gb/at frequencies up to 542GHz. They have done so in uncharted territory, so to speak, the terahertz band, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is currently unregulated. They reported success in making Wi-Fi twenty times faster. Their breaking through the 3Gbps barrier is seen as enticing news…
May 16, 2012
Babies' brains benefit from music lessons, researchers find
After completing the first study of its kind, researchers at McMaster University have discovered that very early musical training benefits children even before they can walk or talk. They found that one-year-old babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents smile more, communicate better and show earlier and more sophisticated brain responses to music. The findings were published recently in the scientific journals Developmental Science and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. "Many past studies of musical training have focused on older children," says Laurel…
May 16, 2012
A supernova cocoon breakthrough
This composite image shows the galaxy UGC 5189A in X-ray data from Chandra (purple) and optical data from Hubble (red, green and blue.) The very bright source near the top of the galaxy is SN 2010jl, a recently discovered supernova. Data from Chandra have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded in SN 2010jl. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Royal Military College of Canada/P.Chandra et al); Optical: NASA/STScI…
May 16, 2012
Lunar boom: Why we'll soon be mining the moon
An artist's depiction of a lunar mining operation (credit: NASA) As history has repeatedly shown, where there are valuable minerals to be unearthed, adventurous humans will arrive in droves – even if it means battling extreme conditions and risking life and limb. So what will happen when the next great “gold rush” in our history is quite literally out of this world? And what kind of technology would be needed for the mining? After many years of trying, I believe I have a workable answer to the second of these questions – but what about the first? Business analysts may poke fun at the…
May 16, 2012
New finding may hold key to Gaia hypothesis of Earth as living organism
Artists impression Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery made at the University of Maryland may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur could allow scientists to unlock heretofore hidden interactions between ocean organisms, atmosphere, and land -- interactions that might provide evidence supporting this famous theory. The Gaia hypothesis -- first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s -- holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably connected to form a…
May 16, 2012
Cutting-edge Photovoltaic Pavement
in Energy
Onyx Solar has collaborated with Butech a subsidiary of Porcelanosa in the creation of the first PV pavement which is expected to be in the market by the end of the year. This innovative product was introduced at Porcelanosa’s annual show in February and turned out to be one of the main attractions of the show. Porcelanosa is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-end ceramic tiles and kitchen-and-bath products. Onyx Solar specializes in the integration of solar photovoltaic solutions in buildings. This cutting edge system, which is still in an early development stage by Onyx and…
May 16, 2012
FDA approves 20 minute take-home HIV test
One of the biggest problems in fighting the spread of AIDS has always been convincing people to have themselves tested regularly. Unfortunately, getting someone to take a trip to a clinic isn't always easy, particularly in areas where there aren't many options for discrete testing. In a development that could leap right over this privacy hurdle, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just unanimously approved an over-the-counter HIV test that enables people to test themselves in their own home and receive results in just 20 minutes. The company behind the test, Orasure, has been…
May 16, 2012
Nanotech coating keeps out the water, but not the air
Keeping porous building materials free from stains and water damage has gotten a little easier in the past few years. Thanks to advances in technology, we’ve seen the advent of things such as spray-on glass and anti-graffiti coatings. Now, Spanish nanotech company TECNAN is offering a nanoparticle-based coating that repels liquid, yet still allows the underlying material to breathe. The hydrophobic coating, known as TECNADIS, is made by suspending nanoparticles in a liquid carrier – the identity of those particles is a trade secret, although by altering their concentration, the properties of…
May 16, 2012
Sulphur and iron compounds common in old shipwrecks
Sulphur and iron compounds have now been found in shipwrecks both in the Baltic and off the west coast of Sweden. The group behind the results, presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science, includes scientists from the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University. Sulphur and iron compounds have now been found in shipwrecks both in the Baltic and off the west coast of Sweden. The group behind the results, presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science, includes scientists from the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University. A few years ago scientists reported large…
May 15, 2012
Mercury's magnetic field measured by MESSENGER orbiter
Mercury. Photo courtesy of NASA Researchers working with NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft report the frequent detections of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves at the edge of the innermost planet's magnetosphere. In six different sets of magnetic field measurements made by the orbiter as it passed through Mercury's magnetopause, the boundary that separates the planet's magnetosphere from the solar wind plasma in the magnetosheath, Sundberg et al. detect the magnetic field oscillations characteristic of fully developed KH waves.…
May 15, 2012
New research may improve the efficiency of the biofuel production cycle
Different bacterial responses to ionic liquid. In (A), a fermentative bacterium is exposed to sugars for biofuel synthesis along with an ionic liquid (IL) used during the production process. The ionic liquid exerts a toxic effect soon after it enters the cell (B). In contrast, the rainforest isolate E. lignolyticus in (C) can tolerate relatively high levels of the ionic liquid, even as it secretes enzymes (D) that degrade plant cellulosic material to glucose and other sugars. A mechanistic model for bacterial resistance to ionic liquid includes: reducing membrane permeability to ionic liquid…
May 15, 2012
Beyond the high-speed hard drive: Topological insulators open a path to room-temperature spintronics
Electrons on the surface of a topological insulator can flow with little resistance. Their spin and direction are intimately related; the direction of the electron determines its spin and in turn is determined by it. Strange new materials experimentally identified just a few years ago are now driving research in condensed-matter physics around the world. First theorized and then discovered by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and their colleagues in other institutions, these “strong 3-D topological insulators” – TIs for short – are seemingly mundane…





























