Physicists at JILA have for the first time observed chemical reactions near absolute zero, demonstrating that chemistry is possible at ultralow temperatures and that reaction rates can be controlled using quantum mechanics, the peculiar rules of submicroscopic physics. The new results and techniques, described in the Feb. 12 issue of Science,* will help scientists understand …
Plastics Today – Bayer MaterialScience has opened a large carbon nanotube (CNT) pilot facility in Leverkusen, boasting annual capacity of 200 tonnes The announcement from Bayer comes the same week that Belgian competitor Nanocyl said it was installing a new reactor for nanotube production that would boost its production capacity to 400 tonnes/year. That new …
A plasmonic laser (illustrated here) could be one component of an extremely fast plasmonic computer, giving light perhaps its tightest squeeze yet – about as small as the circuitry that moves electrons in standard electronics. Nicolle Rager Fuller UPDATE: J Storrs Hall, President of the Foresight Institute, noted recent progress in working with graphene and …
This site had previously advocated using tax revenue from allowing oil drilling and new nuclear reactors to help solve California’s budget problems. [This is repeated below] California assemblyman Chuck Devore introduced a proposal that generates as much as $16 billion by 2011, enough to fill more than three-quarters of California’s estimated $21 billion budget deficit. …
This figure shows a molecular worm representing a butane molecule as it navigates through the chemical labyrinth of a typical alkane-cracking zeolite. The alogorithm was used to compute the shortest path for the butane molecule to traverse one unit of the periodic zeolite structure. (Image courtesy of Maciej Haranczyk) With the passage of a molecule …
Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have made an important advance in electrically controlling quantum states of electrons, a step that could help in the development of quantum computing. In seperate research, another group controlled spin electronically The researchers have demonstrated the ability to electrically manipulate, at gigahertz rates, the quantum states of electrons trapped on …
Jamais Cascio has a talk about the Singularity where he feels that what concerned people do about the development of Artificial General Intelligence technology is the most important aspect. The politics of the different groups and the reaction of governments and markets. Michael Anissimov at Accelerating Future notes that Jamais is wrong about several criticisms …
1. Cameco trying to drain Cigar Lake again. Hope to drain the water in 6 months and then assess mine. Cigar Lake is a big mine with about 176000 tons of uranium reserves and under full production would be expected to produce 9000 tons/year. This would be about 20% of current natural uranium production and …
Quantum dots could widen the collection of the solar spectrum by 14 times to gather ten times more energy Chemists at Idaho National Laboratory and Idaho State University have invented a way to manufacture highly precise, uniform nanoparticles to order. The technology, Precision Nanoparticles, has the potential to vastly improve the solar cell and further …
Researchers at Ohio State University have discovered a way to make quantum devices using technology common to the chip-making industry today. The team fabricated a device called a tunneling diode using the most common chip-making technique, called chemical vapor deposition. Manufacturers could potentially fabricate quantum devices directly on a silicon chip, side-by-side with their regular …
Sample of BSCCO-2212. Section pictured measures about 120 microns wide. $4 million in DOE funds will enable the Magnet Lab to investigate the complex copper oxide superconductor with the unwieldy name of bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide, or BSCCO-2212. They are seeing if BSCCO will enable a new generation of more powerful superconducting magnets. (32+ …