Terahertz Ray Lasers with 400 Times Higher Gain than Before and Should Lead to Wider Commercialization

Prof. Leonid Shvartsman and Prof. Boris Laikhtman of the university’s Racah Institute of Physics have invented a novel design of TeraHertz-ray (T-ray) lasers. They said the novel device will have 400 times higher “gain” (a measure of power) than that of the only coherent T-ray sources existing today, called THzQuantum cascade lasers. “The novel method …

Read more

Three Competing Technologies for Next Generation Hard Drives

Carnegie Mellon University is developing microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) technique he believes will pack three terabits of data in a square inch of a spinning disk. The next big shift in hard disk technology expected to emerge in the next year or two. Seagate Technology has been championing an approach called heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) …

Read more

Amory Lovins and President Jimmy Carter Were Also Wrong In Their Energy Predictions Too

In the Grist article by Amory Lovins: “stewart brands nuclear enthusiasm falls short on facts and logic” In its first half-century, nuclear power fell short of its forecast capacity by about 12-fold in the U.S. and 30-fold worldwide, mainly because building it cost several-fold more than expected, straining or bankrupting its owners This is referring …

Read more

Graphene Improves Cheap titanium dioxide-based batteries and a Flash of Light Turns Graphene into A Biosensor

1. Graphene enhances titanium dioxide-based batteries. Researchers would like to develop lithium-ion batteries using titanium dioxide, an inexpensive material (instead of rare earth metals which China controls most of the current rare earth metal reserves.). Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Gary Yang and colleagues added graphene, sheets made up of single carbon atoms, …

Read more

China’s Political Shift Accelerating A Bit During the Crisis

The Economist reviews how China is handling the current crisis. China is taking advantage of some opportunities to gain some more influence at an affordable cost by trading investment and money for more influence. China is being a bit more forward in various international dealings, but is avoiding the generation of unnecessary conflict and tensions. …

Read more

Caltech: Lesion Mapping of Cognitive Abilities Linked to Intelligence

Here is a 12 page pdf with supplemental information to the research paper on “Lesion Mapping of Cognitive Abilities Linked to Intelligence”. They identified the parts of the brain that are used for verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory and processing speed. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) assesses a wide range of cognitive abilities …

Read more

Gene sequencing discovers and identifies mystery microbes could help find sources of thousands of previously unidentified cases

In the picture, cells infected with the new virus have been stained using antibodies. After several other identification techniques failed, the new sequencing approach was used to discover a never-before-seen virus that was likely responsible for the deaths of three transplant patients who received organs from the same donor. As many as 40 percent of …

Read more

Bakken and Torquay Formations – A Saudi Arabia of oil under Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Manitoba

MORE NEWS There is a separate North Dakota study of the Bakken and a link to where the state publishes online reports of completed wells and wells with reported production. A bunch of wells were reported on April 28, 2008. BREAKING NEWS Well my guess was far to optimistic. The USGS 2008 figure was 3.65 …

Read more