Singapore has made computer memory devices using graphene

Ones and zeros: By depositing a ferroelectric material on top of graphene, researchers have coaxed graphene into holding on to two different levels of electrical conductivity, which could serve as bits 1 and 0 in computer memory. Credit: Barbaros Özyilmaz, National University of Singapore MIT TEchnology Review reports that researchers at the National University of …

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Next Big Future Highlights of Weeks 7-12 in 2009

The highlights from the first 6 weeks of 2009 had 128 qubit quantum computers, artificial brain projects, breakthroughs with carbon nanotubes and more. Nanotechnology1. DNA based assembly of nanoclusters. 2. Self assembled memory could have 250 DVDs in the space of quarter. 10-100 terabits per square inch. 3. Synthetic Ribosome made. 4. DNA Origami can …

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Carnival of Space 96

Carnival of space 96 is up at Astroengine. This site provided an article on the quantum fractal theory of space time. Planetary society blog looks at water on Mars. 21st Century Waves feels we are close to space colonization starting in 2015. Astroblogger considers asteroids at the L4 and L5 points Greg Fish, a popular …

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Gorilla, Chimp Strength Secret in Brain and Muscle

Evolutionary biologist Alan Walker, a professor at Penn State University, argues that humans may lack the strength of chimps because our nervous systems exert more control over our muscles. Our fine motor control prevents great feats of strength, but allows us to perform delicate and uniquely human tasks. Walker’s hypothesis stems partly from a finding …

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Singularity Motivated Donation and Singularity Related Research at Oxford

The James Martin 21st Century school has received 36 million pounds in a matching grant donation from James Martin. [H/T to Michael Anissimov at Accelerating future The Institutes who will share the money:AgeingArmedConflict Cancer Therapy Carbon Reduction Emerging Infections Energy Materials Environmental Change Ethics of Biosciences Future of Humanity [this is where Nick Bostrom, Robin …

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Atomic Force Microscopes 100 times More Stable: Picometer Stability

The JILA team has controlled the probe’s position in three dimensions to better than 40 picometers (1 nanometer = 1000 picometers) over 100 seconds. In imaging applications, they showed the long-term drift at room temperature was a mere 5 picometers per minute, a 100-fold improvement over the best previous results under ambient conditions. Just like …

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NASA Smart Shape Changing Helicopter Rotor

NASA is working on smart shape changing helicopter rotors. Twenty years from now, large rotorcraft could be making short hops between cities such as New York and Washington, carrying as many as 100 passengers at a time in comfort and safety. Routine transportation by rotorcraft could help ease air traffic congestion around the nation’s airports. …

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Magnetic Spin MRI Could Improve Sensitivity 1000 Times

Shown here is an MRI image of a one-centimeter-wide tube containing smaller tubes covered with a molecule called pyridine MIT Technology Review reports of a novel method of transferring magnetic spin can amplify the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) a thousandfold, according to new research from the University of York in the United Kingdom. …

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Smart Dew. 25 cent sensor can detect intruders up to 50 meters away. Cost Effective US-Mexico or Israel Border Control

A Tel Aviv University researcher’s fingertip (bottom right) points to a “Smart Dew” droplet. Proposed smart dust designs were of comparable size. More advanced concepts exist for even smaller version of smart dust but this is the smallest and cheapest to date. A new invention from Tel Aviv University — a network of tiny sensors …

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Two Thirds of Atlantic Temperature Warming is From Less Volcanic Dust

Two thirds of the temperature warming of the Atlantic is because of less dust from Volcanoes over the last thirty years. This also means the ideas of adding volcanic dust into the air would work for cooling the climate if necessary. Researchers have calculated how much of the Atlantic Oceans warming observed during the last …

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