Scientists from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville have determined that an inexpensive semiconductor material can be “tweaked” to generate hydrogen from water using sunlight. Using state-of-the-art theoretical computations, the UK-UofL team demonstrated that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony (Sb) in gallium nitride (GaN) has the right …
Blades installed in a 400W wind turbine generator. A post-doctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University has spearheaded an effort to build the world’s first polyurethane wind turbine blade reinforced with carbon nanotubes. Advanced materials with higher strength to mass ratios could enable larger area rotors to be cost-effective. Carbon nanotube based composites could enable …
A study conducted among cyclists in Copenhagen, Denmark1 showed that it is the relative intensity and not the duration of cycling which is of most importance in relation to all-cause mortality and even more pronounced for coronary heart disease mortality. The study presented today at the ESC Congress 2011, concluded that men with fast intensity …
Depending on the age of asthmatic children, on their exposure to molds or dampness in their bedroom, and on the severity of their asthma, vitamin C has greater or smaller beneficial effect against asthma, according to a study published in the Clinical and Translational Allergy. 0.2 grams of vitamin C asthmatic children aged 7 to …
Scanning electron microscopy micrographs of the graphene devices with plasmonic nanostructures. Researchers have discovered a crucial recipe for improving the characteristics of graphene devices for use as photodetectors in the next generation of pholtovoltaic devices for telecommunications and energy harvesting. In the new research, the team combined graphene with metallic nanostructures, leading to a twenty-fold …
CERN scientists declared that over the entire range of energy the Collider had explored—from 145 to 466 billion electron volts—the Higgs boson is excluded as a possibility with a 95% probability. The probability of nonexistence is not overwhelming—there is still a 5% chance that the Higgs is hiding somewhere within this energy range. And, more …
1. iPad 3 is rumored to be launched in early 2012. The Apple iPad 3 is expected to feature a high resolution display – 2048 by 1536 compared with 1024 by 768 in the iPad 2 – and Apple’s suppliers have already shipped small quantities of components for the sampling of the iPad 3. Suppliers …
Al Gore, the former US vice president, has predicted that in years to come people who are sceptical about climate change will be seen in the same way as racists. In an interview on UStream, Mr Gore likened the debate over climate change to the Civil Rights movement in the US in the 1960s. He …
A successful Technological singularity has been cited as being able to provide cures for diseases, accelerated economic growth and solve human challenges in fields like medicine, physics, chemistry, engineering, politics, diplomacy, biology, sociology, and economics. The more optimistic forecasts are that a technological singularity is 30-60 years away. There is plenty of time to get …
Current nuclear plants are very inefficient, and burn only a fraction of the available fuel. The startup corporation Terrapower , funded in part by Bill Gates has an innovative plan for a reactor that can burn depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is currently a dangerous waste product produced by conventional lightwater reactors. Enough uranium-238 exists in …
I have previously provided my opinion on the three major views on what a possible Technological Singularity will be like. 1. Event Horizon – The claim is that future becomes weirder than we can imagine now and changes faster than we can handle. I believe that we will still be able to understand the changes …