Hot pack: A display at a conference shows a new material (light green) packed into a metal foam. The material is being used to improve a technology that uses heat energy to drive a cooling process. Credit: Kevin Bullis MIT Technology Review – It could soon be more practical to cool buildings using solar water …
Merthyr Vale Colliery was a coal mining facility above the town of Aberfan (Wales, England). For approximately 50 years, millions of cubic metres of debris from the mine had been deposited on the side of Merthyr Mountain. On October 21st, 1966, heavy rains brought a torrential flood of liquefied debris rushing down the mountain and …
A study at Duke University could help researchers more precisely determine the ecological impacts of coal ash, a byproduct of coal combustion at power plants. Coal ash is disposed of in liquid form at large surface impoundments and in solid form at landfills. These residuals contain contaminants such as mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, which are …
The sensor consists of a reservoir containing MRSw particles enclosed by a size-exclusion membrane. T2 changes are produced when analytes diffuse across the membrane and initiate particle aggregation. During about 30 percent of all heart attacks, the patient experiences no symptoms. However, unmistakable signs of the attack remain in the bloodstream for days. MIT researchers, …
Newborn nerve cells may help heal the brain after a traumatic injury. In a study in mice, blocking the birth of new neurons hindered the mice’s ability to learn and remember a water maze after a brain injury, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas report in the March 30 Journal …
A nanotechnology-based biosensor being developed by Kansas State University researchers may allow early detection of both cancer cells and pathogens, leading to increased food safety and reduced health risks. Lateef Syed, doctoral student in chemistry, Hyderabad, India, is developing the biosensor with Jun Li, associate professor of chemistry. Their research focuses on E. coli, but …
Versatile yet selective: Among a great variety of aptamers, there are the right detectors for countless substances. The analyte molecules – in this case AMP – bind to points suitable for them; as a result, the force with which bonds between the two halves of the aptamers can be removed changes. © R. Berger/MPI for …
Semiconductor Nanomembrane Tubes: Three-Dimensional Confinement for Controlled Neurite Outgrowth (H/T Alfin) In many neural culture studies, neurite migration on a flat, open surface does not reflect the three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment in vivo. With that in mind, we fabricated arrays of semiconductor tubes using strained silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) nanomembranes and employed them as a …
New Scientist – Singapore, a tiny island country whose population would have no place to go in the event of a wide-scale evacuation, is giving buried nuclear reactors a closer look. The thinking is that you could bury a small reactor in a shallow layer of bedrock, perhaps 30-50 meters underground. Then, if things at …
More than 450 coal-burning electric power plants in the United States produce about 130 million tons of “flyash” each year. Before air pollution laws, those fine particles of soot and dust flew up smokestacks and into the air. Power plants now collect the ash. This waste could become a valuable resource as a shield-like coating …
ABC is reporting that there were 56 safety violations at the 104 US Nuclear plants over the last 4 years. They should strive to do better. There should be zero safety violations. However, I will put it into context. MSHA cited the Upper Big Branch mine for more than 1,300 safety violations from 2005 through …