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Research Watch
Building circuit boards using DNA scaffolding
By Darren Quick
00:50 August 20, 2009 PDT
There have been a few breakthroughs in recent years that hold the promise of sustaining Moore’s Law for some time to come. These include attaching molecules to silicon and replacing copper interconnects with graphene. Now IBM are proposing a new way to pack more power and speed into computer chips by using DNA molecules as scaffolding for transistors fabricated with carbon nanotubes and silicon wires. Read More
Defeating oil stains with water
18:13 August 19, 2009 PDT
While it’s true that water and oil don’t mix, water may soon be all a person needs to completely remove any trace of an oil spill - provided the surfaces are coated with newly designed polymer materials that would do away with harsh chemical detergents and solvents. And if you have ever been inconvenienced by fog on your bathroom window, car windshield, or eyeglasses, the same materials can be used as an anti-fog agent with similar eco-friendly benefits. Read More
Ytterbium times its run for next-gen atomic clocks
By Darren Quick
23:44 August 17, 2009 PDT
Technically, no clock can be more accurate than cesium standards such as NIST-F1 – the cesium fountain atomic clock that serves as the United States' primary time and frequency standard. But researchers have managed to develop an experimental atomic clock based on ytterbium atoms that boasts precision comparable to that of NIST-F1. The humble second was chosen as the International System of Units' (SI) base unit of time since it is based on the properties of the cesium atom (one second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom). Read More
New bones from old wood
By Jeff Salton
00:26 August 16, 2009 PDT
Scientists have turned to trees in the search for better materials to use in human bone transplants. A new procedure being developed in Italy aims to turn blocks of wood - specifically red oak, rattan and sipo - into artificial bones. It is hoped that wood-derived bone substitutes will allow faster and more secure healing than currently available with metal and ceramic implants. Read More
Tiny MEMS devices to filter, amplify electronic signals
By Jeff Salton
18:42 August 13, 2009 PDT
Researchers are developing a new class of tiny mechanical devices, made up of vibrating structures the thickness of a human hair, that could be used to filter electronic signals in cell phones and other applications. Only the size of a grain of sand, these microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) will, nonetheless, improve performance and reduce power usage. Read More
Painting brain tumors with nanoparticles may help defeat cancer
22:52 August 12, 2009 PDT
Nanotechnology is preoccupying science to the point where it's starting to seem unremarkable. But a group of researchers from the University of Washington has released findings that could profoundly improve the chances of surviving brain cancer. The team has developed a fluorescent nanoparticle that is capable of penetrating – for the first time – the blood-brain barrier without damaging it. The fluoro nanoparticle targets tumors using a derivative of scorpion venom and enables precise imaging of the size and location of cancerous growths. When the particles meet the tumor, they light up like Christmas. Read More
Treating tumors by blasting nanotubes with a laser
By Darren Quick
22:33 August 11, 2009 PDT
Current heat treatments for human tumors, such as radiofrequency, have shown promising results over the last couple of decades, even though they apply only a single-point of heat to the tumor. However, a new technique could prove much more effective by using nanotubes to apply heat throughout the tumor. Scientists found that by injecting the man-made, microscopic carbon tubes into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second zap of a laser, they were able to effectively kill kidney tumors in nearly 80 percent of mice. Read More
Harnessing blowflies to teach robots how to see
19:24 August 11, 2009 PDT
One of the biggest challenges facing robotics is teaching machines to perceive surroundings and make sense of what they see. Attempting to duplicate the complexity of human perception is next to impossible, so researchers at Cognition for Technical Systems (CoTeSys) in Munich are, instead, studying how blowflies process images using a 'flight simulator'. Despite having a brain the size of a pinhead, a fly can process and interpret 100 discrete images per second – four times better than humans. Read More
Holograms you can feel
By Darren Quick
00:53 August 10, 2009 PDT
Star Trek’s Holodeck has just became a little closer to reality with news researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed a technique that allows 3D holograms to be “touched”. By blending a holographic display, a couple of Nintendo Wiimotes and an ultrasound phenomenon called acoustic radiation pressure, the researchers were able to create the Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display - a system that can give the feeling of holographic raindrops hitting an outstretched hand or a virtual creature running across a palm. Read More
Self-healing paint is just the beginning
By Darren Quick
06:04 August 6, 2009 PDT
Human skin has an amazing capacity to heal itself from scratches and cuts, so it’s not surprising that scientists are looking at transferring the self-healing properties of skin to industrial materials. Efforts to embed tiny liquid-filled capsules that rupture when a scratch occurs to spill healing agents into the damaged area of electroplated coatings have previously been hampered by the size of these capsules. But now researchers have developed a process for producing electroplated layers with nano-capsules that measure only a few hundred nanometers in diameter that could solve the problem. Read More
Researchers take first steps towards strain-based graphene engineering
19:08 August 5, 2009 PDT
Scientists have long known the unique properties of graphene, a material just one-atom thick that shows promise as a replacement for silicon in electronics of the future. One of the difficulties is that unpredictable ripples form in graphene when exposed to temperature changes, but now scientists are learning more about how to control formation of these ripples, which could open up a new field of research - strain-based graphene electronics. Read More
Ghostly nano 'kites' may lead to holy grail of nanotube growth
By Darren Quick
05:43 August 5, 2009 PDT
Researchers at Houston’s Rice University have developed a method for making bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) dubbed “odako”. Eventually, the method may realize meter-long strands of nanotubes that are no wider than a piece of DNA which could be used in lightweight, super-efficient power-transmission lines, in ultra-strong and lightning-resistant materials for airplanes, and may also prove useful in batteries, fuel cells and microelectronics. Read More
Canadian startup proposes nuclear fusion power plant at a bargain price
By Darren Quick
00:40 August 4, 2009 PDT
Nuclear fusion offers a completely clean method of producing vast amounts of energy. So far the major stumbling block for scientists has been creating a controllable fusion reaction that achieves “net gain”, meaning it gives off more energy than is needed to trigger it. But Canadian startup, General Fusion, is claiming it can build a relatively low-tech prototype nuclear fusion power plant within the next decade for less than a billion dollars. Read More
If Dali had a supercomputer: amazing supernova rendering
By Darren Quick
23:56 August 2, 2009 PDT
Capturing complex visualizations, such as the above Dali-esque rendering of a supernova, don’t just produce pretty pictures ideal for desktop wallpapers. They also allow scientists to see simulations of complex physical, chemical and biological phenomena. Unfortunately generating the quadrillions of data points required for visualizations of everything from supernovas to protein structures is quickly overwhelming current computing capabilities. So scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are exploring ways to speed up the process using a technique called software-based parallel volume rendering. Read More
New barcode system could see the end of ugly stripes
20:03 August 2, 2009 PDT
I remember encountering the ugly black-and-white stripes of a barcode for the first time – defacing the front of my favorite magazine. Of course, Mad found a way of dealing with the UPC code by making jokes at its expense. But now, some ground-breaking work at MIT could see the visual blight of barcodes replaced altogether by Bokodes, tiny tenth-of-an-inch optical data tags that can hold thousands of times more information and be read by the camera on your mobile phone. Read More
Music is the engine of new lab-on-a-chip device
17:55 August 2, 2009 PDT
Researchers at the University of Michigan have succeeded in developing a chip used to conduct experiments on fluids which is driven by sound rather than electromechanical valves. This approach to controlling "lab-on-a-chip" devices could be a big step forward in reducing costs and complexity in areas ranging from chemical analysis to environmental monitoring, potentially leading to innovations like handheld devices you could sneeze onto to find out if you have the flu. Read More
Reality Mining: Tomorrow’s forecast predicts humanity’s needs
By Darren Quick
23:54 July 29, 2009 PDT
Researchers will one day be able to accurately predict such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic, says Indiana University’s Alessandro Vespignani. This capability will be possible thanks to “reality mining”, which involves the collection of data from machine-sensed sources to provide knowledge about aggregated human behavior. Read More
Monitoring blogs to measure global happiness
By Darren Quick
22:51 July 28, 2009 PDT
A mathematician and computer scientist working in the Advanced Computing Center at the University of Vermont have created a remote-sensing mechanism that examines the content of blogs to measure the emotional levels of millions of people. The result is the ‘We Feel Fine’ system, which purports to give an indication of how people around the world are feeling. Read More
Bacterial computers move towards feasibility
By Darren Quick
22:54 July 27, 2009 PDT
Last year we looked at how a research team had genetically engineered Escherichia coli, (E. coli), bacteria to solve a classic mathematical puzzle known as the burnt pancake problem. At the time the researchers indicated their intention to adapt 'bacterial computers' for other, related math problems, and it appears they’ve been true to their word by solving another classic mathematical problem, the Hamiltonian Path Problem. Read More
Physicists find way to hide buildings from earthquakes
23:41 July 21, 2009 PDT
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes every year, of which 100,000 will be felt and about 100 will cause damage. Engineers now use seismic vibration control technology - and base isolation in particular – to make buildings more earthquake-proof. But what about existing structures? Researchers from the University of Liverpool have now developed a means of effectively making buildings “invisible” to the destructive path of a quake. Read More
Possible cure for radiation sickness discovered?
By Darren Quick
23:38 July 21, 2009 PDT
According to a report in the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronoth, US and Israeli researchers have developed a drug that offers protection from the damaging effects of radiation sickness. The medication could not only provide effective protection in the event of a nuclear or “dirty bomb” attack, but it could also enable cancer patients to be treated with more powerful doses of radiation. Read More
MIT team develops hi-fi quantum memory
20:27 July 21, 2009 PDT
Scientists are rapidly achieving important breakthroughs in quantum computing, from obtaining precise manipulation of four photons at the same time to the very first quantum processors. But just like in traditional electronics, a quantum computer can't be realized with information processing alone — we need a reliable way to store and retrieve quantum information too. A new breakthrough by MIT researchers represents a step forward in acheiving this goal of high-fidelity quantum memory. Read More
Invisibility cloaking creeps closer to reality
18:28 July 18, 2009 PDT
Researchers at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona have recently designed a peculiar material — called a dc metamaterial — that has the property of making objects wrapped in it undetectable to magnetic and very low-frequency electromagnetic fields. The breakthrough brings the dream of "invisibility cloaking" closer to reality and could have important repercussions in both the military and medical fields. Read More
Protecting world food supplies with salt-tolerant crops
20:59 July 16, 2009 PDT
Salt might be great with popcorn and peanuts, but it’s not so good with soil. The U.N. estimates that the world loses at least three hectares of arable land every minute because of soil salinity. Most crops simply can’t cope with too much salt. Which is why a breakthrough by a team at the University of Adelaide in Australia could have a profound effect on the food supplies of our future: they’ve found a way to genetically modify plants to become more salt tolerant. Read More
New storm guidance system might have averted Air France Flight 447 disaster
22:08 July 12, 2009 PDT
Pilots routinely fly over remote stretches of ocean with almost no weather information, apart from a pre-flight briefing and updates every four hours. Yet this is where some of the worst turbulence and, as Air France Flight 447 tragically encountered on June 1, most intense weather occurs. The National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is developing a new system that combines satellite data, weather models and A.I. to identify and predict rapidly evolving storms, enabling pilots to avoid areas of potentially severe turbulence. Read More
John Wassner
- November 27, 2009 @ 01:40 UTC
