Electrons

22:55 November 22, 2009 PST

The successful restart of the Large Hadron Collider prompted scenes of jubilation

Contrary to claims by some scientists that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was being sabotaged from the future to save the world, it is back up and running. The LHC is now beyond the point where it was in 2008 when it had to be shut down just nine days after it had commenced sending beams around its 27km (17 mile) circuit on September 10 last year. Read More

ECOGIZMO

Color matters: GreenSun Energy colored solar technology

By Paul Ridden

17:22 September 24, 2009 PDT

$The GreenSun Energy solar cell uses a fraction of the silicon found in existing cells and ...$

One of the most common ways to turn the sun's energy into electricity is by persuading silicon to give up some of its electrons. But it's also quite expensive, so any innovation that helps reduce the cost of solar cell production is welcome. Researchers in Israel have come up with a cell that uses only 20% of the silicon in a standard cell yet yields similar amounts of electricity. It does this by diffusing any light that falls on its surface and sends it off to photovoltaic collector strips on each of its sides. And it doesn't even need bright sunlight to operate. Read More

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

Large Hadron Collider readies for half-power restart

By Paul Lester

18:43 August 11, 2009 PDT

The LHC has undergone substantial repairs since its initial outing

The date 10 September 2008 was forseen by some as the end of the world, at least if you believed scientists who were trying to pull the plug on an experiment that some dubbed the ‘Doomsday Test’. As it turned out a faulty electrical connection brought proceedings to a halt. Now the $9 billion ‘atom-smasher’, aka the Large Hadron Collider, which was developed by CERN to recreate the chemical reactions that took place when the universe came into existence around 14 billion years ago, is gearing up for a restart. Read More

RESEARCH WATCH

Thinnest superconducting metal ever may have wide application

By Michael Mulcahy

00:57 June 10, 2009 PDT

Atomic structure of the 2-atom thick lead superconductor, as seen through a scanning micro...

Scientists at the University of Texas have developed a superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, a remarkably pliable nanomaterial that could help lead to new breakthroughs in electricity generation and computer processing speeds. Read More

Electrons

Large Hadron Collider back up and running

Color matters: GreenSun Energy colored solar technology

Large Hadron Collider readies for half-power restart

Thinnest superconducting metal ever may have wide application