Topological Transitions in Metamaterials Offers Potential for More Efficient Solar Cells, Super Bright LEDs and Ultra-High Sensitive Sensors

A team of physicists headed by Dr. Vinod M. Menon, who is a member of The City University of New York Photonics Initiative and teaches at Queens College, has discovered a new method to manipulate light that could eventually result in more efficient solar cells, super bright LEDs, ultra-high sensitive sensors and single photon sources …

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Carnival of Space 247 – Planetary Resources and other space blogging

1. Centauri Dreams offers the first of a 3-part post on Proxima Centauri, the nearest known star. Are we likely to find planets there? Proxima Centauri (shown by the arrow) in relation to Centauri A and B. The latter appear as a single bright object at upper left. Credit: European Southern Observatory. 2. Simostronomy – …

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Carnival of Nuclear Energy 102

UPDATE – At Idaho samizdat, Dan Yurman asks whether TVA can handle construction of a third reactor? The development of a third nuclear reactor by 2020 at a TVA site, albeit a 180 MW SMR, is potentially headed for a squeeze play between two of its larger brethren. TVA’s board is already on record saying …

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Scott Aaronson visited the offices of Quantum Computer company Dwave systems

Scott Aaronson, a D-Wave Skeptic, visited the offices of Adiabatic Quantum computer company Dwave Systems He had three factual points : Point #1: D-Wave now has a 128-(qu)bit machine that can output approximate solutions to a particular NP-hard minimization problem—namely, the problem of minimizing the energy of 90-100 Ising spins with pairwise interactions along a …

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Guided Self-Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles into Device-Ready Thin films

Scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have directed the first self-assembly of nanoparticles into device-ready materials. Through a relatively easy and inexpensive technique based on blending nanoparticles with block co-polymer supramolecules, the researchers produced multiple-layers of thin films from highly ordered one-, two- and three-dimensional …

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Canadian regulators looking at two reactor designs for Darlington

Toronto Star- Ontario Power Generation, the owner of the Darlington nuclear plant, is looking to build up to four new reactors for an additional 4,800 MW of capacity. It will be more than a year before a decision is made on which design to choose. The two designs reportedly in the running are the enhanced …

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New graphene-based material could revolutionise electronics industry

The most transparent, lightweight and flexible material ever for conducting electricity has been invented by a team from the University of Exeter. Called GraphExeter, the material could revolutionise the creation of wearable electronic devices, such as clothing containing computers, phones and MP3 players. GraphExeter could also be used for the creation of ‘smart’ mirrors or …

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Simpler and more controlled method to place Nanoparticles on nanowires to enhance electrical and catalytic performance

Engineers at Stanford have found a novel method for “decorating” nanowires with chains of tiny particles to increase their electrical and catalytic performance. The new technique is simpler, faster and provides greater control than earlier methods and could lead to better batteries, solar cells and catalysts. The development, say the researchers, might someday lead to …

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20 nanometer, 14 nanometer chips and 3D ICs

EETimes – News from the GSA silicon summit. * Next-generation 20 nm processes can support optimized versions for low power and high performance, according to an IBM expert. * A variety of 3-D ICs (with through-silicon vias -TSVs) will hit the market in 2014 despite numerous challenges (cost and heat dissipation) * CMOS scaling is …

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MIT’s Media Lab demonstrates a system that lets driverless vehicles communicate with pedestrians.

Technology Review – You step off the curb, look to your left, and there is a car coming toward you without a driver—one of the many autonomous vehicles that seem to be appearing in trendy neighborhoods. It slows down and stops at the intersection. Do you dare step out in front of it to cross …

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