Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have devised a new type of superconducting circuit that behaves quantum mechanically –– but has up to five levels of energy instead of the usual two. He explained that in this work they operated a quantum circuit as a more complicated artificial atom with up to five energy levels. The …
Nanoparticulate zirconia (ZrO2) catalyzes both growth of single-wall and multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and graphitization of solid amorphous carbon UPDATE: Prior non metal catalyst work (H/T to reader at cheaptubes): In a process patented by NASA Goddard is the ability to produce bundles of CNTs without using a metal …
Wired Magazine has an article “To Pay for Health Care, Treat Aging” As politicians try to reform a health care system that could swallow one-fifth of the nation’s economic output by 2020, they should consider making a small bet with a potentially huge payoff: research that could slow the process of aging In papers published …
Korea has made the APR1400. H/T to reader guarr. • Economics :20% superior to coal• Capacity : 1400 MWe• Design life: 60 years• Construction period : 48th months• Availability: 90% Korea is also using a lot of 3D design, modular and prefab construction techniques. Korea APR1400 claims superior economics to coal and to the Westinghouse …
Canadian researchers propose ways of harvesting oil from diatoms, using biochemical engineering and also a new solar panel approach that utilizes genomically modifiable aspects of diatom biology, offering the prospect of “milking” diatoms for sustainable energy by altering them to actively secrete oil products. Secretion by and milking of diatoms may provide a way around …
A new method of cloaking is presented by Fernando Guevara Vasquez, Graeme W. Milton, and Daniel Onofrei, Department of Mathematics, University of Utah. For two-dimensional quasistatics it is proven how a single active exterior cloaking device can be used to shield an object from surrounding fields, yet produce very small scattered fields. The problem is …
High speed fiber internet is being implemented with greater speed and higher penetration around the world than in the United States. The 5-10+% [700 billion to 1.4 trillion per year initially. A nextbigfuture article that covers many studies that connect broadband to economic stimulus] boost to the GDP that would come from 100+mbps symmetrical access …
IMEC, Europe’s leading independent nanoelectronics research institute, reports a method to integrate high-speed CMOS electronics and nanophotonic circuitry based on plasmonic effects. Metal-based nanophotonics (plasmonics) can squeeze light into nanoscale structures that are much smaller than conventional optic components. Plasmonic technology, today still in an experimental stage, has the potential to be used in future …
Immune cells attracted to nooks in this porous, biodegradable polymer implant are stimulated to attack cancer. Credit: Omar Ali 1. A polymer implant signals cells to combat cancer. This was already covered at Nextbigfuture in Jan 2009 but we now have a photo and some more information and it is an important development to track. …
The drug teriparatide, or Forteo, which was approved by the FDA in 2002 for the treatment of osteoporosis appear to also boost bone stem cell production for “miraculous bone healing”. Astute observations led a team of clinicians and researchers to uncover how this drug can also boost our bodies’ bone stem cell production to the …
Reconstituting ribosomes: Shown here is a parts list for creating a synthetic, self-replicating ribosome. Proteins are shown in purple, RNA in red, and DNA in blue. The list includes 54 ribosomal proteins, as well as RNA-based enzymes involved in protein production, and other molecules that interact with ribosomes. Credit: George Church and Mike Jewett Church …