By placing quantum dots on a specially designed photonic crystal, researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated enhanced fluorescence intensity by a factor of up to 108. Potential applications include high-brightness light-emitting diodes, optical switches and personalized, high-sensitivity biosensors. A quantum dot is a tiny piece of semiconductor material 2 to 10 nanometers in …
esearchers at a Gaithersburg, MD, pharmaceutical company say they have found that 99 percent of patients with all stages of lung cancer have detectable levels of a particular protein in their blood that healthy individuals do not. The company, Panacea Pharmaceuticals, is reporting encouraging preliminary results for its test for the protein this week at …
A consortium has been created to oversee the building of a $100 million 25-meter submillimeter telescope on a high elevation in Chile Because submillimeter-wavelength astronomy is especially effective for imaging phenomena that do not emit much visible light, the Atacama telescope will allow observations of stars and planets forming from swirling disks of gas and …
Nanowerk reports on researchers who are working to build nanomechanical computers The 9 page paper “A nanomechanical computer—exploring new avenues of computing” by Robert H Blick1, Hua Qin, Hyun-Seok Kim and Robert Marsland is here It has to be clearly stated that current operating speeds of nano-electromechanical single electron transistors (NEMSETs) are of the order …
Hat tip to KurzweilAI, the Toronto Star reports : a landmark discovery by researchers at McMaster University could radically alter the way scientists can use embryonic stem cells to grow replacement tissues and treat cancer. In a surprise revelation, a McMaster study found that human embryonic stem cells – “the great grandmothers” of all the …
From the New Scientist, new ways of turning heat into sound waves – and then into electricity – may be the next step toward a practical new source of alternative energy. 40% of waste heat from power plants could be converted to electricity if this works and can be scaled up and installed on power …
The New Scientist reports that Nanocomp, a start-up based in New Hampshire, has made carbon nanotube into light weight body armor. Nanocomp graphic of target applications Nanoyarn Nanofelt “The trick is that our nanotubes are much longer than usual – millimetres in length rather than micrometres,” says Peter Antoinette, who heads the company. Antoinette says …
More competition for scalable quantum computer solutions. UPDATE: Dwave scientific paper that they achieved this goal firstDwave’s Geordie Rose indicates that the 16 qubit demo machine had 42 such couplers. NEC Corporation, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) have together successfully demonstrated the world’s first quantum …
Vinod Khosla debates Herman Scheer about energy solutions at CNET Vinod says many things that are correct but is only half right on nuclear. He indicates that it was a mistake not to advanced nuclear power over the past 30 years, but then he says it is too late for nuclear to make an impact …
New Scientist reports on new catalysts to help take CO2 from the atmosphere to make fuel The team heated a mixture of CO2 and benzene with the catalyst to a temperature of 150 ºC, at about three times atmospheric pressure. In a first step, the catalyst enabled the CO2 to form a reactive carbamate, like …
Making a negative-index material that works for visible light is more difficult, because the building blocks have to be much smaller–no bigger than 10 to 20 nanometers. That’s now very possible to achieve, however, and several groups are working on it. If it can be done, these metamaterials could be used to increase the amount …