Nanofibers — strands of material only a couple hundred nanometers in diameter — have a huge range of possible applications: scaffolds for bioengineered organs, ultrafine air and water filters, and lightweight Kevlar body armor, to name just a few. But so far, the expense of producing them has consigned them to a few high-end, niche …
This is another NASA NIAC phase 1 funded study. A supersonic bi-directional (SBiDir) flying wing (FW) has the potential to revolutionize supersonic flight with virtually zero sonic boom and ultra-high aerodynamic efficiency. The SBiDir-FW planform is symmetric about both the longitudinal and span axes. For supersonic flight, the planform can have as low aspect ratio …
Arxiv – Decoherence induced deformation of the ground state in adiabatic quantum computation (11 pages) Adiabatic quantum computation (AQC), either in its universal form, or in the form of adiabatic quantum optimization, or quantum simulations, presents a viable alternative to gate-model quantum computation (GMQC). Although a part of the original motivation for introduction of the …
BBC News- American science fiction author Harry Harrison, who also created the Stainless Steel Rat series, has died aged 87. His 1966 dystopian novel Make Room! Make Room! also inspired 1973 film Soylent Green starring Charlton Heston. Harrison’s first novel, Deathworld, was published in 1960, while the first book in the Stainless Steel Rat series …
A new study by Rice University scientists details exactly how carbon nanotubes snap when subjected to ultrasonic vibrations in a liquid. Carbon nanotubes — hollow tubes of pure carbon about as wide as a strand of DNA — are one of the most-studied materials in nanotechnology. For well over a decade, scientists have used ultrasonic …
UCLA researchers have developed a successful, scalable method for fabricating self-aligned graphene transistors with transferred gate stacks. By performing the conventional lithography, deposition and etching steps on a sacrificial substrate before integrating with large-area graphene through a physical transferring process, the new approach addresses and overcomes the challenges of conventional fabrication. With a damage-free transfer …
Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone will compete in the U.S. with the Apple iPhone, HTC One X, and Nokia Lumia 900. How does it stack up? Samsung Galaxy S3, Apple iPhone, HTC One X Phone Samsung HTC One X Apple iPhone 4S Nokia Lumia 900 Galaxy S3 Price 16GB $?? 32GB $199 16GB $199 $99.9 …
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have shown that it is possible to efficiently manipulate THz electromagnetic waves with atomically thin graphene layers. One of the hottest areas of the electromagnetic spectrum being explored today is the terahertz (THz) range. Terahertz waves, lying between microwave and optical frequencies, offer improved performance for a variety …
Zyvex Technologies, and ENVE Composites announced an exclusive partnership to provide a bicycle rim specifically for downhill mountain biking that uses the latest advanced materials comprised of nano-enhanced carbon fiber. This new bicycle rim gives a significant competitive advantage to the downhill cycling market as proven during the last year in development and testing. The …
This paper presents a radically new class of nuclear electric thrusters that has the advanced capabilities necessary to perform missions previously unfeasible. This light-weight propulsion system called HIIPER (Helicon Injected Inertial Plasma Electrostatic Rocket) employs one of the highest density plasma sources (Helicon source) for plasma production and one of the most erosion-resistant accelerators (Inertial …
Two idled Japanese nuclear reactors have been declared safe and will need to be restarted to avoid a summer power crunch in western Japan, the trade minister said on Friday, a step towards the first restart in Japan since last year’s Fukushima crisis. Trade Minister Yukio Edano also said that he will visit Fukui prefecture, …