Gizmag: Research Watch

Spider webs hold the key to stronger bioadhesives

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:45:01 +1100

Spiders are remarkable animals: with over 40,000 classified species, they are among the most diverse known to man and can adapt to the most radical climatic conditions. The silky substance they produce to spin webs has been extensively studied and is known to rival steel in strength: a less-known fact, however, is that the "glue" that holds it all together is just as remarkable, and could soon become the key to producing stronger bioadhesives to replace petroleum-based products...

Tags: Evolution, Glue, Research, University of Wyoming

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Software to detect objects inside videos

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:57:05 +1100

Researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) are developing software that would enable computers to perform video analysis tasks, such as alerting emergency services if a video surveillance camera detects a person falling and not getting up. The software could also be used to search inside videos and look for certain objects, such as basketballs or footballs, hence reducing the time taken to locate a certain game or scene...

Tags: Detect, Search, Software, Surveillance, Video

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Producing carbon nanotubes on an industrial scale

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:54:58 +1100

Carbon nanotubes promise to revolutionize everything from medicine to electronics and power generation. Unfortunately nanotubes are notoriously hard to work with and chemists worldwide have struggled for years to even make them. Now researchers have unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon nanotube fibers that builds upon the tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics...

Tags: Carbon, Nano, Nanotubes, Processing

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World’s faster supercomputer models origins of the unseen universe

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:10:53 +1100

Scientists have for some time postulated that "dark matter" could partially account for evidence of missing mass in the universe, while the hypothetical form of energy known as "dark energy" is the most popular way to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate and accounts for 74 percent of the total mass-energy of the universe according to the standard model of cosmology. To better understand these two mysterious cosmic constituents scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are using Roadrunner, the world’s fastest supercomputer, to model one of the largest simulations of the distribution of matter in the universe...

Tags: Cosmic, Matter, Supercomputer, Universe

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Nano-particle coating prevents ice buildup on roads and power lines

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:00:13 +1100

Like most things, ice can be a blessing or a burden depending on the circumstances. It’s perfect crushed in a drink on a hot summer’s day, but can wreak havoc when it collects on roads, power lines and aircraft in freezing temperatures. A University of Pittsburgh-led team has found a way to reduce these dangers by developing a nanoparticle-based coating that can be easily applied to impede the buildup of ice on solid surfaces...

Tags: Hydrophobic, Ice, Nanoparticles, Road, Safety, Surfaces

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New spintronics breakthrough paves the way to faster computing

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:30:32 +1100

A team of researchers from the University of Cincinnati have achieved control of the spin of electrons traveling on a wire by simply regulating an electrical voltage. This is a major milestone in the brief history of spintronics, the emerging technology that uses the spin of electrons to store and manipulate digital information with much higher speeds and efficiency...

Tags: Efficiency, Electronics, Research, Spintronics

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Cell batteries could power nano devices

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:38:04 +1100

Synthetic cells that act as a battery could one day be used to power nanotech devices. Scientists from Yale University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a very simple cell model in order to study the way certain real cells generate electric voltages. In the process they produced a minute working battery that converts chemical energy into electrical energy at an efficiency of about 10 per cent - a figure that's high enough to make cell batteries a practical alternative as a nano power source...

Tags: Batteries, Cells, Nanotechnology, NIST

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Good vibrations: Lotus leaf's secrets revealed

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:13:00 +1100

The ancient lotus leaf has natural properties that scientists believe could prove beneficial in today's modern world. Already Gizmag has featured articles about the lotus leaf surface, including a self-cleaning cup and a transparent coating for space suits. Recently, though, in an effort to improve the efficiency of modern engineering systems, such as power plants and some electronic equipment that must be cooled by removing heat through water evaporation and condensation, engineers at Duke University have been studying the lotus leaf. Using an ultra high-speed camera, a powerful microscope and an audio speaker, scientists were able to observe water as it condensed on the leaf's surface, and more importantly, how the water condensate disappeared...

Tags: Cooling, Leaf, Lotus, Self-cleaning, System

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Newly developed nanomaterial could boost data storage density and cars' fuel efficiency

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:50 +1100

By manipulating matter at the nanoscale level, engineers from North Carolina State University led by Dr. Jagdish Narayan have developed a new material that could make it possible to manufacture terabyte memory chips the size of a fingernail, boost vehicles' fuel economy significantly and reduce heat dissipated by semiconductors, with applications ranging from spintronics to solar panel technology...

Tags: Electronics, Fuel efficiency, Research, Spintronics, Storage

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Plasmonics breakthrough promises faster computers and communications

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:14:27 +1000

Plasmonics is a promising emerging technology that attempts to put together the best of two worlds — optics and electronics — to achieve faster computation and communication by making optical devices significantly smaller. In recent research, a team of European scientists has solved a long-standing problem in this field by sending signals over a long distance in a breakthrough that brings this technology much closer to mass production...

Tags: Communications, Plasma, Plasmonics, Processing, Research

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MIT's one-way road for microwave light makes efficient lightwave circuits closer

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:13:26 +1000

Light normally bounces off obstacles in its way, and the part of the beam that is reflected back and captured by our eyes contributes to our perception of the world around us. However, every reflection dissipates a small part of the beam's energy, and can eventually weaken it significantly. A team of MIT researchers have developed an innovative waveguide that allows microwave light to travel one way only and without reflections, paving the way to much more efficient lightwave circuits and connections...

Tags: Light, Lightwave, MIT, Optical, Research, Transmission

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Gel sensors to detect bomb chemicals and illegal drugs in seconds

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:26:19 +1000

Sensors that quickly detect chemicals used to make bombs are being developed by scientists at Queen’s University, Belfast. The devices will use special gel pads to "swipe" a person or crime scene to gather a sample which is then analyzed by a scanning instrument that can detect the presence of chemicals within seconds, much quicker than current analysis methods. This will allow better, faster decisions to be made in response to terrorist threats. The team is also working on devices that detect illegal drugs and will hopefully be deployed by police as roadside drug "breathalyzers"...

Tags: Alcohol, Bombs, Breathalyzers, Chemicals, Detect, Drugs, Queens University, Sensors

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Replicating nano structure of butterfly wings could lead to better solar cells

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:19:30 +1000

Researchers have developed a technique to replicate biological structures, such as butterfly wings, on a nano scale. They focused on the tiny nano-sized photonic structures that are found in the insects’ cuticle, and which give insects their iridescence - that slightly metallic sheen that also seems to shift in color depending on the viewing angle. By replicating the biotemplate of butterfly wings, the researchers hope to be able to make various optically-active structures, such as optical diffusers or coverings that maximize solar cell absorption...

Tags: Butterfly, Insect, Nano, Optical, Pennsylvania State University

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A nuclear battery the size and thickness of a penny

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:01:58 +1000

They might sound dangerous, but nuclear batteries have been safely powering devices such as pace-makers, satellites and underwater systems for years. They have an extremely long life and high energy density compared to chemical batteries. However, they are costly and also very large and heavy. Now researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) are developing a nuclear battery that is smaller, lighter and more efficient...

Tags: Battery, Electricity, Nuclear, University of Missouri

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Speedy communication takes a quantum leap towards reality

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:15:25 +1000

Quantum computing is expected to revolutionize electronics over the course of the next few decades, but a number of outstanding issues still remain. One such problem is that "qubits," the basic building blocks of quantum information, are very fragile and can be easily destroyed when sent on a fiber optics cable, due to the surrounding noise. Working on this issue, a team from Stockholm's KHT University, led by Magnus Rådmark, has developed a new method for combining six photons to obtain a robust qubit that is resistant to noise and is, therefore, able to travel long distances without interference...

Tags: KHT University, Quantum, quantum computing, Research, Transmission

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Brain-to-brain communication over the Internet

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:14:42 +1000

Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) is a hot area of research. In the past year alone we’ve looked at a system to allow people to control a robotic arm and another that enables users to control an ASIMO robot with nothing but the power of thought. Such systems rely on the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG) to capture brain waves and translate them into commands to control a machine. Now researchers at the University of Southampton have used a similar technique to show it is possible to transmit thoughts from one person to another...

Tags: Brain, Brain-to-brain, EEG, Research, Unversity of Southampton

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Femtoseconds lasers will help formation flying in space

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:26:53 +1000

Theoretical work commissioned to the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) by the European Space Agency has recently concluded that lasers capable of generating extremely short pulses — known as "femtosecond comb lasers" — could be of great help in measuring the distance between two or more spacecraft to an accuracy of just a few microns, an essential component to formation flying space missions scheduled for the next decades...

Tags: Astronomy, Consumption, Femtosecond, Spacecraft, Telescope, Universe, X-ray

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A hard rain's gonna fall on exoplanet COROT-7b

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:12:27 +1000

Raining rocks? The concept may not be as preposterous as it sounds according to scientists at Washington University in St Louis who have theorized that a recently-discovered exoplanet, COROT-7b, may have an atmosphere that does exactly that. ..

Tags: Concept, Earth, exoplanet, Moon, Orbit, Scientists, Space, Universe

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'Time telescope' speeds up optical transmission by 27 times

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:17:19 +1000

Most of today's telecommunication data is encoded at a speed of 10 Gbit/s, but researchers are constantly looking for new ways to push this limit even further. A group of researchers at Cornell University have recently come up with the "time telescope," a sophisticated system that can speed up optical communication by 27 times to an outstanding 270 Gbits/s by squeezing more information into a single flash of light and that, unlike previous solutions, does so in an energy-efficient manner...

Tags: Cornell, Electronics, Laser, Optical, Research, Telescope, Transmission

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Better control over nanotube growth promises important advances in electronics

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:12:30 +1000

Researchers at the Honda Research Institute, Purdue University and the University of Louisville have discovered a way to systematically grow carbon nanotubes with either metallic or semiconducting properties, solving a long-standing problem in nanotechnology research and paving the way for the widespread use of nanotubes in electronics...

Tags: Electronics, Honda, Nanotechnology, Purdue University, Research

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Glass casting meets the digital age: 3-D glass printing method developed

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:25:26 +1000

A team of engineers and artists at the University of Washington's Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory has revived an ancient Egyptian glass casting method and developed "Vitraglyphic," a technique to manufacture glass objects from fine glass powder using computer-aided design and a 3-D printer, paving the way for a significantly faster and cheaper method for artists, architects and designers to build high-precision prototypes...

Tags: 3-D printing, Affordable, Coating, Designer, Glass, Prototype, University of Washington

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Scientists block insects' sense of smell to protect crops

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:00:59 +1000

Good news for crop farmers this week with UK scientists discovering molecules they hope will confuse insects’ sense of smell and therefore their ability to detect plants – and each other. The researchers believe this could reduce the damage insects cause to crops and lead to better food security. Roughly one-quarter of the world’s crops are lost annually to pests and disease. ..

Tags: Crops, food, Insect, Pests, Plants, Scent

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New computer tool could lead to better crops and safer pesticides

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:11:01 +1000

Researchers engaged in developing new strains of crops, such as drought-resistant wheat and new pesticides that are more environmentally-friendly, are also creating a computing tool that could help scientists predict how plants will react to different environmental conditions. It’s hoped their findings will help create better crops, such as tastier and longer-lasting tomatoes...

Tags: Agricultural, Behavior, Computer, Crops, Environmental, Imperial College, Plants, Prototype, Research, Syngenta University

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Adding graphene could mean cheaper Lithium-ion batteries

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:01:12 +1000

It’s not only integrated circuits that look set to benefit from the use of graphene, the one-atom thick wonder material made up of a honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms. Researchers have discovered that adding graphene to titanium dioxide for use as electrodes in batteries improves performance over standard titanium oxide by a factor of three. This could pave the way for inexpensive titanium dioxide to replace the expensive, rare-earth metals or fire-prone carbon-based materials used in today's lithium-ion batteries...

Tags: Batteries, Graphene, Lithium-ion, Titanium dioxide

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Self-healing electronics using carbon nanotube-filled microcapsules

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:02:37 +1000

Dropping an electrical device such as a mobile phone or laptop can prompt a few anxious moments as you rush to see whether your beloved device has survived the fall. Now researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are working to make such incidents a little less distressing - they're developing a self-healing first-aid kit for electrical systems that could stop circuits failing and lead to safer, longer lasting batteries...

Tags: Batteries, Circuit, Electronics, Microcapsules, Nanotubes, Repair, Self-healing

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