The main method for producing graphene currently involves peeling sheets from a chunk of graphite using sticky tape – a technique that is too awkward to be of use to electronics manufacturers. Graphene has the potential to be used for electronics and to replace silicon with faster and more efficient processing. Scott Gilje and colleagues …
A robot, smaller than one millimeter, has been built by Korean scientists to travel through blood vessels Once inside a blocked artery, it is able to release drugs to dissolve blood clots, which are often the cause of heart attacks. The robot has three short front legs and three longer back legs which are attached …
It appears that no one won the Space elevator games competition for 2007. I previewed the competition. The University of Saskatechwan’s Space Design team came closest to winning. Their fastest run was 54 seconds. We’re not sure exactly how quick that was as we need to measure the ribbon. This will be done tomorrow. But …
At nanotech-now.com, Jamais Cascio, CRN’s new Director of Impacts Analysis, discusses factors that will describe the ecosystem for nanofactories. The factors are:1. Designs2. Distribution methods for nanofactories3. Distribution methods for products4. Distribution methods for “toner”5. Physical reliability6. Physical safety7. Health and safety evaluations8. Knowledgeable users9. Ways to avoid abuse10. Political support11. Economic support12. Market acceptance …
Samsung, the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips, unveiled a 64-gigabit NAND flash memory chip based on finer process technology using circuit elements that are 30 nanometers wide. Samsung touted the development of the chip as a world first and said the new chip marks the eighth straight year that memory density has doubled …
Under Monday’s settlement, Microsoft said it would allow open-source software developers access to inter-operability information for work-group servers used by businesses and other large organisations. Other technology companies using this information will only have to pay a €10,000 ($14,300) one-off fee rather than a percentage of revenues from any software developed as a result. Also, …
2.5 million pounds of funding for the UK Ideas Factory projects has been officially approved The Ideas Factory online discussion was here Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology …
The drug ACE-031 has been found to reproduce the enhanced muscle growth effect caused by certain genes. Genetic manipulation in mice can cause 4 times the muscle growth. The drug mimics the effect of gene therapy and appears to be a super-steroid without the harmful effects and is using a different process than steroids. The …
Researchers at the Advanced Technology Institute of the University of Surrey, in collaboration with researchers from China and the USA, have demonstrated a 100-fold increase in the light emission from a nylon polymer sample, by incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). Previously adding carbon nanotubes (CNT) reduces the light emission from the composite, due to quenching …
Global wealth grew by 7.5 percent in 2006 to reach $97.9 trillion, measured in local currencies. The number of millionaire households grew by 14.0 percent in 2006, to 9.6 million. These were the richest 0.7 percent of households, and they owned $33.2 trillion—or about one-third—of global wealth. North America was home to nearly half of …
FPGA processing accelerators have been developed. Warp processing” gives a computer chip the ability to improve its performance over time. Here’s how Warp processing works: When a program first runs on a microprocessor chip (such as a Pentium), the chip monitors the program to detect its most frequently-executed parts. The microprocessor then automatically tries to …